Adopting an animal from a shelter gives them more than a home - adopting a pet from a shelter gives them hope for survival.
Countless cats, dogs and other stray and unwanted animals - innocent, loving and unsuspecting animals - are put to death every day, because the shelters don't have enough room for the new animals that are found and brought in - again, every day.
My Cricket is a shelter cat, adopted from the Santa Cruz SPCA a few months after my beloved Maddy died of brain cancer.
I knew just when it was time to fill the empty seat in my lifeboat: there had been a fire at the Santa Cruz SPCA, and they were desperate to find homes for their homeless.
Cricket is quite gentle - with humans anyway, not at all with other cats. She is one of the most affectionate creatures I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Smart as a whip too.