Pet owners across the country all know that when purchasing a pet, one question is very important- Adopt or shop? This question should have a solid, simple answer.

However, there are some gray areas. But what would you rather get: a socialized, healthy puppy, or one that has been held captive in an overcrowded cage for most of its life?

Unfortunately, the second option is often the position that most pet shop puppies are trapped in.   

Pet shops are more like prisons than loving homes for dogs and cats. The employees are often untrained for taking care of them. The animals are crowded together, making it easy for them to get ill. Or, for more exotic animals, they are placed in enclosures without the necessary requirements for a happy, healthy life.

These animals are often mass breeded, which is often linked with poor socialization skills and less than average health in later life.

However, there are other options. In animal shelters and adoption centers, dogs and cats are treated with kindness and given proper care. Shelters are there for animals that were left helpless, without homes or families.

Shelters help animals recover from past trauma and let them find forever homes. Along with this, animals are often spayed or neutered and given the proper vaccinations they need.

According to DoSomething.org, only 1 in 10 dogs born will find a family. 7.6 million animals are taken to shelters each year, 3.9 million being dogs and 3.4 million being cats. The homeless animal epidemic is way too common across America, and we need to do something about it.

Dogs and cats in shelters are saved from the unimaginable and inevitable fate of living out in the streets, alone and cold. So why would anyone rather support the suffering that comes from pet stores rather than give a happy shelter dog or cat a forever home?