Giving pets as holiday presents discouraged

Andrew Edwards

It’s Christmas morning, and what could be a better present than a

happy little puppy or furry kitten?

Just about anything else.

“We don’t allow gift-giving,” said DiAnna Pfaff-Martin, founder of

Animal Network of Orange County. The Newport Beach-based group was

created to place Orange County pets in new homes.

The Humane Society of the United States also discourages giving

pets as presents, whether for Christmas or any other time. A problem,

according to the group’s website, is that the person who receives the

animal, and who will be responsible for its well-being, doesn’t have

the chance to decide if the gift is the right pet for him or her.

More often than not, animals are unwanted gifts, Pfaff-Martin

said. In her experience, she has seen several cases where a person

buys an animal for someone who has just lost a pet and is not ready

for a new cat or dog. In other cases, families are not ready for the

responsibilities of pet ownership.

“What happens is the husband brings home a puppy for the family

for Christmas, and they don’t realize what a burden it is,”

Pfaff-Martin said.

When puppies that started out as presents are taken to animal

shelters, it is usually about one year after they were first given,

and the animal has matured into a dog, Pfaff-Martin said. If a pet

becomes a hassle, an owners who doesn’t have enough time to care for

it frequently takes the animal to a shelter.

Pfaff-Martin does not allow gift-giving, though her organization

has been flooded with requests for kittens. Instead of giving the

animals to one person, her group arranges for families to visit the

cats, which are cared for in private homes.

“We have been helping families go to our caregivers’ homes and see

them,” she said.

Another alternative to giving a pet for Christmas, is to give a

pet coupon.

“I would say get a gift certificate; we would be happy to give a

gift certificate for an animal,” Pfaff-Martin said.