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Community Corner

Pets as Presents? Think Again

Giving pets as presents during the holiday could be a terrible mistake.

It is a bad idea to give live pets as gifts, because many of them wind up at animal shelters, according to animal rescuers and town animal control officers.

In fact, most municipal animal shelters won't even let anyone adopt a dog or cat at this time of the year out of the concern they might just be returned within a few weeks.

"We won't adopt out as Christmas gifts, so we don't allow adoptions the week of Christmas," said Laura Burban, director of the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter in Branford.

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"I think in general it's a bad idea to give a pet as a gift, especially as a surprise gift," said Marjean O'Malley of STARS, the Stratford Animal Rescue Society, which supports that town's animal shelter.

"Anyone who's had a puppy can tell you it's like bringing home a baby," O'Malley said.

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In Stratford, and at most other municipal animal shelters, people wanting to adopt a pet must fill out a lengthy questionnaire, and provide veterinary records and other evidence that they can take care of the animal. Everyone in the household is required to come to shelter and interact with the dog or cat before taking it home.

"It's a decision that can't be taken lightly," O'Malley said. "This is a living creature and it does require appropriate care."

The ban on adopting out dogs and cats, puppies and kittens, to be given as gifts isn't something the shelters and rescuers just follow at Christmastime.

"We normally all year don't allow animals to be given as gifts," said Milford-Orange Animal Control Director Rick George. He said officials have been stressing this for so long that no one even tries any more, which animal control officers and rescuers in other towns also said.

George said most of the puppies, kittens and other animals given as gifts at this time of the year come from pet stores, which do not follow the same restriction.

O'Malley noted the same thing. She said that's why shelters and rescuers frequently see so-called "designer breed" puppies, such as Yorkiepoos, a cross between a Yorkshire terrier and a poodle which are a specialty of pet stores, dumped at animal shelters in the winter months.

"People pay thousands of dollars for these dogs," she said.

According to Burban, people who get a designer-breed puppy think they are really cute, until they have to take it for a walk in a snowstorm.

"It's usually after the holidays that we get bombarded with phone calls," she said.

When someone comes to the Cosgrove shelter to adopt a dog, Burban said they are quizzed for personal references, veterinarian references, and questioned how much money they think it will cost for the pet's upkeep and medical care, and what kind of home they have.

She said even under ideal conditions there's a chance that the adopting person might return a pet, and giving a pet as a last-minute, surprise gift is far from the ideal situation.

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