purchasing a pet in the city

Please please get a pet from a shelter! A lot of the animals that are admitted have ONE week before they are toast. And, they know you saved their life and they are the most grateful, loving pets. Trust me, I've had dogs from both a breeder and a shelter. My pound puppy follows me from room to room and is so easy going. . . just happy to be around.

Awwww.... like this guy? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123675762

Was just going through the website for the Animal Care and Control of New York and there are a surprising amount - though how surprised should I really be? - of pit bulls and pit bull mixes, especially in Brooklyn.

We got our cats from the ASPCA and Bide-a-Wee. I hate seeing any animal hurt in anyway, and will do what I can to prevent it.

When I was a kid, we bought our family dog from a pet shop in midtown. The Maltese we chose was cute, cuddly, quiet, subdued - almost like a stuffed animal. When we brought him home he turned into a crazed, hyperactive lunatic! Turns out the pet shop had drugged him to make him docile...what a surprise (but a happy ending - we had eleven wonderful years with OUR crazed, hyperactive lunatic) - so be wary of NYC pet shops....they don't quite treat their animals too well

Thanks for the tip about the pet shops, adjadedidealist. Something we all need to know about.

@ajadedidealist wow really? that's so mean..there is a pet shop on 77th/78th and Lexington which always has frisky little puppies in its window which are a major attraction hopefully the owners aren't drugging them.

Plus, pet shop animals end up getting all kinds of weird and crappy diseases. It's so sad. We need to do away with puppy mills

Can anyone recommend a place to buy birds? Like, where you could hope they're treated halfway humanely and don't have strange diseases?

I love looking at that pet shop - the puppies are so cute! - but it saddens me knowing the conditions they are under!

animal care and control has rabbits for adoption too.

but do some research first. they are expensive and very mischevious. they will chew through your wires and make a big mess. they are a lot of work. this is why so many bunnies end up in shelters - people have no idea what they are getting into

@ajadedidealist I can't believe pet shops drug puppies! Is that legal?

@aukandortolan I have a friend who loved her bunny, until one day it broke its own neck - which apparently is a really common way for them to die? I guess they are really fragile and don't have the longest life spans.

That's so sad! Poor little bunny. What a horrible thing to come home to.

@NeverSleeps Wait, how did the bunny manage to break its own neck?

@JenMac: I thought puppy mills were outlawed?

@ajadedidealist and @NeverSleeps: As for drugging animals, if it is for medical reasons it is legal, but if it is for pleasure, or show, it is illegal. If you know a pet shop is drugging the animals, you can report the store to the ASPCA and they'll do an investigation.

I'm also not seeing how a bunny will break its own neck.

That's horrible! Poor bunnies!
As for the dogs, we never knew for sure - but how else could a hyperactive, nutty, absolutely loveable but insane puppy be so calm, sweet, and docile for a couple of hours (which were never again repeated) other than with medical tampering?

There are still plenty of puppy mills around

@DBlack Not sure, I think it was excited about something. I think if you are holding a rabbit and it gets excited it can easily twist its own neck, and their bones are so brittle that they can break their own rather easily. I have no idea as to the details of my friend's bunny's last moments, but I have heard this is a really common thing.

This is from the Wikipedia page on the domestic rabbit: "A rabbit can kick so hard that it can break its own back, and if dropped (which is likely, as young children would find it hard to hold a larger rabbit properly) can cause serious damage to its spine and legs."

@Neversleeps I really didn't realize that bunnies were such delicate creatures!

@uptowngirl I was surprised, too, and not shocked that no one believed me on this one. But, alas, it happened.