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THINKING ABOUT GETTING A DOG OR CAT > LOOKING FOR A COMPANION ANIMAL > YOUR NEEDS

Your Needs

It is also important to consider your needs when you think about choosing an animal. Consider:
• Does anyone in the family have allergies?
• Are there any elderly people in your household, or visiting regularly?
• Are you pregnant, or do you plan to become pregnant soon? How many children do you plan to have? The care and training of a new pet demands a significant amount of time and energy; Open Paw does not recommend getting a new companion animal if you are pregnant or have very young children in the household. Furthermore, your lifestyle, expectations, and needs change when a new child comes into the family, and this will affect your relationship with your cat or dog.
• Do you have noise sensitive neighbors?
• How many animals will your new animal have to interact with? (Do you already have animals? Do your immediate neighbors have animals? Do friends bring their animals to visit?)
• How often will you walk the dog? Will the dog go to off-leash parks, or mostly on leashed walks? (Dogs who go on leash walks will have to be very friendly to people and animals).
• What is your living situation? If you rent, do you have permission from your landlord to have an animal?
• Will you be moving soon, or do you move a lot?
• What kind of activities do you want the animal to participate in with you? (Sports, driving, sitting at cafés, going to the dog park, etc.)
   
  Only after you consider the above questions, you should think about your preferences.

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