Pets: Cheap Love

Do you have to spend a lot of money to buy a beautiful, healthy pet? Actually, you don't have to buy a pet at all. This is "Smudge." I found him and his mother living in my driveway culvert. Each of them had dazzling, velvet-soft white fur, one blue eye and one gold eye. How much more exotic can you get? I think Smudge's mother was probably dumped along my stretch of country road because she was pregnant; and, sadly, Smudge seems to be the only survivor of her litter. You can find such wonderful cats, and equally terrific dogs, at your local animal shelter for very little cost, a much better way to get a pet than buying from "puppy mill" breeders or fly-by-night sellers.

The other day I watched a story on CNN that illustrates a very bad and very sad way to try to save money.

The story was about puppy smuggling. Criminals buy purebred puppies down in Mexico for almost nothing, then smuggle them across the border and sell them on street corners and through classified ads at prices up to ten times the original cost. Often these puppies are as young as four to five weeks old, much too young to leave their dams. Also, because the "breeders" rarely bother with vaccinations or hygiene, the puppies are often sick or quickly become sick. Many die soon after being sold in the U.S., often after the new owners have racked up sizeable vet bills trying to keep them alive. It's a hard way to learn that pets, especially purebred dogs or cats, can be expensive to buy. They also require a certain minimum amount of care to be healthy and happy.

So...please, please, please. Before you get a pet, any kind of pet, go to a vet's office and find out how much it costs to take care of one properly. Far too many people don't.

I live out in the country. In the last year, I've taken in a cat, three kittens and a young dog that were literally dumped out on the road in front of my house. I took one cat to my county animal shelter, kept one of the kittens and found a home for the other, after I had paid nearly $70 to get her vaccinated and have her neutered. I also found a home for the young dog—a sweet, playful setter mix—after paying almost $120 to have her vaccinated and spayed.

Pets get sick. They get hurt. A custom-made wheel-chair I bought a few years ago for a Corgi of mine, Soldier (he had creeping paralysis that started with his back legs) cost almost $300. To fix another dog's injured knee a few months ago cost $1,700.

And as for my ponies....well, they're the reason I can only afford to eat steak maybe once or twice a year.

A few days ago, I and a lady I know had a frightening experience with one of her dogs, an elderly bitch who began to "bloat." This is a potentially fatal condition where an animal eats too much and gets gas pressure and subsequent pain in its belly. If something isn't done, the animal can twist an intenstine and require immediate surgery.

This happened late at night on a Sunday. (Trust me. Animals always pick late nights and weekends to get sick.) The only veterinary care available was a hugely expensive 24/7 vet clinic in Fort Worth, a good 45 minutes away.

This lady was looking at a vet bill in the hundreds of dollars. Luckily, she'd experienced this condition before with this dog, and had a stomach tube handy. She knew how to insert it, I was willing to suck on it, and between us, we managed to get a cupful of food out of the dog's stomach and relieve the pressure. (Ah, yes. How many people do you know who have literally sucked food out of a Bassett Hound's stomach? Trust me, it ain't fun.)

"Mary" and I were lucky. Without that tube, she would have had two choices: racking up a vet bill she might not be able to pay, or letting her dog die.

Am I saying that only rich people should have pets? No. But I am saying that you should think long and hard before taking on the responsibility. This includes deciding if you have the guts to have a pet humanely put down if you can't afford medical care.

Want specifics? Let's start with the cost of obtaining a pet.

It always astounds me that people will pay hundreds of dollars for a "purebred" dog they have no intention of showing, and should have no intention of breeding. (More about breeding later.) And buying a purebred dog can be a procedure full of pitfalls.

To begin with, the fact that a dog is "registered" as a purebred means nothing when it comes to the dog's health, quality or temperament. Registration papers simply mean that a dog is the produce of two registered dogs. The world is full of "puppy mill" operators who breed inferior dogs together to produce even more inferior puppies that would be laughed out of a show ring. Spindly or crooked-legged, with overbites or mismarks, terrible body structure and often less than terrific temperaments, such dogs can often be bought cheap, but it's not money well spent. Like smuggled puppies, they are often sickly to begin with and prone to genetic flaws and illnesses. (And far too often, the bitches who bear these puppies are literally bred to death, forced to have litters again and again, under awful conditions, until they sicken and die.)

Creating a quality purebred dog takes time, effort and money. Such breeders study the "standard" of their breed-a written description of an ideal Borzoi or Golden Retriever or Pug—then do their best to produce an animal that's as close to that ideal as possible. They study pedigrees, select mates for their dogs with care, and are careful to make sure that any puppies they produce are given a full range of vaccinations and health care. Those breeders who produce and sell champion dogs also take on the very considerable costs of showing.

All that care, effort and expense is why such breeders can often sell their dogs for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars and, with luck, just break even. Such breeders raise dogs because they love the breed, not as a for-profit venture.

So how do you tell the difference between a concienctious breeder and someone whose main goal is making a buck?

First, reputable breeders usually specialize in only one or two breeds. Buying from them is like adopting a child; they're going very interested in making sure you'll be a good, knowledgeable dog owner. Their dogs will be kept either inside their home or in clean, secure kennels. They'll be proud of their dogs and will be willing to answer any questions you may have about the breed, and the sire and dam of the litter of puppies they are offering. They will want to know a lot about you and your family, to see if you and the puppy will be a good match—and they'll tell you if the answer is "No." They'll want to know if you have a fenced yard or the time to walk the dog, a knowledgeable vet, children old enough to handle a puppy safely, and enough experience and time to take proper care of a dog. They'll produce detailed vaccination records. They'll tell you both the pros and cons of owning their kind of dog. And they'll tell you if a puppy is show quality or pet quality. (More about this later.)

Quick-buck operators, on the other hand, often sell pups on street corners or at swap meets, frequently offering a smorgasbord of breeds to tempt a wide range of buyers. They won't ask you much more than if you have the price in cash. All their puppies are "perfect" for whatever your situation is. It doesn't matter if you're young, old, have kids, live in an apartment or out in the country, their dog will fit your lifestyle. And aren't their puppies cute? How can you resist? Take one home now!

Then good luck finding the seller later, when the puppy proves a bad fit with your family, or worse, gets sick or dies. (Everything I've just said also applies to purebred cats.)

So how, you might wonder, can you get a good dog (or cat) if you can't afford the high prices of a reputable breeder?

One answer just licked my elbow. It is 6:35pm, and Loki, who has a sense of time Rolex can't match, is in his own gentle way reminding me that his dinner is past due. Back in a moment....

Loki looks like a big and very furry gold wolf. When I first met him, he was a tiny, fluffy puppy, but if you probed down past the fur, you could feel every bone of his emaciated little body. He and his sister had been dumped on the streets of Fort Worth, Texas to starve, but were lucky enough to be found and taken to the North Texas Humane Society. He cost me all of $65, which included his initial series of puppy shots and having him neutered.

I have no idea what mixture of breeds Loki represents. Some people speculate that he's part Chow, others think him a mixture of Golden Retriever, German Shepherd and Collie. Frankly, I don't care about his ancestry. To me, he's the best kind of dog there is....100% All American Mutt.

All across this country there are hundreds of humane societies, pet shelters and city pounds full of wonderful dogs and cats, most of them pre-screened for health and temperament problems. Big dogs, small dogs, energetic dogs, mellow dogs, cute dogs, elegant dogs....dogs of every type imaginable, waiting and hoping for a home and a family of their own.

It's the best bargain around for any family looking for a pet, especially since shelters will spay or neuter and vaccinate your choice at a discount. (You'd need to have this done even if you buy a purebred.)

The one disadvantage of buying a "mutt" puppy is it may be a little hard to figure out what the dog will be like when it's grown. If you buy a purebred, you have at least some idea how large it will grow, how much hair it will shed, what kind of care it will need, and what kind of temperament it will have. (A high-energy dog like a Husky will need a lot more exercise, for example, than a laid-back breed like a Bassett.) If you want to buy a mutt, in such a case, it might be better to adopt an adolescent dog, one old enough to display its size and temperment.

But if you just must have a purebred, you can still save money by buying a "pet quality" dog. As the name implies, this is an animal that, for some reason, doesn't match its breed standard closely enough to win in the show ring. I happen to like Welsh Corgis, for example, and Loki's best buddy is a female Corgi who is a lovely, well-conformed dog who happens to have been born with "high white"; in other words, the two or three white streaks on Emma's side and back disqualify her from ever winning in a show ring. Other than this, she's a smart, well-conformed, healthy little dog. I bought her from a very reputable breeder for about 60% of the "show quality" price.

A coat texture that isn't quite right, a dog that's a tad too small or too large, ears that fold over when they should stand up (or stand up when they should fold over)... almost all breeders will produce "pet quality" animals at some time or another, and will sell such a dog at a discount. Since such a puppy is "flawed"—though still a good dog in terms of it's health and temperament—the breeder will sell it for less, but any reputable breeder will insist that you get the dog spayed or neutered, since they don't want these "incorrect" genes passed on.

Beware, though, of flaws that could affect any dog's health: grossly overshot or undershot jaws, knock knees, badly angled hips, etc. And if you buy a purebred, check first for any serious genetic flaws particular to the breed: breathing problems in short-muzzled dogs such as Pugs and Bulldogs, for example, or hip problems in large breeds such as German Shepherds.

On second thought, just go down to the local shelter and find a healthy, happy, loving teenage mutt. I guarantee that a few visits will turn up a dog that's perfect for you.