Why You Should Think Twice Before Giving a Pet as a Gift This Holiday Season
Puppies and kittens are cute, but read this expert advice before attaching a bow to their collars and handing them to a pal.
There’s nothing cuter than a puppy or kitten with a bright red bow around their neck — it’s the stuff of Hallmark movies and Christmas commercials. But at the same time, giving a pet as a gift is highly controversial in the animal welfare world. There’s no right answer as to whether or not you should gift a friend, family member, or child a dog or cat — but whatever you decide, the situation should be taken seriously. Here are some tips to consider before you put a living creature under the tree.
1. Consider alternatives to picking out the pet yourself.
Half the fun of adopting a dog or cat is picking one out — so instead of finding a pet yourself, consider grabbing a gift certificate at your local shelter or rescue to cover the adoption cost. Then, schedule a time to bring your partner or family in to meet the pet of their dreams.
If you’re gifting a pet to your kids, you can join the tens of thousands of people who open their homes to foster pets each year, giving you a chance to see how a litter of kittens or puppies does in your home and letting your children decide who they’d like to keep.
2. Is it the right time to gift a pet?
Maybe you’ve been in a relationship with your significant other for a while, and you’ve discussed bringing home a pet. You know what kind of animal they want and the type of activities they want to get up to with their new companion, and you’re ready to have a responsible conversation about who would keep the pet if the relationship were to end. If this is the case, talk to your local shelter about options. Some organizations will require everyone in the home to meet a pet before finalizing an adoption. Others are discovering that when the gift-giver has received all the necessary counseling and will be an active part of the pet’s life, pets given as gifts are no more likely to be returned to a shelter. (This is backed by research conducted by the ASPCA,opens in new tab too.)
How much do you spend on your pet per year?
3. Can you mitigate some of the extra stress common over the holidays?
I can still picture the day I came home from my grandmother’s after two weeks of summer vacation to find that my mother had adopted a new puppy from the shelter while we were away. Her reasoning was simply that my brother and I had been able to pick out our two cats, and she wanted a turn deciding on the dog we’d grow up with. I walked into our house, dropped my bag, and screamed at the top of my lungs, so full of excitement that my noise sent the puppy hiding under a chair. Harry Truman (the dog) eventually got used to our childhood chaos, but looking back, some preparation might have helped make that first introduction — and his first few days — a little less stressful. Set up a room in your home for the pet to acclimate, and spend time with your kids watching videos on how to appropriately (and safely) greet a new cat or dog.
4. Build a foundation for success.
If you want to give something to unwrap, you can fill a basket with a leash, collar, bowls, toys, treats, a gift certificate for a training class or vet care, and a positive training book. There’s no rush to have a pet by the holidays; once the commotion is over and life has settled, check out your local shelter and rescue groups. Consider an adult rescue dog. Sure, puppies are totally adorable and fun, but they’re also a lot of work. Many adult dogs are housebroken and have all sorts of good behavior skills up their furry sleeves. This is one situation in which the best surprise is no surprise at all.
5. Have a plan if it doesn’t work out.
Maybe you misunderstood your partner’s love of Mastiffs and find them less than impressed to have a massive, drooling dog on the couch; maybe your new dog doesn’t get along with everyone in the home, or the senior cat you adopted for your aging parent is just too much for them to handle. Even with the most thoughtful process and research, we don’t always know whether a pet will be a perfect match. Have you talked to the shelter about their return process? Would you consider holding on to the pet (if it’s safe to do so) and helping the shelter find a better match?
Consider who you’re gifting to, even if it raises some tough questions. If you’ve given a senior dog or cat to a senior relative in your life, create a plan if they were to pass away or became too sick to care for them. If you’re gifting to your children and hoping they’ll do all the dog walking and litter box scooping, what’s your plan when that inevitably falls through? (I say this as a child who gave a 12-minute presentation on how often I would scoop the box if my mom would let me get a kitten and then immediately forgot all responsibilities once he arrived.)
When gifting a pet comes from a place of helping an animal in need and takes into consideration the new pet parent’s needs and lifestyle, it can be successful. But if you’re unsure, there’s nothing like opening a gift card from your significant other who pretended to hate cats all these years, giving you the green light to pick one out from your local shelter or rescue — with an added benefit that you can get the predictable, happy screaming out of your system before the pet arrives.
