Imagine this: A friend of a friend’s grandmother passes away. She leaves behind her beloved fur-family, a 12-year-old cat and an 11-year-old dog. Your friend tells you the grandmother’s family is surrendering the animals to the local shelter as they say they are unable to take the animals on—not even temporarily—while the shelter finds suitable adopters.
Not only have these much-loved animals lost the human who’d provided them a “fur-ever” home full of love and comfort, but they will also now enter a shelter where they may experience a lengthy wait, if they get adopted at all. Worse still, they may end up being separated from each other after growing up together and developing a strong bond. They’re used to a good life, full of pets, treats, and comfy chairs. It’s a heartbreaking situation for our loyal animal companions who deserve so much more. This is just one scenario. You only have to follow shelter groups on Instagram to understand the extent of the abandonment problem.
It doesn’t have to be this way. There are countless good reasons to consider a senior pet over a kitten or puppy or youngster, and they are a win-win for everyone involved. There’s no place for ageism in companion adoption, that’s for sure!
Here’s four (of many) good reasons to consider adopting a senior pet:
- You know what to expect! There’ll be few surprises if you are adopting a fully grown 60-pound doggo! They won’t be growing any bigger and you’ll already know their personality and routine.
- Senior pets are generally calmer and come pre-trained
- They have SO much love to give
- Senior pets generally require less supervision (good for pet parents who don’t necessarily have time to pay 100% attention to a furry young companion who’s a constant bundle of energy!)
There are so many more reasons to adopt a senior pet, the most important being that it’s simply not fair for any animal to live out their lives in a shelter when they’ve already known the comfort of a family and a home. It’s time to think again when you next consider adoption.
New York City and many other cities across the U.S. are currently facing an epidemic of animal surrenders in their shelters, and they need our help. If you can’t adopt or foster right now (amazing if you can and thank you so much!), please consider a donation.
Some of the shelters most in need are: NYC’s Animal Care Center, Little Wanderers NYC, KittyKind, For Animals Inc, Mid Hudson Animal Aid, and ARF Beacon. If you know of other shelters you think we should add to this list, leave us a message and we’ll add them.
Love and Purrs,
Team Bunny XO
*Photo courtesy of Madeline Bowen on Unsplash
