7 Benefits of Adopting a Senior Pet

7 Ben­e­fits of Adopt­ing a Senior Pet

There is no deny­ing that every­one loves pup­pies and kit­tens. It makes sense that the default choice when adopt­ing a new pet is to go with a younger pup or a kit­ten. How­ev­er, you’ll be sur­prised by how reward­ing it can be to adopt a senior pet.

“By adopt­ing a senior dog or a cat from your local ani­mal shel­ter, you can be a hero by open­ing your heart and home to an ani­mal who is hop­ing for a home today. Besides, one less senior pet at the ani­mal shel­ter means one more free space for anoth­er ani­mal to get res­cued or aban­doned,” said Les­ley Rogers, Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, New Brunswick SPCA.

The 7 ben­e­fits of adopt­ing a senior pet are: 

1. Most senior pets have already been housebroken

It would be rare to find an adult dog or a cat that still need­ed to be house­bro­ken. If their train­ing is lack­ing, they have the phys­i­cal and men­tal abil­i­ties to pick up skills fast, unlike young ones. 

2. Adult ani­mals can form deep con­nec­tions with you

An old­er pet can bond with you just as deeply as a younger one. When you bring home an adult ani­mal, it may feel like they instant­ly know that this fan­tas­tic new per­son has come to their res­cue. Senior pets are ready to love and are incred­i­bly appre­cia­tive of the love you are bring­ing into their lives. 

3. Senior pets have a calmer temperament

With age comes not only wis­dom but also a more relaxed state of being for pets. Most­ly senior ani­mals, the old­er they get, the less exer­cise they need and the less ener­getic they are through­out the day. For seniors liv­ing a more relaxed lifestyle, adult pets can make per­fect companions.

4. Old­er pets require less time and supervision

Not every­one is equipped to take a bun­dle of ener­gy who can’t make it through the night with­out a bath­room break and who requires hyper-vig­i­lance dur­ing house­break­ing and teething stages, along with hours of train­ing. Senior ani­mals are instant com­pan­ions, ready to go on a long walk. 

5. Update to date on vaccination

When adopt­ing an old­er ani­mal, you also have the advan­tage of know­ing their com­plete med­ical his­to­ry in advance. Vac­ci­na­tions have been tak­en care of, and appoint­ments to a vet­eri­nar­i­an should be less fre­quent than if you buy a puppy. 

6. Old­er ani­mals have bet­ter man­ners than younger ones

Ani­mals with calmer tem­pera­ments will often have bet­ter man­ners than youth­ful, more excitable pets. Old­er ani­mals often have the ben­e­fit of being social­ized pre­vi­ous­ly with humans and oth­er ani­mals, mak­ing them more like­ly to have pos­i­tive inter­ac­tions in the future. 

7. Old­er pets need your help

Old­er pets get adopt­ed at a much low­er rate than younger ones. When the ani­mals should be enjoy­ing their gold­en years, instead they spend their days in an ani­mal shel­ter await­ing a poten­tial adoption. 

Love has no age lim­it! When you adopt a senior pet from your local ani­mal shel­ter, you will not be able to deny the warm feel­ing of pride for chang­ing an animal’s life. Over­all, it’s safe to say that by adopt­ing a senior pet what you get back is worth it. 

About the New Brunswick SPCA

Found­ed in 1881, New Brunswick SPCA (NBSC­PA) is the only province-wide orga­ni­za­tion man­dat­ed to enforce ani­mal pro­tec­tion laws. A ded­i­cat­ed team of 15 Ani­mal Pro­tec­tion Offi­cers is vest­ed with the author­i­ty under the SPCA Act of New Brunswick to inves­ti­gate and, if nec­es­sary, lay charges, seize ani­mals, or rec­om­mend court orders to per­sons sus­pect­ed of abuse and cru­el­ty to animals. 

The NBSP­CA is a reg­is­tered char­i­ty that exists to pro­vide province-wide lead­er­ship in the humane treat­ment of ani­mals. We enforce rel­e­vant leg­is­la­tion, ensure shel­ter for neglect­ed or abused domes­ti­cat­ed ani­mals and agri­cul­tur­al ani­mals, and pro­vide pub­lic edu­ca­tion and advo­ca­cy to empow­er New Brunswick­ers to help ani­mals live long and healthy lives. 

To learn more vis­it www​.nbsp​ca​.ca