Black Friday Gets New Meaning

Traditionally Black Friday is the highly anticipated shopping event held the day after Thanksgiving when retailers slash prices to kick off the holiday gift buying season. It is also a day of competing with fellow shoppers over parking spaces, pushing your way through crowded department stores and standing in long lines to pay for prized merchandise.

However, there is another type of Black Friday shopping event that is sure to lower your blood pressure, improve your overall outlook and still offer those deep discounts. It is a Black Friday Pet Adoption and there is sure to be one in your area.

The concept came about by animal rescue groups that wanted to capitalize on a special day they could highlight hard to place black cats and dogs. The idea quickly caught on and now there are hundreds of Black Friday Adopt-a-thons held from one end of the country to another.

Cats and dogs with black coats have a lower adoption rate at shelters and are euthanized more often than other pets.

This phenomenon is so common in black dogs that it has earned the name of the Black Dog Syndrome (BDS). It has even inspired some animal welfare organizations like Black Pearl Dogs to specialize in helping these overlooked pups find new homes.

Homeless black cats have an equally difficult time getting adopted. In a video produced by Pet Rescue by Judy, it states that in some shelters up to 40% of the cats euthanized have black coats.

There are many speculations as to why this phenomenon exists:

The color black is often vilified in the media.
People have superstitions that black is synonymous with bad luck.
People falsely believe black cats are less friendly.
People falsely believe black dogs are more aggressive.

However, many animal rescue groups think it is really a matter of animals with black fur literally “gettting lost” in a shelter.

People cannot clearly see their faces and have a hard time reading their expressions. Rescue groups admit that even pictures of pets with black coats do not show their features as well as other animals. It’s been noted that potential adopters actually walk past their cages; as if they were ghosts.

So if you want a stress free Black Friday shopping day, visit a Black Friday Adopt-a-thon in your city. The event gives black cats and dogs a day to shine and show off their good qualities and it will still offer pet guardians those deep discounts they are seeking.

video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl0-VJNav_U

Heaven Can Wait Animal Society

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Susan Suni I.

11:58PM PST on Jan 26, 2010

Black cats and dogs are all very sweet!! Black cats have a sweeter personality than most of the other colors. They really are very sweet and loving to everyone. They are very cute with their extreme hypersensitivity to cold. My daughter's Shadow kitty is a heater hog. When she was tiny, she'd sit and lay on the living room heater vent, and freeze everyone else out!! Now, when she hears my daughter turn on the space heater, she rushes in, sets herself down squarely in front of the heater, and exposes her pink tummy to the heat coming out!! It's a real scream to watch!! Daisy and I have the same exact kind of heater here, as I cannot use the gas wall heater - - - it put me in the hospital two winters in a row! So we have this little space heater that I don't trust even as far as I can throw it, because one like it burned my twinner's house down to the ground!! because this little heater has an ocillation mode, it rotates. This is unacceptable to Daisy - - - a machine that moves all by itself !! She runs from it - - - to heck with being warm! Her old Ma don't feel that way!! Black cats and dogs are special, and should not be feared. To fear a black animal IS just purely superstition without merit of any kind.

send a green star

pierluigi b.

3:28AM PST on Jan 9, 2010

I love black cats too!

Gabrielle G.

10:48AM PST on Dec 7, 2009

Its sad that people are so closed minded about black pets. Come on now people! The color of their coats doesn't mean anything! I have a solid black dane that I love with all my heart! He doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body..

Elizabeth M.

3:11PM PST on Dec 6, 2009

I work at a cat shelter and the black ones seem to be the extra friendly ones.

Wendye K.

9:42PM PST on Dec 4, 2009

Thanks. I didn't know about that. We have a beautiful Russian Black called Rhapsody. All our pussycats are sweet and wonderful but Rhapsody in particular loves his cuddles. We joke that you can't see his face when his eyes are closed! During the night he visits me so he can curl up next to me and I place my arms around him. He sleeps between my husband and myself. The myths about black cats and dogs are ridiculous. It's how you treat them - and yes, we treat our babies as if they're people! They come FIRST in our household.

Mervi R.

4:50PM PST on Dec 4, 2009

One of our cats is black and no different than any of the others. The colour of the coat has nothing to do with the nature or temperament of the animal!

Dr Kathi A.

1:55PM PST on Dec 4, 2009

I had no idea that black cats & black dogs were adopted less often. Good thing I love my little black fur-babies. They could not be sweeter. They are beautiful, of course. They purr all the time. Which helps keep the "joy" flowing. They are loved & they know it. They love my son, David, & me & we know it.

Did not know the fur color had anything to do with how you care about your pets. Guess I have been wrong all these years thinking fur [or skin] color does not make the person or pet.... I thought it was what is on the INSIDE that matters. You can just tell you are going to be good friends with ppl or pets, often from BEFORE you or they speak, just something INTERNAL.

Stefano M.

8:17PM PST on Dec 3, 2009

I adopted a black cat when I volanteered at an animal hospital and he turned out to be an amazing animal. He was very affectionate and a special personality. I had two other black cats all of which were wonderful.
In ancient Egypt they were considered sacred as they were associated with Bast, the goddess of Egypt. If you killed a black cat you were condemed to death.

Tabatha F.

3:16PM PST on Dec 3, 2009

What a shame, all animals have the same unconditional love, people can be so narrow minded, I wish I could open thier hearts.

Lilith G.

11:39AM PST on Dec 3, 2009

I love black cats. I had one when I was a kid. I named him Onyx.