If offering a cat or a dog may seem like a good idea, we must not forget that a pet is not a gift like the others. This is indeed an important decision, which should not be made on the spur of the moment or on the spur of the moment. It is necessary to ensure that the future owner will have the opportunity to contribute to his well-being… impulse adoptions sometimes end in abandonment, especially in the summer. While each year between 750,000 and 1 million pets are adopted in USA, our country also holds the sad record for the number of abandonments Lets check out https://soundcloud.com/tonieakes.
A thoughtful act
One of the fundamental parameters to take into account is: will you be able to ensure his well-being? Will you have the material and financial capacities to feed it and provide it with the necessary care? Can you entrust it to someone during your holidays or take it with you?
The food and routine maintenance of a dog costs on average between 500 and 1,000 euros per year. To these annual costs may be added insurance costs as well as contingencies: veterinary surgery, transport or boarding, behavioral evaluation or even treatment of a lifelong illness.
Acquiring a pet is a long-term commitment: some breeds can live ten to twenty years. And a “baby” animal can become a sometimes cumbersome adult animal.
What race ?
For a dog, your choice should be guided by its adult size, your living environment, your availability and the budget you can devote to its maintenance and care. The animal will ask you for time and attention every day. The dog needs to be taken out several times a day. Even more than the cat, the dog needs to play and be stimulated in order to be sociable with humans but also with its fellow creatures.
Where is he from ?
Acquiring a dog or a cat requires knowing where it comes from. Despite the vigilance of the competent services, some imports are still carried out under questionable conditions.
Vigilance must be increased on the Internet and advertisements in free newspapers: many animals come from illicit trafficking. Also beware of imprecise or anonymous advertisements in which neither the professional details of the breeder (SIRET number) nor the identification number of the puppy or its mother appear, which are mandatory information imposed by law. The best guarantee against traffic is to be able to see the puppy or kitten with its mother.
animal donations
- donations do not require you to register and obtain a Siren number. However, the same obligations should be respected when publishing announcements as for sales (except Siren number);
- the advertisement must clearly indicate the mention “free”;
- only identified animals over eight weeks old can be donated;
- the donor must also provide a veterinary certificate to the new owner.
Identification, an act of protection
Identification can be done using two methods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3xRAOImm78:
- by a tattoo of letters and numbers on the skin of the inner surface of the auricle or on the inside of the thigh;
- by an electronic chip the size of a grain of rice, injected under the skin. The code, made up of 15 digits, can be read using a special reader and will allow the identification of the animal.
Whatever the method, the principle is to assign a unique number to each animal and to record it in a national file with the contact details of the owner. It is also possible to connect directly to the national file of dogs, cats and ferrets to report a new telephone number, a change of address (even temporarily during holidays) or the death of an animal. The Europetnet site allows owners to find their pets throughout Europe.
Giving your animal an identity facilitates its search in the event of loss and reduces the risk of theft, it also avoids euthanasia if it is taken to the pound. An identified animal has a 90% chance of being returned to its owner, compared to only 15% if it is not.
At what age should he be identified?
- for dogs, the identification must be carried out before the age of 4 months;
- for cats, the identification must be carried out before the age of 7 months. This obligation is also valid for all specimens born after January 1, 2012.
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