Jean Marie Bauhaus
|May 21, 2018
A free kitten can be hard to pass up. Crossing the parking lot on the way to the grocery store, you spot someone sitting next to a box with a sign that reads, "Free to a good home." Against your better judgment, you peek in the box, and see a litter of tiny kittens. Their high-pitched mews begin to tug at your heartstrings and melt your resistance. Should you seize the opportunity?
Keep reading to learn why offers of free kittens for free should make you think twice.
On the surface, accepting a kitten someone wants to give away might seem like a good thing. The kitten needs a home, the person making the offer can't or doesn't want to keep them, and you're in a position to help. But the truth is that there are many hidden costs to adopting a free kitten from a stranger. Here are a few that you should consider:
If you think you're ready for a cat, a much better alternative is to adopt from a reputable shelter. Shelter cats are fully vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and given a clean bill of health. They are also screened for any behavioral issues.
All of these services are covered by an adoption fee that is much less than the cost of having each of these things done on your own. Another advantage of adopting a shelter cat is that shelter staff are trained to match the right cat to the right home. Not to mention, not only will you be giving a kitty a new home, you'd also be creating space at that shelter for another kitten to be saved.
Deciding to adopt a kitten should never be a spontaneous decision. It should always take careful consideration and research. So, while you might be tempted by the allure of a free kitten, consider the hidden costs of "free," and weigh that against the good you can do by adopting from a shelter instead.
Jean Marie Bauhaus is a pet parent, pet blogger, and novelist from Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she usually writes under the supervision of a lapful of fur babies.
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