Pet adoptions over the holidays often increase as people seek to fulfill the wishes of their loved ones, sometimes without thinking of the commitment involved in raising a puppy or kitten, and that can mean another spike in January, this time of unwanted animals being turned in to the animal shelter.

“It works both ways,” said Tim Tant, director of Carroll County Animal Control. “Adoptions for this month are way up high right now. ... But after the holidays ... we have a lot more come in during January.”

A pet requires a commitment of time for its care and can be expensive. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Web site, the average annual cost of basic food, supplies, medical care and training for a dog or cat is $400 to $700. The person receiving the pet may be unwilling or unable to make that commitment.

“Actually, giving an animal as a gift, any time of the year, is a bad idea,” said Tina Buechner, president of the Carroll County Humane Society Board of Directors. “It’s better to give them a pledge to pay (the) adoption fee and make up a basket of toys for under the tree, so the adopter can pick out their own animal after the holiday.”

The animal shelter tries to discourage people from picking a pet out for someone else. Animals pick the owners as much as owners pick the animal, Tant said. Personality matters in pet adoptions. The animal one person picks out may not appeal to another person and the two may not bond.

Buechner said the right match can make all the difference to the pets and their owners. She does a lot of screening before she lets an owner adopt an animal. She also calls shortly after the adoption to make sure that everything is going well and to help the new pet owner work through any problems. In the last eight years, she has adopted out several hundred cats that she has rescued, but has had only a few return them and those were due to medical issues.

“A good example was a couple of years ago. I rescued a couple of Persian mix kittens from the shelter,” Buechner said. “After their quarantine, and vetting (shots, tests, spay, etc), they were ready right before Christmas. I had a lot of applications for them and turned several down. But, I did find the perfect home for both of them together.”

A family adopted them for their twin daughters for Christmas. It was an adoption they had been planning for a long time, not a spur of the moment decision. They provided references, which Buechner checked. They also paid a higher fee for the adoption because it included all the veterinary care including spaying, so the family did not have to do that after the adoption.

If a family has decided to make the commitment to adopt a pet, the holidays can be a good time to choose one. There is a nationwide campaign “Home 4 the Holidays” to encourage pet adoption and many shelters are participating by offering special adoption rates over the holidays to encourage people to come in and meet some of the animals.

At Carroll County’s animal shelter, the fee for adoption is $20 and includes the initial shots. The person adopting the animal is asked to sign a pledge to get the animal spayed or neutered as soon as possible after it turns 6 months old. Because the pets at the animal shelter are picked up all over the county and often little is known about their history, Tant also recommends that new owners take the pets to see a veterinarian within 72 hours of taking it home.

The shelter is offering a relatively new service of putting a microchip in the skin of the animal that has all its identification information. A family’s new pet can be chipped for $12.

“That way if you lose your pet, we scan them and we can get it back to you quicker,” Tant said.