Most experts
agree that shelters and reputable
breeders can be good places to get a
cat, while pet stores and backyard
breeders should be avoided because of he higher chance of health and behavior issues.
Nothing is perfect but I fully
agree with more controlled and limited breeding of all
cats and dogs by responsible, reputable
breeders to reduce the overall population, spaying and neutering all other dogs and
cats and expanding the foster program, and helping some groups to become a sanctuary themselves to help those animals that are harder to adopt have a quality place to stay (following in the footsteps of the Best Friends model) until they are adopted, other programs that train some of these dogs to be therapy dogs, search and rescue dogs, dogs to help the handicapped, police dogs, etc..