 Hi everybody, Lisa Larson here, animal communicator and today we're going to be talking about adoption is forever. So yeah, today we're going to talk about the importance of understanding adoption is forever. There, I don't know how many of you realize but in the U.S. alone every year almost 7.5 million animals are abandoned or relinquished. This is every year and that statistic is horrifying. So I want to answer some of your questions and address some of the reasons why it's so important that when anybody decides to adopt an animal they consider all of the things that need to be considered so that they can make sure that their adoption is forever. And one of the first questions that I had from a viewer was what is the difference between relinquishment and abandonment? So technically relinquishment is to is when somebody goes and takes their animal that they don't want to a shelter or rescue or you know a facility that cares for animals. I can get kind of picky here because I think I think it's kind of dumping it if dumping an animal if you take it to a city pound or something like that or any kind of kill shelter. I don't think that there are many reasons many good reasons to relinquish an animal if there is one you know like let's say somebody gets put into hospice and they have no family that can take care of their animals or something like that and they're unable to take care of them themselves and an animal has to be relinquished. I would hope that everybody understands that the only way to do this is by taking them to a no kill rescue because there's a difference between shelters and rescues. So you want to make sure that you're taking if you're going to relinquish which I wholeheartedly do not agree with unless the most dire circumstances make sure it's to a no kill rescue. City pounds shelters city county facilities generally they're going to euthanize and they'll euthanize healthy animals just because of overcrowding or whatever. So like I say technically both of those things are relinquishment as far as I'm concerned relinquishment is only to a no kill rescue where you know that these people are going to take care of the animals. Anything else is abandonment and in my terminology dumping you know I mean it's it's just it's just very very unfortunate that so many animals that I talk to and that I've seen with working with shelters and rescues that these animals have literally been dumped on the street dumped in trash cans it's horrifying but that's the difference between dumping or abandoning and relinquishing and the other thing I want to make clear is that if for whatever reason you decide that you're going to get rid of an animal it's really important that you don't try to re-home the animal to someone you don't know on your own. Re-homing through next door or craigslist you don't know there's there's a certain protocol that rescues use and and there's reasonings behind why they will adopt out to some people and some not and you don't know if they somebody could come to you and seem like the nicest person in the world and then take that animal and start doing animal experiments on them or they could be abusers whatever you do not know so it's really it's not even I don't even agree with re-homing unless you know the person very very well but bottom line is you know I just I just find very very few reasons at all to um re-home or dump or relinquish an animal now some of the reasons that I don't agree with but the most common reasons I see animals being abandoned dumped relinquished is sometimes people don't realize the amount of work that that it takes to care for an animal the amount of work the amount of finances I mean if you can't you know like I don't have dogs I love dogs I have cats I don't have to take cats out on walks every day you know I don't have the lifestyle that would be fair to have a dog that's the only reason I don't have one you know if you don't have the lifestyle to care for an animal and this means you know cleaning up after them whether they pee or poop in the wrong place cleaning up after them when they pee and poop in the right place cleaning up after them if they throw up cleaning up after them if they get into something some animals are mischievous um and if you if you're not going to be willing to care for these animals uh then don't get them don't get an animal it's you know a lot of people just don't understand the amount of work a lot of people don't understand the amount of money that it takes I mean to to feed animals you want to feed them good quality food now I understand that some people can't afford the best and that's okay they can afford as long as they're making sure that their animals are getting the nutrients that they need but you have to be able to afford food period animal food is expensive you have to be able to afford a medical care animals need regular checkups just like just like humans do uh I believe that nobody should have animals unless they have medical insurance for them now there's a lot of people out there that will disagree with me we've done a whole podcast on that so I get that that's not everybody but would you have your child uninsured would you leave your child uninsured because there's too many times that I've had to talk to animals who are being euthanized because the people can't afford or aren't willing to pay the money for a procedure that could actually save their lives so it's really important to understand this um behavioral problems are a reason you know I mean whether it's scratching the furniture which the clawing is not the answer for that for sure and we'll I'll do another podcast on that maybe barking peeing and pooping in the wrong place aggression you know if again if this were your child you would go to a behaviorist or you would go to a doctor you would find out what the problem is because it's rarely just the child just like it's rarely just the animal and this is why people go to an animal behaviorist or they call me an animal communicator or they talk to their vet sometimes vets might just put them on prozac so you know it's it's kind of better to take a little bit extra step but but vets are always you know you always want the vet as the first resource to make sure that that that whatever behavioral problem isn't physical because behavioral problems are only one of two things they're either the animal has been trying to tell you that they don't feel well and you're not getting it or that they're unhappy about something and you're not getting it so they then they pull up the big guns well there are ways to deal with this that a lot of ways to deal with this that don't require just dumping them dumping on them on the street now another reason I see animals dumped all the time is because people haven't spayed their animals they haven't spayed or neutered their animals so then they end up with a cat or a dog that's pregnant and they dump the pregnant animal out on the street or they dump all the kittens or the puppies out on the street this is horrendous this is horrendous take responsibility if you're not going to take responsibility for for spaying and neutering your animals don't get them it's okay if you don't if you're not willing to do that that's okay but don't get an animal that's the important thing because if you can't do these things that will prevent you from keeping that animal forever then then don't keep it um and sometimes it's just selfishness um oh my god one of the reasons that I see the most for people relinquishing or dumping their animals or rehoming them is that they've had them for years but then they meet a new boyfriend or girlfriend and the boyfriend or girlfriend doesn't like the animals and more often than not they claim that they're allergic sometimes this is true again not something that can't be overcome you know when my husband uh and I met he was allergic to cats and he knew pretty much right away that if it was going to be between him and my cat that the cat was going to win uh and um you know that christmas he bought me two christmas gifts in the cat four so I knew he was keeper um but you know he just he dealt with it for a while and now he's not allergic anymore and I and I talked to somebody who had uh he found an animal and he found a cat and he was allergic to cats and so he really wanted to keep the cat so he went to the doctor and he wanted to get shots or whatever and the doctor said no I'm not going to do that for you he says you know if you can just take benadryl or do whatever it is that you can do to deal with the symptoms for a year then after a year you probably won't be allergic anymore and I've seen that many many times okay now I'm not saying there aren't there aren't a a handful of people who are so seriously allergic they really can't do it and those people just don't get animals but it's far more that it's used as an excuse to dump the animal when people just don't like them that then it is that they are legitimately allergic and I'll give you an example and this was crushing to me I had been working with a woman she had two cats who were litter mates and highly bonded and she had them for like three years and I had been working with her from the time that she first got the cats and I you know I always had considered her a really good cat mommy and everything and she called me one day and she says I'm gonna get rid of my cats and I'm gonna split them up and I'm gonna rehome one to my cousin's boyfriend or my brother's somebody I don't know and one I'm taking to the shelter so she was not only gonna get rid of them she was splitting up a bonded pair and I was like I was stunned and I asked her I she says well I have a new boyfriend and he's allergic so I had a long talk with her I told her the story that I just told you I told her to talk to you know that you can talk to the doctor that there are some things that you can do that you know if you do want to get shots whatever but you know adopting is a 15 to 20 year commitment for cats for and small animals you know and then a 10 year commit 10 to 15 year commitment for dogs larger dogs and and I thought I had gotten through to her and I didn't hear back for another couple weeks and then she called me and she says well yeah I'm getting rid of my cats because I just came home from the doctor and I'm allergic to cats now she's been these cats have been sleeping with her for three years three years they've been sleeping around her head and everything but because she put her boyfriend in front of the commitment to these cats she dumped them and she separated them and it's it was you know I think it was the first time that I ever had to realize you know I can only do so much you know there was nothing more that I could do I really wanted to help those cats but there was nothing more than I could do and the problem is that you know animals suffer all the same emotional trauma and effects that humans would suffer from these kinds of abandonment you know they're sentient beings they have separation anxiety they they they get depression confusion because they're living in this place where they think they're in their forever home and you are their whole world you are their entire world and then all of a sudden out of the blue they're just someplace else they're in a shelter there's somebody else's home with people they don't know and and they're they're thinking where's my mom where's my dad it's it's just it's it's cruel it's selfish it's inhumane and and you know I mean so many people the last three years have had record record relinquishments to shelters and and rescues and I'm sure dumping in general because when the pandemic started and the lockdown started everybody went and got their animals and then they went back to work and you know is it okay I don't need them anymore as if they were a chair that they don't need anymore they're not they're living breathing emotionally loving beings so it's it's really they suffer and and it's not as though they just get into a new home and because they're happy in their new home that they don't have the after effects of of that abandonment like I say separation anxiety or anxiety in general you know they always feel that they remember that's so many animals that that I talked to is is trying to deal trying to help them adapt to their new homes because they've been so affected by this abandonment so the first thing to understand is that if you are thinking about getting an animal first of all please adopt don't buy there are so many animals in rescues and shelters that are waiting for their forever homes but do understand that if you are thinking about getting an animal or if you know somebody that's thinking about it you can help them understand this that if they are not willing to make that 15 to 20 year commitment or that 10 to 15 year commitment depending on what kind of animal you get that there's and and then you end up dumping them abandoning them there's a good chance that they are going to be killed by either dying on the street or being euthanized at a shelter or just being miserably homeless I mean it is so heartbreaking to see the animals that are homeless and then they get afraid of people and they're hard to catch and it's it's it's really really hard and you know I read an article on I think it was Axios a couple of weeks ago and like I said before that the youth not only the relinquishment rate but the euthanasia rate in the last three years since the pandemic has been a three-year high because so many people have been taking them back after the pandemic after the lockdown that they that these places don't have room for them and even though they're healthy they could they they are perfectly able to be in a good home they just don't have room for them so they euthanize them so that's the first thing this is a 15 to 20 year commitment you people need to understand that if they do survive out on the street they suffer miserably just as a homeless person would you know scrounging for food fear no medical help for injuries or whatever so it's really important to think about that it's also important to think like I said earlier the cost that it takes to care for them food medical bills toys my god we spend more at christmas time on the cats than we do for each other i think of course that's us but uh you know they need they need their you want them happy if you aren't getting an animal so that you can make them happy then don't get an animal if you are only getting an animal so that they will make you happy then don't get an animal i mean what you get when you get an animal is such unconditional love companionship insight into our own selves but we have to be willing to want their happiness to really really accept that into our lives you know so you you want to look at all of these things that you know your commitment to their health the finances health insurance and and knowing that you will be around enough for them to not get lonely i mean if you work from eight in the morning to 11 at night and your animals never see you come home you go to sleep and then you just wake up the next morning and they only see you a couple of days out of the week if that that's not fair to them that's not fair to them they'll still give you that unconditional love but they will also be so desperate for it that it will make their lives unhappy so i think the bottom line is how i said it earlier in choosing to adopt an animal please adopt in choosing to adopt an animal please do it because you want to make an animal's life better not because you think they will make yours better which they will but the true value in accepting that is if you were to get it so that you can make their lives better so i hope this helps again 15 to 20 year commitment if you've got a bigger dog yeah bigger dogs you know and and bred animals don't have lifespans as long but know what whatever the lifespan is the longest lifespan is for that animal that you are thinking about getting please make sure that that is the commitment that you are making because that's the commitment that they are making to you animals are the best thing ever in your life i can imagine living without them so i really appreciate you being here if you have any questions or comments about this please comment down below you can find me at pause talk dot net you can find my book pause talking of course and communicating with animals on amazon and apple books and uh yeah i really appreciate you being here and if you're enjoying these please do me a solid and hit that subscribe button and the like button and if you want to be notified of future videos please hit that bell and i really appreciate you being here our next video cast podcast will be on how to move with cats so all of you who have even have cats you understand that there's a challenge there so okay well i really appreciate you guys thank you for being here and i will see you again take care bye bye