HARRIS COUNTY — If a pet is on the holiday shopping list, shelter officials say “adopt, don’t shop” and make sure its future owners are ready for the commitment.
“We’re not necessarily opposed to giving an animal as a gift for the holidays, but you want to make sure it’s a household commitment,” said Kerry McKeel, Senior Communication Specialist with Harris County Animal Shelter.
McKeel recommends making sure the gift recipient has the time, resources, energy and money to care for that four-legged friend.
She also says surprising people with pets as gifts often ends up doing more harm than good.
“That’s how we see animals end up at the shelter because either the gift recipient really didn’t want an animal, they don’t have the time, they don’t have the energy or they don’t have the resources to care for the pet,” said McKeel.
For people who really want to surprise their family members or friends who are animal lovers, McKeel recommends giving them a gift card to the shelter.
“You could wrap it up with a stuffed animal and then that way the gift recipient could come into the shelter and have that experience of picking out an animal that they have a personal connection,” she said.
Another option: temporarily fostering a dog or cat from the shelter to clear up room in the region’s chronically over-capacity shelters and give those animals more time to find a forever home.
McKeel says all animals adopted from the Harris County Animal Shelter come spayed or neutered, vaccinated, micro-chipped and with a one-year pet license.
Starting Wednesday, the shelter will start a $10 adoption fee for all cats and dogs over 30 pounds. Select animals marked “Santa Favorites” will have their fees waived.
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