Reviewed by Jill Rey for Readers' Favorite

Why Do People Have Pets? by Barry KuKes is a collection of just over seventy articles KuKes has written for a Florida-based paper. KuKes is an employee at a local humane society and uses his experience and the questions he receives to craft his articles. Not limited to the popular dog and cat breeds, Why Do People Have Pets? includes information on goldfish, reptiles, rabbits, and other less common household pets.

Covering topics such as leaving clothing and a bowl of water outside if your dog goes missing, getting started with loving and caring for a goldfish, and advice on what to do with feral cats, so much is covered in these articles. And, given the timing of the compilation of this book, KuKes relates our misery with quarantining during COVID for the short-term duration of the pandemic, to the lives of these animals each and every day they are stuck at the shelter. He does a great job of tugging on every reader’s heartstrings as he compels young and old to consider adoption. Although not shy about the challenges of shelter costs, including the roughly $260 per dog that it costs to onboard each new surrender (excluding any shelter overhead costs), he gives the reasons people surrender and his own experiences with adoption and senior pets. Ending each article with the phrase “adopt, don’t shop,” his consistent messaging is bound to stick to any reader of his columns.

As someone that has always had a dog in my home, Why Do People Have Pets? had me hugging my own dog extra tight and even had great tips and advice for this seasoned animal lover. Beautifully read, as if the author himself was speaking directly to you in his columns, I felt right at home listening to this book. The wide variety of topics, the smooth and steady reading, and the calm voice of the narrator BT Stephenson instantly sucked me into the topics at hand. All that is left to do now is to remember to adopt, don’t shop as you consider spreading your love and opening your home to another pet.