Natasha Error

Math 1050
12/07/2015
Adopting VS Buying Pets from a Breeder
My purpose for writing this particular paper is to help me decide on future career moves.
I have the dream of one day forming a no-kill shelter, where there is always room for unwanted,
and abandoned pets. When deciding on something that is going to affect every aspect of my life,
of course, there are many things to consider. I have decided that one method is to use
mathematical reasoning to calculate the numbers, in order to determine if this would be a
strategic career move that will ensure success, and also create change. My first step, was to
analyze the thought process that people go through when deciding whether to add a new pet to
the family. When thinking about getting a new pet, theres a series of tough decisions to make.
The first, being whether to adopt your pet, or to procure them from a breeder. Before listing the
pros and cons of each option, there are a few pet statistics to reflect on. For example, according
to the ASPCA It is impossible to determine how many stray dogs and cats live in the United
States, estimates for cats alone, range up to 70 million with this information alone, it is clear
that the pet overpopulation problem is severe. The average cat produces 6-12 kittens every year,
while the average dog produces 4-6 puppies. Taking this information into account, we must also
look at the average pet ownership rates, it is estimated that 74-80 million dogs are owned, in
addition to the 74-96 million cats. With numbers this high in the United States alone, the
question of how exactly these pets were obtained, is important to answering my ultimate
question. Ive got to know exactly how many of those pets were purchased from breeders, and
how many were adopted from shelters.

My next step was to dive into the process deciding how to choose whether or not families
would want to adopt a shelter pet. At the beginning of a search for a new pet, most people
assume that mutts are the only thing that are available at shelters. So I decided to check out what
is available in our area, after making some calls; I discovered that at the Humane Society of
Utah, as of today, they currently have 34 dogs up for adoption, 10 of those dogs are purebred.
The statistics on the Humane Society website for the United States also listed, that 25% of
shelter dogs are purebred. Often people assume that the facts about purebred animals vs mixedbreed are incredibly different, generally people think that mixed bred dogs will be completely
unpredictable. However, this is not accurate, the temperament of most mixed breed dogs can be
predicted just as well as a purebred dog. Since they are just a combination of breeds, it is also
possible to determine the appearance of the perspective litter. Mixed breeds are also, less prone
to genetic defects common to certain purebred dogs and cats. Their genes are usually unrelated,
thus lowering the chances of their parents having the same genetic defects. Mixed bred animals,
are often overall healthier than purebreds due to their mixed genes.
Another factor to consider, is the ages of the pets that are available, according to a recent
survey by Animal Services, approximately 55% of families say that they would rather adopt a
puppy over an older dog. There are many benefits to adopting an older pet, older pets have had
the time to mature and calm, while puppies and kittens, however fun they may seem at first are
constantly hyper and untrained. Another benefit of owning an older pet, is that often youll
already know their temperament, with children, other pets, etc. Of course, there are also benefits
to adopting a younger animal, theyre new and fun to play with, and not to mention cute. When
purchasing a newborn, rather than adopting an older animal, you also get the advantage of
raising them from day one, providing you with a longer time to bond with them, and teach them

the way that you feel best suits you and your pet. But, the overpopulation problem of pets in the
United States is high enough. Not to mention that a dog is considered a senior after the age of 5.
With proper care and exercise your senior dog can easily remain as active as they were when
they first came home. Most dogs that are taken to the shelter are simply there, because their
families could no longer care for them, they are generally well mannered and trained dogs, just
looking for a loving home.
The adoption rates for pets is abysmal, on average every year in the United States, 3.7
million pets are euthanized. Which means, that 48.6% of the pets that are taken into shelters are
euthanized, and only 35.53% are adopted, which is way down from a high, 84.7% in 2012, the
remaining pets are returned to their original owners. When people choose to adopt rather than
buying a new pet, we work to decrease the number of animals that are euthanized each year.
According to estimates by the ASPCA, over 2 million households in the U.S. own a pet of some
kind, so when deciding on where to get your new furry friend, be sure to think about all options.
Along with the possibility of saving the lives of pets that are taken to shelters, you will
save money adopting a pet rather than buying one from a breeder. Shelter pets adoption fees are
on average 85$ for dogs, and 65$ for cats. Based off of my calculations from the Humane
Society website, these adoption fees include all of the pet's initial veterinary costs, which would
normally cost you hundreds of dollars. Keep in mind, when buying a puppy from a breeder,
depending on the breed of the dog you could end up spending, but not limited to 3,000$. While
doing a quick search for one of the purebred dogs currently up for adoption on the Humane
Society of Utahs website, I found, that I can adopt a year-old, Labrador Retriever for 85$. I
could also purchase a similar Labrador Retriever puppy from an online breeder, for anywhere

from 1500$-3800$. Their prices continue to rise if the puppy, and the breeder are registered with
the AKC.
Certainly, there are plenty of benefits of getting your dog from a breeder. When
purchasing a dog from a breeder, you get the choice of picking from what is usually a brand new
litter, there is even the possibility of working with your breeder, to create the image of your
perfect puppy. So that when the dogs are bred, the breeder knows exactly what you are looking
for. People often do this with the intention of showing their dogs, by going through a breeder you
can choose your animal based off of the looks of their parents, and their lineage. Thus allowing
the possibility of getting your pets into professional showing and agility competitions. While at
the shelter, you generally do not get pedigree papers, which limits the ability to show them.
According to the surveys done by The Humane Society, in the United States this year, 34% of
dogs are bought from breeders while 3% of cats are purchased from breeders. There are plenty
of benefits to purchasing your pet from breeders, however, there are also several downfalls that
are unrelated to the adoption and euthanization rates that I had discussed previously. For
example, while searching for a breeder it is possible come into contact with one that is not
trustworthy, it is not uncommon to find breeders who mistreat their animals, or that misguide
buyers on the facts about an animal's health and lineage. When considering getting a pet from a
breeder you must be sure that your breeder is knowledgeable, not only about your pets proper
care, but also any genetic defects that cause diseases that could impact them later in life. Often,
such details are left out by deceitful breeders, leading to future complications with your pet's
health. According to the ASPCA, there are as many as 10,000 puppy mills in the United States
alone, and only 2,000-3,000 of them are licensed by USDA.

There are plenty of things to deliberate while deciding whether to buy, or adopt a pet. It is
important to recognize the good and the bad in all situations, and be sure to contemplate all of
the possible options. Ive got big plans for my future, including, but not limited to, replacing all
of my possible children with dogs, and when the time comes for my family to grow, I will know
exactly what statistics to check on to give me a better idea of whether I should adopt a dog, or
choose a new puppy from a breeder. It will also help me to better my future business, by
knowing all of the important facts, and where I can further and continue to update my research.

The graph above represents the percentage of pets that are taken into the shelters, and the

percentage that are adopted. The graph expresses the adoption rates that were surveyed in 20142015. Since 2012, the adoption rates have dropped significantly, in 2012 the rates had reached a
high of 84% of shelter pets that were adopted. Since then adoption rates have dropped almost a
full 60%.

I created this graph pertaining to the numbers listed on americanhumane.org, according to their
information there are, 7.6 million animals taken to shelters every single year, 2.7 million of those
animals are adopted, 3.6 million are euthanized, and only 649,000 are returned to their owners.

I constructed a second graph going deeper into detail about the rates of adoption vs
euthanization. This graph is referring to a new, similar set of numbers presented by the
ASPCA.org website. The number of dogs and cats adopted is minimal, unfortunately, the number
of pets that are actually returned to their homes is sadly much lower.

My final graph illustrates the number of cats and dogs that were adopted in 2014-2015 vs the
number of cats and dogs that were purchased from private breeders, while these numbers remain
close, it is clear that when bringing a new member into the family one should do their best to find
a shelter pet, in order to hopefully someday drastically decrease the number of shelter pets
euthanized each year. Taking into consideration the facts that Ive presented, I hope to one day be
able to make a personal difference on the percentage of pets euthanized every year, I will
continue my plan to open a shelter, that is a safe haven for unwanted pets to find the new and
loving homes that they deserve. While also providing a place for families and individuals to
bring pets that they can no longer care for, ensuring that their loved ones will never be
euthanized, and will always have someone to care for them properly.

In conclusion, after comparing the data, between pets that are adopted, and pets that are
purchased, I have deduced that the information I gathered can be considered significant. By
using the p-value, I have determined that all of the data concerning the rate of pets that are
adopted, rather than euthanized have passed the significance test, the numbers collected from
each source are so close that they are a valid set. Proving, that the graphs, are an accurate and
reliable piece of information in relation to my topic. The first set of data regarding the adoption
rates of shelter pets passed the p-value test. I will demonstrate the findings of the statistical
significance test in the graphs below

This graph provides a visual for my calculations in which I compared my data samples. There are
approximately 3,500 animal shelters in the United States, and for each collection of data, from
the individual sources, roughly 2,500 responded to the survey. After calculating a margin of error
of 1.05 for my sample size, I determined that with a margin of error of 1.05, I needed a sample
size of 2,497 in order to get accurate data, which was achieved with 2,500 responses. Moving
onto the statistical significance, I first compared the ASPCA with American Humane, there is a
0.5 point difference in the values, however, they maintain a p-value of 0.05% thus deeming them
significant. After comparing each set of values, despite small point differences in their
percentages, each set of values passed the statistical significance test, which validates my
research, making my research a valuable informant on the topic. In my second set of calculations
using statistical significance, I compared the accuracy of euthanization rates from each source.
Once again, they all had small point differences, but continued to maintain their comparative
error level at, or under 0.05 on the significance scale. While I chose this topic due to its minimal
relation to anything math, and everything puppy, I managed to create a reliable research utility,
with accurate and employable statistics that could be used for further research or simply as a
statistical source for another report.

WORKS CITED
https://www.aspca.org/
https://www.utahhumane.org/
http://www.humanesociety.org/
http://www.akc.org/
Graphs created at

https://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/