Pet Adoptions: Give Fido a Second Chance

I never thought about adopting a pet. I guess I fell into the pet store trap. I never thought about how necessary it was. Every day a shocking amount of pets are sent to shelters or put up for sale by their current owners. There are even more pets that are being abused and neglected. These pets deserve a second chance. They come with their own set of problems and emotional baggage, but sometimes all they need is a second lease on life.

It wasn’t until recently I became totally aware of this plight. I had always known that there are many animals in pounds, shelters and Humane Societies across the country. I knew that pets were neglected, abused and abandoned, but I never had a personal connection to the issue. That is when I adopted my first pets.

I had been contemplating buying a bird for quite some time. I went to the pet store and looked at the cockatiels, and as cute as they were, none of them really stuck out to me. I didn’t have that connection. My boyfriend suggested I look in the classifieds and trader magazine. That is where I found the ad. A local woman was selling her lot of young cockatiels. You could buy one with a small cage for $50. I only wanted one bird, but when I called her she said she only had two of the lot left. Something told me I couldn’t separate those two and I agreed to take them both and a cage.

The first time I saw Batty and Beaker, I was totally in love. They looked so frightened. They were huddled together in their cage with one perch and a feeding dish. There were no toys in the cage, but I just thought she had taken them out. She was a breeder, and she did have other birds. I wouldn’t blame her for wanting to keep them.

I had a feeling they were cage bound and probably neglected when we were at the house. Just listening to her talk about how busy she was and how she didn’t have time to hand feed herself, let alone her birds, made me suspicious. She hadn’t even bothered to name them. I didn’t realize how correct I was until I made it home.