Hi Sweet Friends,
I’ve been blessed with many teachers throughout my life and they’ve come in all shapes and sizes. My grandmother. Dear friends. My husband. Books. Cancer. Healers. Doctors. The list goes on. Some teachers have been kind, some tough, and others have been a little off their rockers (in the best possible way).
But what I’ve noticed over the years is that my most powerful teachers walk on all fours.
A dairy cow who lived across the street from my childhood home. My soul-kitty Crystal (who I dedicated my second book to). Lately, I’ve been lucky enough to share my home with two wise, silly beings because of our choice to embrace animal adoption and animal rescue.
Most of you know Lola (#lolarocks). She’s part catahoula, part pitbull. Folks think she’s a hilarious hyena. We agree! You’ve probably also met Buddy by now (#gobuddygo). When we found him in the woods and he was a starving and emaciated shell of a dog with a resilient sweet soul. His journey back to health has taught me so much more about healing. It’s a Divine honor to watch him blossom and be part of his life.
That’s why I made this video for you. Often, people think that animal adoption and rescue are selfless acts—a one-way street. They don’t realize that by saving an animal, you could also be saving yourself. The love, companionship, and bond created with these loyal and innocent beings is truly unique and life-changing.
Watch the video above to meet my kids and to learn why my new guy is one of my greatest teachers (and if you want to learn about Lola’s adoption story, watch this video).
I’ve also added some resources for finding a fur-buddy of your own and how to take the best care of them. Check out my infographic for some jaw-dropping stats on adoptable animals in the US today.
Animal Adoption Resources
Where to adopt:
Want to adopt an animal, but don’t know where to start? Use these websites to search for an adoptable animal in your area. Also, you’re awesome!
Helpful adoption tips:
It’s helpful to get educated before bringing a furry new family member into your life. Take some time to read up on the responsibility and preparation that comes along with adopting a pet.
- Questions to ask yourself before adopting
- Adopt-a-Pet’s cat adoption articles
- Adopt-a-Pet’s dog adoption articles
- Tips for the first 30 days of dog adoption
- Tips for the first 30 days of cat adoption
Animal Care Resources
Holistic Veterinarians
You may not have known that holistic veterinarians even existed! They’re the Integrative MDs of the animal world. Your pet’s veterinarian should be able to help you create a diet that fits your animal’s needs. Want to find a holistic vet in your area? Check out these resources:
- American Holistic Veterinary Association
- Academy of Veterinary Homeopathy
- American Academy of Veterinary Acupuncture
- American Veterinary Chiropractic Association
- Veterinary Botanical Medicine Association
Spaying and Neutering
There are numerous reasons to spay/neuter your pet (check out HSUS’s top ten reasons here), but one of the biggest reasons is overpopulation. As you can see in my infographic, 6-8 million animals enter shelters each year and only half of them are adopted on average. If money is a factor in your decision, check out this low-cost spay/neuter directory to find an affordable option. This is one of the most effective ways to reduce the number of homeless animals today!
Putting an end to puppy mills
Lastly, I want to bring your attention to puppy mills in the US. According to the ASPCA, “A puppy mill is a large-scale commercial dog breeding operation where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs. Unlike responsible breeders, who place the utmost importance on producing the healthiest puppies possible, breeding at puppy mills is performed without consideration of genetic quality. This results in generations of dogs with unchecked hereditary defects.”
It’s estimated that there are 2,000-3,000 USDA-certified puppy mills in the US, but that number could be as high as 10,000 based on the large number of breeders operating without a license. The number of dogs at these facilities ranges for ten to 1,000 breeding animals. The animals at these mills often live in unsanitary, overcrowded conditions without proper veterinary care or adequate food or water. And many of them are euthanized.
How can you help stop puppy mills?
- Choose to adopt from a shelter rather than buying an animal at a pet store or online.
- Take the ASPCA pledge to boycott pet stores that sell dogs from puppy mills.
- Flex your policy muscles by helping the ASPCA Advocacy Brigade push legislation that will crack down on puppy mills.
I hope that this blog inspires you to adopt an animal in need from a shelter and to research more holistic approaches to caring for your pet. Lola and Buddy have brought so much joy, love and comfort to us—they complete our little family! Adopting them has changed our lives and I know adoption could transform yours too.
Bonus: Blooper Reel
Your Turn: Encourage others to adopt by sharing this article and your story!
Peace & compassion,
Hi Kris,
I just wanted to take the opportunity to let you know how much your writing and work touches and helps me. I am not a cancer warrior. I have a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of abuse in my childhood. Almost 50 years old now, my condition was not adequately diagnosed or treated until late last year. As a result, I’ve been “white knuckling” it to deal with symptoms throughout my life and this has been difficult. Now, I’m taking a time-out from my work in a demanding professional role to focus on myself and my health. I find that your nutrition, health, spiritual guidance and encouragement is valuable and uplifting for me; the body-mind connection is fundamental to mental health as well as to physical health. I’ve also appreciated the sharing and insights you’ve provided about your rescue dogs. I love your re-telling of Buddy’s healing journey and the lessons you’ve gleaned from his healing strategies. Buddy has been a good teacher to me, too.
Thank you Kris, for all of the good that you do. This good is not only in the words that you share, but also it’s in the light of your “you-ness”.
All of the best to you in your healing journey!
P.S. – Is there any chance you might at some point find time in your busy schedule to travel to Ontario, Canada?
I love that you are bringing more awareness to these 2 very important issues. I live in a very small town of about 15,000 people. I am part of a non-profit group that maintains the local dog park (very large and beautiful) and we also raise money to help low-income local residents with spay and neutering of their pets.
We have been so successful that they have actually had to go to other shelters to bring dogs and cats to our local town shelter to place up for adoption. This is so rewarding.
I have 4 rescue dogs myself. I am always wearing important message t-shirts that support spay and neuter, adoption, and therapy dogs. I figure that I’ll get the message across in one way or another.
Keep up the great work and for touching on something like pet adoption that is so close to my heart and I know the heart of millions of others.
Christine
Dearest Kris! What a beautiful post! Your kids are gorgeous (but you know that already!).
It really resonated with me and reminded me of my wonderful fur balls, who were all strays & unfortunately are no longer with us.
My family moved to the Philippines when I was just 9months old, where I spent the majority of my childhood and where all of of adopted bundles of joy came from. When I was 6, our beautiful dog Angel turned up at one of my parents friends house, covered in bruises and cuts. She had run away because she was being constantly beaten. She was less than a year old. My mum offered to take her straight away and she became the first new edition to the Vokes family!
Then just a few months later, my dad was walking Angel around our block and Angie smelt something + heard some terrible “meow-ing” from the bottom of a huge rain drain (as we used to call them!) in the road. It was a tiny kitten. We all waited a while to make sure his mum wasn’t coming back, and when we realized she wasn’t dad managed to get him out with a long dust pan! Welcome Dipsey (yes named by my 4yr old sister and my 6yr old self after the teletubby!) the second edition. Angie and Dipsey got on insane well (although for the first few months Angie was pretty terrified of this tiny kitten that always wanted to chase her round the house!). But she had found him, and I think they always had that bond.
Fast forward 7 years, Ange and Dips and travelled with us to Nepal and back, and we had just moved back into a new house in the Philippines. There was a HUGE mango tree outside the front gate, and in it were 3 beautiful kittens (Oh how desperately me and my sister wanted to adopt all of them!)! But we waited, and their mother did come back. Unfortunately, we realised a couple of days later, that one had been left behind. So Tenzing (he loved to climb things, so we called him Tenzing after Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, who climbed Mt Everest with Sir Edmund Hilary) was brought into our family too. Our parents told us that when we moved again, we wouldn’t be able to afford to take Tenzing with us as well, and when that time came 4yrs later I was heart broken. We found him a good home, but having to leave him behind- honestly the hardest thing I have EVER had to do.
Dipsey and Angel came with us to Sri Lanka, where they are now buried.
I miss all 3 of them terribly. Life doesn’t quite seem complete without kind & faithful animals around. They taught me an awful lot too, and I feel I was a better person with them around. Can’t wait for the day when I can afford to take in or adopt another needy animal, who I know will teach me new lessons all over again.
Thanks for your post Kris. It was really therapeutic for me to think and write about the fury members who were such a fundamental part of our family.
Love love, puppy love! xxx
Thanks for sharing your story on pet adoption. We found e
ELLA our brown labrador abandoned as a three to five day old puppy in a box at a grocery store shopping cart. We took her home and nursed and bottle feed her. The vet didn’t expect her to survive, but she did. Ella turned into a srtong and beautyful brown Lab we all love. She is our bebe. (-;
Blessings on all who care about these beautiful creatures large and small.
Hi Kris,
I loved your post. I wonder if you’ve ever heard of these guys. Animal lovers come in all shapes and sizes.
Some of your readers in New York may be interested in what they do.
http://www.rescueink.org/mission.html
Blessings
Dan
OMG, so cute! I was cracking up at a few things: Lola looked like she was ready for a nap, the longer you kept petting her… like “Ohh… so soothing!!!” Then Buddy’s thinking, “Mom – mom, I smell something.. dinner or something…I gotta go…” I laughed out loud at your comment about “Buddy – this is the money part”. Your story warms my heart. I adopted my boy, Sampson, 6 years ago. Love of my life. And my fur baby. I saw a sticker someplace that said something along the lines of “My dog adopted me”. So true. So wonderful to see Buddy thriving. He’s a lucky boy. Thanks for this great video and infographic! Very inspiring and heart warming.
Hi Kris,
My husband and I have a dog named Sophie that we rescued 5 years ago this month! She was only 3 years old at the time and had already been in four different homes. She’s an Aussie Shepherd/Border Collie mix and completely deaf. Maybe that’s why other people didn’t want her -but we saw that as an opportunity to make a difference in her sweet little life. At 8 years old now, Sophie is a young-spirited, playful, loving, and sweet dog. She is a true blessing in our lives. We love being her forever home and her human parents.
Thank you for sharing your adoption journey with us – it’s a true inspiration. I visited some of the adoption websites after watching the video because we’ve been talking about adopting another fur-baby. So thank you for being there and doing all that you do.
I hope that I get to meet you one day!
Namaste,
Kathleen
You are awesome Kathleen!
Would you mind sharing what kind of shoes you are wearing in this video? Thanks! And I can’t imagine life without my cats & puppy!
I love that you posted about this, my family could imagine life with our furry family member.
Hi Kris and Team Crazy Sexy!
Thanks for your article this week on pets! We were “Rescued” by our dog “Jazz” this past August at a shelter in the Dallas area called Operation Kindness. They are absolutely awesome! It is by far the BEST shelter we’d ever been to. Clean, humane and all of the volunteers there are the BEST! Super kind and very helpful in choosing the best dog for our family. I’d recommend anyone who’s looking for the right four legged animal…cats or dogs, to take a walk around Operation Kindness.
Thanks again for your sweet article!
Lori
Great blog topic and I agree! We have six rescued dogs, a cat and a Koi pond and all bring me peace, love, joy and healing. It’s a labor of love and all worth it!
I adopted Ginger when she was six weeks old (and i was only 9), from a shelter in Israel, she had just gotten there two hours before we arrived. she was so sweet and so so small, as i looked around the shelter for my new dog she approached me licking my hand enthusiastically, so happy to have a new friend. from that moment on i could not resist her, she got me, i was hers as much as she was mine.
she lived 16 very happy year with us and had just recently passed away, i cant really imagine my life without her, bringing happiness, joy, smiles and smells in to our home.
I recommend it with all my hear. Thank you kris for the opportunity to share xxx
*heart
LOVE LOVE LOVE this! We just adopted beautiful Phoebe, a 5 month old shelter puppy, and I am learning
so much from her. She is shy and skittish, requiring lots of patience. Our other adopted dog, Lucy, is
slowly adjusting to her new companion. Dogs teach us so much, and add a special non verbal element
to our lives. We are also working with a dog trainer, which I highly recommend. My goal is to help
Phoebe grow into a confident dog, and train her as a pet therapy companion for my nursing home
clients.
You are such a sweet mom! This story warms my heart!
Kris- I’ve been following you for 2 years now and keep tuning in to get your intellect and spirit- the healing aspect of this really hit home- I have an adorable wheaten terrier who changed my life and brought me through my cancer journey- sometimes not sure if I am over the trauma of it all. Maggy keeps me grounded and your message brought a soothing new layer of awareness on my journey to heal COMPLETELY!
love you — see you in Ft lauderdale.
Maureen
My daughter & I are in the process of adopting 2 cats we met at the weekend.
When I got up this morning, I sat on the sofa with my cuppa and had a little wibble about whether I’m doing the right thing, committing to homing the cats.
I turned on my laptop and there is the confirmation in the form of your video to just go for it…
Thank you for the message…
It makes me laugh sometimes how the Universe supports us!
I’m now looking forward to bringing more love into our home! 🙂
Oh I LOVE your dogs!!! I am such a dog person myself (I have 2 as well) and I think you are doing fantastic work.
I had to laugh out loud a couple of times when Buddy wanted to leave and what you told him so that he would stay… like “we are asking now for the money” hahaha
Wonderful video! And thanks for caring for these beautiful and loving creatures that make our lives so rich and happy! 🙂
Marina
You are such a BEAUTIFUL BEing…period. I love all that you do…and THIS particular video really, really, REAALLLLy touched me down to my core. WOW. I’ve adopted two dogs over my lifetime. Hannibal and Angel both lived out full, healthy lives. Angel passed last September…September 6th…after 13 years. I know that I will adopt again in the not to distant future. Thank you again, Kris for blessing us with your gifts of LOVE, INSPIRATION, HEALING & PEACE.
Thank you for the wonderful video on your fur babies and your support of adoption, spay/neuter and helping your local shelter. I met you in Denver and was sad not to hear the update on Buddy so loved this blog. The listing of the animals each week helps keep animal adoption in the forefront of people’s minds and thanks for using your space to not only help us two-legged folks but the wonderful four-legged folks in the world also. I have been lucky to work in the animal welfare field for 21 years and have seen many good changes but we have a long way to go. I am off to pick up a mom and 4 puppies from New Mexico tomorrow to head to Boulder to be adopted and get a good chance at a better life. Every life is worth being given a chance to survive and thrive. Thanks to Buddy and Lola for being such good representatives for the wonders of adoption and rescue. And especially to you, Kris, for taking up the animals’ cause.
While I was waiting for my oil to be changed yesterday, there was the most beautiful part lab, part german shepherd doggie also waiting inside with his dad. He was rescued at 6 months of age and his dad said he’s the smartest dog he’s ever had. He was so beautiful, listened perfectly and was affectionate with all the strangers who wanted to pet him on the head (and that was ALOT). What a shame it would have been if that magnificent animal had never found his furever home. I have a kitty that showed up on my doorstep one day all beat and battered. She saved ME that day. I now have something to care for rather than dwell on myself and my “problems”. Thank you Kitty for coming into my life.