Why You Should Adopt And Shop Responsibly
The “adopt don’t shop” movement’s impact on shelters saves hundreds of lives daily. However, ethical breeders are being cast in a terrible light. You may see “Adopt Don’t Shop” everywhere: Bumper stickers, T-shirts, and in your favorite small pet communities. Adopt don’t shop seems like a grand movement. It is much better than when buying from puppy mills was common. However, it also discourages another awesome option for sourcing your pets. While buying from ethical breeders is “shopping,” it ensures domestic species stay healthy and maintain a good temperament.
This article focuses on responsible shopping. Most people know adopting is important, but not the importance of responsible shopping.
A World Without Ethical Breeders
Many people believe the perfect pet world is where breeders and pet stores don’t exist. Instead, pets are only adopted from shelters or through direct adoptions or rescue. They are underestimating an ethical breeder’s role in species maintenance and improvement.
If ethical breeders did not exist, there would be no control or improvement of our domestic pet species. All our pets would come from backyard breeders and accidental litters. Purebred animals could disappear. Genetic issues like lethal white syndrome, cancer, tumors, canine hip dysplasia, brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS), hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and thousands more would be bred unchecked by anyone. Average life spans across all species could lessen and vet bills would not only raise, but become a more common issue. More pets would become shy, aggressive, and untrusting as poor temperament spreads. Pets and people would suffer the consequences of a world without ethical breeders.
But Breeders Create Issues Too!
You would be correct in saying some breeders contributed to brachycephaly, or flat faces, and other health issues in certain pets. A popular example is pugs. These cases of breeding for extreme physical traits are evidence of unethical, or backyard breeders who care more about trendy pets than healthy ones. In every industry, there are dirty players. In the pet breeding industry, they are pet mills and unethical breeders, or backyard breeders. These are the bad eggs you hear about when people try to convince you breeders are bad. They are not the entire picture, but a part of it which should not be supported.
Unethical Breeders
Typical Backyard Breeders (BYB’s)
The second red flag is 4 weeks old. Often, backyard breeders want to sell pups and other species younger than what is best for the animal because the longer they keep it, the less cute it looks and the more expensive food gets. They will get more profit selling younger, and often prey on the uneducated. Backyard breeders will also choose the highest sellable price to maximize profit, not because of the time, effort, and care put into vetting and maintaining the health and genetics of their sire and dams. Some BYBs try to sell for as high as the 10,000s.
Designer Breeders
Selling “designer breeds” is another red flag. People breeding “designer dogs” may proudly advertise themselves as a designer dog breeder. They breed for fashion or trend instead of health and temperament.
A labradoodle is a fancy name for a mixed breed which sells better. The vast majority of ethical breeders do not mix breeds, but keep genetics pure. Exceptions are very few and far in between. If you want a mixed breed “designer” dog, be even more vigilant when looking for a breeder and expect to go through a longer list before choosing than for purebred breeders.
These red flags are all just from the title. If you see an ad like this, chances are when you contact them you will find even more. An unwillingness to answer questions, discouraging vet appointments or important vaccines, lying, and refusing to show parents or the conditions they are kept in are only a few of many warning signs.
With small pets using improper color names, saying a rat is pet only, but calling them “Jumbo,” selling at too young an age, misgendering, and poor husbandry recommendations are a few more warning signs. Again, the biggest red flag is the fact they are on Craigslist in the first place. Many people go to the website for honest re-homes, but be careful.
Ethical Breeders Are Better
Ethical breeders care about not only every one of their animals, but the species and/or breed as a whole. Visibly, you may see some of them discovering new colors or variations. In rats, some examples are velveteen and Silvermane. However, pretty looks are not their priority, health and temperament are. Breeding for better temperament in existing stock may include ending a line with beautiful coats, but for the sake of a happier critter in the future, they will. Tracking these genetics is a very long, painstaking task breeders take up with a passion.
Ethical breeders also work to undo the widespread damage caused by backyard breeders. The following are just a few of countless examples. In pugs, they’re working to lengthen the snout and improve overall conformation while preserving the breed. In rats, they’re working to reduce the prevalence of tumors and hind leg degeneration. And in budgies, they’re working to extend lifespan back to how it used to be by improving overall health.
Some Signs of an Ethical Breeder
Good breeders will be more than happy to answer all your questions about their practice. They may invite you into the area to show you around, but if that is not in the best interest of the pets, they may send live video or recent photos instead. Good breeders ask you questions. They want to make sure their pets get a wonderful home, so their standards may be high. Be honest with them in return. If your setup isn’t up to par, they will work with you, so it is ready when you pick up your new friend(s).
Ethical breeders may have you sign a contract. This legally binding document helps keep pets out of the shelter, because if someone can no longer care for their pet, it requires them to return it to the breeder. The breeder will either keep the animal for the rest of its life or re-home it with a vetted customer who wants an older pet to ensure it once again gets a suitable home and never sees the inside of a shelter. The contract may also have a no-breeding clause to protect the animal.
Ethical and Unethical is a Spectrum
No breeder is going to be perfect, not even ethical ones. For example, many small pet breeders discourage the use of pine bedding. They say the phenols are dangerous, and this is true for non-kiln dried pine. However, in the US and Europe, all pine sold for the use of animals is kiln dried. This process reduces pine phenols to a safe level for pets. The information for pine being unsafe is false and outdated, but many breeders (and shelters) who did not keep up with this new information still believe it is dangerous and will not sell to people who use kiln dried pine (KDP). While these breeders may be running on outdated information for their bedding, if that is the only fault they have, they may still be okay to do business with.
It is important to do your research on proper pet care and what a breeder should be doing. So when you are looking for a breeder, you know what questions to ask for the species or breed you want. You will also know what answers to look for, what follow-up questions to ask, and whether a wrong answer is a deal breaker or excusable if everything else checks out. Many times, your best breeder options will have a few minor deviations from what you believe is right. It is up to you to decide who is best to buy from.
Adopting Is Not Always An Option
Adopting is often a great way to get a new pet. You’re giving an unwanted pet a new home and creating more space in the shelter to save more animals, after all! And shelters care about where the animal goes. They want it to have a good life, just like ethical breeders do. However, sometimes adopting is not an option.
One example is if someone is looking for a service dog prospect. A well-bred dog from a pedigree of service dogs may be a better choice. Long-term health, temperament, obedience, eagerness to work, trainability, and many other important factors make up a successful service dog. While it is possible to find a prospect in a shelter, your chances of success are higher from an ethical breeder who specializes in service and other working dogs.
Domestic Rodents And Genetics
Rats and mice have temperaments tied to genetics. In nature vs. nurture, nature dominates their temperaments. A rat or mouse who bites to draw blood is often aggressive, with very few exceptions. They will keep doing it, and only a neuter or euthanization resolves it. Training will not fix the problem. Also, genetics play a huge part in their health. For example, poorly bred rats are more susceptible to tumors and cancer. These rats often have shorter lifespans and higher vet bills, making them more expensive to keep.
With these species, buying from an ethical breeder is crucial. Ethical rat and mouse breeders focus on health and temperament. Their rats are happier and healthier. Initial costs for a breeder rodent may be more expensive, but will save you thousands of dollars in vet fees. Their better temperaments also prevent the heartbreak of losing a rat to aggression. Ethical breeders allow returns and will re-evaluate the aggressive rat’s lineage, taking action to prevent recurrences.
Because of breeder contracts requiring people to return unwanted rodents to them, rescues often originate from accidental litters or pet stores. These places do not control genetics, skyrocketing the chances of an aggressive or sickly pet. If you are financially and emotionally prepared, adopting these animals is not an issue. However, if you wear your heart on your sleeve or your finances are tight, buying from a rodent breeder should be the only option considered. I recommend getting your first rats or mice from an ethical breeder before you rescue. This gives you experience to draw on when something is off with your rescues, allowing faster vet treatment and preventing unnecessary deaths.
Adopting Is Still Important
Shelters are always overcrowded with dogs and cats. Exotic shelters also struggle to re-home their animals quick enough to open fresh cages to pets in need. Also, most animals end up in these shelters for no fault of their own. If you are experienced, willing, and able to, please also consider adopting. Many homes have ethical breeder and rescue animals in their family, both thriving and happy. Purebreds are often found in shelters. Some are dumped there despite a breeder’s contract. It is possible to find your perfect pet in a shelter, and the possibility shouldn’t be dismissed.
Ultimately, the goal is for shelters to empty as fast as they fill up, and for every domestic and pet species to be continuously improved by ethical breeders. Those with the drive to improve the entire species, and protect their own from shelters. Even breeders can have pet-only rescues from shelters. There doesn’t have to be one or the other, when both are possible in many situations.
Adopt And Shop Responsibly
Responsible shopping through ethical breeders helps improve the species as a whole. Ensuring people breed animals intending to improve overall health, temperament, and quality of life is crucial to every domesticated and captive-bred species. By knowing to research and discover what to look for, you can make a more informed decision when buying your next pet from a breeder.
However, animal rescues should not be dismissed as an option. These animals need homes and are often there to no fault of their own. Seeing them come out of their shell and run to greet you makes it more than worth it. By adopting from a shelter, you’re saving a life and making room for another animal who needs it. Supporting your local shelter can make all the difference.
Overall, it is important to adopt animals from rescues and make informed decisions to buy from ethical breeders. Doing both helps animals who need to the most and supports improving the species now and in the future. Both adopting and responsible shopping are important to increasing the welfare of both exotic and common pets around the world.
References
Szpirer, C. (2010). Cancer research in rat models. In I. Anegon (Ed.), Rat genomics: Methods in molecular biology (Vol. 597, pp. 445-456). Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60327-389-3_30
A Search of Jackson Labratory’s mice with cancer-causing genetics
Federation of European Companion Animal Veterinary Associations (FECAVA) & Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE). (2018). FECAVA, FVE position paper on breeding healthy dogs: The effect of selective breeding on the health and welfare of dogs. FECAVA & FVE. https://www.evssar.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/2018_06_Extreme_breeding_adopted.pdf
Do, P. (2023, December 6). Selective breeding: Unraveling the methods, motivations, and implications. New Roots Institute. https://www.newrootsinstitute.org/articles/selective-breeding-unraveling-the-methods-motivations-and-implicationshttps://newrootsinstitute.org/selective-breeding-unraveling-methods-motivations-implications
