Beware of Pet "Flippers"

[Catherine]

There is a new problem out there that is the result of online selling and rehoming of pets. It happens when the pet is given away or sold very cheaply. Someone will present themselves as the perfect home, take the pet and later sell it for a profit online.
There is no way to guarantee that the pet will end up in a suitable place.

http://www.valleynewslive.com/content/ne...40613.html


When you deal with anything online you have to be cautious. You don't really know who you are talking to. There are lots of scams online. People get taken all the time. When it comes to finding homes for pets there is a need to be even more cautious. 
That person claiming to be the dream home could be anyone with any number of bad plans for you pet.

At very least there should be pictures of the pets future home and some references you can phone.  If possible there should be a couple of face to face meetings. After all, pets are our responsibility. It would be hard to live with finding out that something bad happened to the pet. 
Caveat emptor we all know, let the buyer beware. I found a new term, caveat venditor, let the seller beware.

[Tobi]

That is good advice Catherine. Things are not the way they used to be. When I was a young girl I would see advertisements in shop windows saying something like, "2 kittens, free to good homes".... In those days that is what it meant. The cats would be looked after for the rest of their lives by the people who responded to the ad.
Our family dog came from a litter of pups from a Colleague of my Dad's at work. They were given to people to take home "for Christmas presents for their children."
How shocking that would be now! But then it worked so well.....Our dog lived the rest of her life happy, with us. Other people in my Dad's office took pups and they also had happy family lives.

Now....anything could happen. We can't necessarily trust people the way we used to be able to. Things have changed.

[Catherine]

Pet flipping is bad. It is exploiting the pet to make money. There are things that are much worse. People with dog fighting rings are always looking for Bait. Serial killers and animal abusers are looking for victims they can abuse. Finding animals free on the internet makes things easier for them.

It would be better and safer to surrender puppies and kittens to a good local animal shelter. They have staff there who are trained to interview future adopters and judge whether they are suitable.

It would be horrible to wonder what happened to a pet you let someone take from you.