Cuddly Valentine Gifts Carry Responsibility, OKC Shelter Volunteers Say

If you were thinking about giving a dog, cat or any other pet to your significant other this Valentine's Day, experts have a warning before you make that purchase.

Saturday crowds packed into the Central Oklahoma Humane Society and the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter to find the perfect pet ahead of Valentine's Day.

"It's been a great turnout," said Whitney Zeka-McPhadden with the Central Oklahoma Humane Society. "We had lots of people here at 8:30 this morning.  We opened at 11 and we have done 107 adoptions so far."

While Zeka-McPhadden was excited about this weekend's adoptions, she still wanted to let everyone know that giving a pet may not be the best idea for the holiday.

"It's very important to remember that if you're going to get a live animal as a gift, you probably should actually have that discussion with the person you're going to give the gift to because not everyone is ready to take on the responsibility of a live animal."

The Humane Society volunteers have made it their mission to make sure all of the adopted pets end up in safe and happy homes.

"We have adoption specialists here and when someone adopts an animal from the Central Oklahoma Humane Society, they do go ahead and have a discussion with an adoption specialist to realize the responsibilities they need to have," explained Zeka-McPhadden.

The bottom line is to make sure the pets don't end up abandoned like they were once before.

Zeka-McPhadden's final piece of advice was, "Keep in mind that it's a life-long responsibility so the animal does need to be taken care of."

The Central Oklahoma Humane Society does encourage anyone who is ready to adopt an animal to rescue one from a shelter or their facilities. Since winter weather is expected, they also wanted to remind folks to make sure their pets have proper shelter from the wind and cold.