You never know with the health of a human or animal~ Babe, my dog that died last year, when he was only a couple of years old, came from a breeder, but he had Andre the Giant's disease, so he never stopped growing. His poor little heart was like the engine of a VW trying to run a Sherman Tank. When he passed away, he weighed 140 lbs. and when he stood up was taller than me, he could put his claws on the trim over the top of our sliding glass door without jumping. His paws were bigger than my hands, though he wasn't fat in the least. He was an AKC registered Golden Retriever, but genetic disorders have no respect for pedigree. I decided that our next dog would be a rescue animal, and we got Joe, partly to do the right thing, but also in hopes of a mixed-breed dog being healthier. She seemed so healthy and athletic, but one day she started limping, and it turns out that her hind legs are malformed, and a groove that is supposed to hold the tendons of her rear legs in place is too shallow to do the job. She's going to need about three grand in surgery, so now we are saving up money for her to have at least two operations. Whenever you take in an animal, you have to take on the risk of finding out they have an illness, and it could be expensive! Yikes!

SesshyRose did you talk to the shelter about the dog being sick? They usually pay for the vet bills. I adopted a small terrier from the county pound, he had what appeared to be kennel cough and they paid for that.

Wow I am srry to hear that your dog died, I know how it feels to lose a pet that you considered apart of the family.

im adopting a really adorable minature doxin for 50 im goin to get her fixed immediately i have had a horrible incident with another dog who wasnt and she ended up pregnant and died in labor it was really sad....and im not willing to add to the pop of unwanted dogs or lose another dog.

I am all for adopting doggies and kitties from shelters because irresponsible owners will allow their dogs to breed with just about anything, causing these poor puppies to be born and then dumped at the shelter. I train Australian Shepherds in obedience and my girl isn't spayed but she also is AKC and comes from champion bloodlines. If I do decide to breed her in the future it would be because I want my next puppy from her.

So yeah..my little rant is over. But please do adopt! My kitty is from the humane society and so is my little pappy mix He's funny.

actually, it was my cat...got him from the humane society and the poor thing was running a fever of near 107! It cost 65$ to adopt him (and included a neuter even though he was neutered when he got to the humane society) and the free dr appt. showed he might have feline leukemia-which we couldn't afford to test for and there isn't a cure for anyhow. So we have FatCat...and he is a great cat...and he's always weezy-but healthy as far as we know

Our dog, however, we got from a no kill shelter completely free including shots and neuter and he is healthier than any pet I have ever known.

Watch out for shelters in your area having a "sale" (only way I could put it) we got out black lab, Skipper, when the shelter had a sale on dogs 40 lbs and bigger and adult cats were free of charge...they just needed more room for their shelter, so they found homes for their pets

no, the paperwork we signed said they would take him back for health reasons, but would not pay for us to care for the cat. I couldn't take him back to that horrible place

We adopted the most adorable lab-mix puppy nearly 3 months ago. He was the tiniest li'l thing when we first got him and scared of his own shadow (funny enough, the kids ended up naming him Shadow) but with in the first hour or so of being in the house he perked up and just started running around with the kids. He was the first one I saw when I walked into the 'Li'l Guys' room (in North Shore Animal League) and I took him out of the cage he was so quiet and wary but as I stood there petting him, he just fell asleep in my arms and I knew he was the one to complete our family.

-_- Now, 3 months later, he's (at the very least) doubled in size and has proven that he's just as crazy as any of the humans in the house.

I support places like North Shore AL because they're against euthanizing animals (though on a horrible downside it makes me feel awful for the fact that this translates to every animal adopted there meaning one that's not given a home from a shelter that does euthanize) and they have very strict screenings for potential adopters, because they want to be sure want to be certain the animals are going to good homes.

Thank you all for sharing your stories of adoption(good and bad) and giving your opinions on adoption and spaying/neutering, I like reading everything.

I thought I'd give an update on Kyoto. I am still very, very interested in adopting Kyoto and I've been depressed these past few days when it became obvious that I will not be able to adopt him until I move out and get my own apartment, which sadly won't be until April-July of next year since neither my dad nor younger sibling are budging on getting their dogs spayed.

I will be adding a puppy in my family at the end of November/beginning of December as a Christmas gift from my younger sibling. While I am excited to have a companion, I feel so so guilty about not adopting a dog, but I can't do anything about it now and I feel like my heart is literally tearing

When I move out on my own, I definitely plan on adopting a dog(hopefully Kyoto). By then Miyavi(the puppy I am getting) will be neutered and caught up on his shots, and I'm already looking for apartments that allow animals.

I hope everything works out for you dear!

Another update, on the 13th Kyoto was adopted. It's kind of bitter sweet, I suppose. I'm happy that he was able to find his forever home, but at the same time I really wished to add him to my family.

But, as I am sure you guys are tired of hearing, I already have a new furry family member in my family and would have had to wait until this upcoming summer to adopt him. Which wouldn't be fair, so I'm really glad that he was able to find a home. He will be able to spend holidays with his new family too, which is wonderful! ^^

I'm still definitely going to adopt once I am able to get an apartment of my own, I'm pretty sure I will probably look for either an adult or senior dog when I'm ready to adopt though.

I hope things work out. I have a chihuahua mix and when I first got him 7 years ago, the vets said he could be prone to a lot of diseases but he's never been sick once. I'm sure you're furry friend will be fine and it's really good of you to adopt a dog instead of buying one.

my family adopted a senior chihuahua mix, about ten years ago, i think. I was his last day in the shelter, otherwise they would put him down. We saw him and took pity on the poor thing, he was OLD!

He was antisocial, hated being picked up, and completely hated kids. I cant tell you how many times he bit me -.-; but at the same time, he was in pain. he had cancer, the shelter refused to help us pay for it and we couldn't afford and if we let him go back they would just kill him.

The vet told us he wouldn't live past 3 months.

But amazingly he survived over 3 years. He ended up with that odor that comes with sick dogs, and since we couldnt afford to pay for an operation we were able to buy some pain relievers for him, not enough to make him dopey but enough so the pain was numbed some.

I miss that old dog, and believe it or not, he didnt die from the cancer.. the crazy dog bit into a electric cord...

While we didnt have the money to make him better, we gave him the love and stable home he had been missing most of his life. He only had one day left but we gave him 3 yrs.

and beleive it or not, that mean old dog warmed up to me, he was my old moody baby.

But like i said he wasnt in the best health when we got him, but we made a difference atleast in my eyes we did. we gave him a chance to enjoy his life before he went and see the outdoors instead of staring at people passing him buy in a cage...