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The Best Time to Adopt
Pets add fun, companionship and love to our lives. They’re also a big responsibility. Take this quiz to help you decide if this is the best time to adopt a pet.
Check the following events that have either occurred in your life in the past six months, or may occur in the coming six months:
- Divorce or end of a relationship
- Marriage
- Change in living arrangements (new roommates or moving in with significant other)
- Move to a new residence
- Pregnancy or new baby
- Longer hours or increased responsibility at work
- Financial concerns
- Children leaving home or moving back home
- Care-taking responsibilities for elderly or ill family member
- Significant changes in family routine
- Death of a family member
- Death or disappearance of a family pet
- Relinquishment of a pet (given away or brought to an animal shelter)
- Significant health problems of a family member
- Change in working status of a family member (begins work, changes jobs or retires)
- Frequent travel, either for business or pleasure
- Limited leisure or free time
- Graduation from high school or college
- Disagreement among family members about adopting a pet
Scoring
Add one point for every pet you currently have (one aquarium counts as one pet).
- 0-3: Your life seems fairly stable. Now is probably a reasonable time to acquire a pet.
- 4-6: You have a lot of responsibilities right now. Although adopting a pet may still work for you, a small mammal, an adult cat, or well-trained, adult dog would probably be more appropriate than a kitten, a puppy or an active breed of dog.
- 7-10: Let’s think twice about this. With all the changes and responsibilities in your life right now, you may not have time to care for a new pet. It would probably be better for both you and the pet if you wait until your life settles down a bit.
- 10+: STOP! DON’T PASS GO! Acquiring a pet now is not a wise decision. Why not consider a pet rock or a “computer-pet” instead?