History Main / UnsuccessfulPetAdoption

* Played for drama in the PSA "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDLCnRKAap8 Do Not Abandon Your Pet]]". A man loves his dog, but his girlfriend, who has recently moved in with him, does not, so he abandons the dog in the park. The dog remains there for months, [[CryingCritters crying]].

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Repeated attempts to adopt Blaze normally prove unsuccessful, referenced in both "The Seven" and "The Cameo." Something almost always seems to go wrong: a careless nip, fits of barking, piddle accidents, scratching up curtains and furniture, or a combination of these -- and he's [[TheDrifter a perpetual stray]] as a result.

* ''WesternAnimation/OpenSeason'': Mr. Weenie the dog runs away from home and joins the wild animals. [[spoiler: Subverted as he later comes back]].

* In ''Film/TheSmurfs2'', this is discussed: Patrick had a parrot named Zeus as a little boy but was allergic and didn't realize, so his stepfather took it away, pretending ''he'' was allergic to avoid making Patrick sad.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** Gaspode the Wonder Dog, a veteran street mutt and intelligent talking dog, did for a while express a desire to get adopted into a nice suburban family. When Carrot managed to arrange this for him, it lasted for maybe a few hours before he made a break for it and escaped back to the streets; evidently, the pet life wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
** In a similar vein, The Amazing Maurice had a plan to set himself up as a "lucky black cat" with a nice old lady, funded by the money from the rat-catching con they were running. However, by the end of the book, when most everyone else had their happy endings and setting up an arrangement like that would have been well within their means, Maurice instead chooses to start a new con game.
** Early in her witchcraft career, Magrat Garlick had a history of adopting "familiars" that soon died, ran away, or otherwise proved unsuitable.

* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' features an episode where Salem adopts a dog-man (a man who acts like an over-excited dog). While Sparky is not a bad pet, the Spellmans decide he's too much responsibility for Salem to handle (and having a dog-man would lead to weird complications in the Mortal Realm), so they re-home him (to a family of talking dogs no less).

* Played with in the children's song "The Cat Came Back". Old Mr. Johnson ''wants'' to get rid of his unwanted cat. The cat has different ideas.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' episode, "[[Recap/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehogS01E20SoLongSucker So Long Sucker]]", Tails adopts an alien creature from another dimension as a pet, which he names Goopster. Goopster proves to be a handful, [[BigEater devouring dozens of chili dogs]] and [[VacuumMouth sucking up anything that gets in his way]] if he gets angry. At the end of the episode, Sonic reunites Goopster with his parents, but Tails feels bad about letting him go. To make it up to him, Sonic offers to get Tails a new pet after lunch (but not an alien this time).

* In the graphic novel ''ComicBook/{{Allergic}}'', Maggie, who has just turned ten, is allowed to pick out her very own dog. She finds the perfect one--and then breaks out in itching and hives minutes later, so bad she has to go home and lay down. [[PlotAllergy She's found to be severely allergic to anything with fur or feathers]] and has to give up her dream.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'':

** In "Chuckie's Duckling", Chuckie tries to keep a duckling named Herbert. Ducks can be pets, but Chuckie doesn't have a pond, so he puts Herbert back with his family in the park.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/BagiTheMonsterOfMightyNature'' started as a cute pink kitten given to the boy Ryo Ishigami by his father. However, the kitten, named Bagi, soon displayed capabilities and intellect far beyond those of any ordinary housecat. Concerned for his son's safety, Ryo's father decides to remove Bagi from his home, but Bagi has already fled. Ryo and Bagi would reunite by chance many years later.
[[/folder]]

* Zigzagged in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Uhura buys a little alien called a tribble but has to get rid of it because all tribbles multiply like crazy and are "born pregnant". The zigzagging comes from the fact that it's a bit unsure if tribbles are generally kept as pets. Cyrano Jones sells them, but it's often stated that they make bad pets.

[[folder:AnimeAndManga]]

Usually enforced because StatusQuoIsGod and adding a new pet to the cast would shake up the status quo too much. Compare PetBabyWildAnimal. May overlap with ShooTheDog. Contrast ABoyAndHisX, ComeBackMyPet (when a pet is sent away or runs away respectively, but ''does'' come back), and TropeyComeHome (same).

Pets dying does not count, because unfortunately no pet is immortal (or not in real life, anyway). Nor does it count when the animal is wild, because there's a pretty good reason why wild animals would run away or have to leave, although feral versions of domesticated pets can count.

Usually enforced because StatusQuoIsGod and adding a new pet to the cast would shake up the status quo too much. Compare PetBabyWildAnimal. May overlap with ShooTheDog. Contrast ABoyAndHisX, ComeBackMyPet (when a pet is sent away or runs away respectively, but ''does'' come back) and TropeyComeHome (same).

* ''Anime/BagiTheMonsterOfMightyNature'' started as a cute pink kitten given to the boy Ryo Ishigami by his father. However, the kitten, named Bagi, soon displayed capabilites and intellect far beyond those of any ordinary housecat. Concerned for his son's safety, Ryo's father decides to remove Bagi from his home, but Bagi has already fled. Ryo and Bagi would reunite by chance many years later.

* ''Fanfic/LadyAndTheTrampIIIFamilyTroubles'': Angel is a puppy who has already been through numerous families. The first abandoned her because of allergies, while the second abandoned her because they thought a street dog might hurt their new baby. Angel never figured out why the third family abandoned her. After that third family, Angel began running away from her families because she's scared they'll kick her out. Part of the story is Angel dealing with her abandonment issues and learning to become a happy housepet. The story ends a few years later, with a now adult Angel and her mate Scamp [[APetIntoTheWild running away]] to live as strays.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', P. Sherman tries to give Nemo away to his irresponsible niece Darla, but he escapes before she can even take him home. At the end, Sherman's own fish (Bubbles, Bloat, Deb, Gurgle, and Gill), starfish (Peach) and shrimp (Jacques) escape.

* Exaggerated in ''Literature/CatWalk'', where the cat protagonist ''keeps'' running away from or being unsuitable for his owners, until he finally gets a permanent owner.

** Sometime around the events of ''Hawkwing's Journey'', Frecklewish was captured by humans and brought to live in an apartment building, several stories high. They lost their new cat not long after, when she escaped by jumping from their windowsill to a fire escape and then to a tree that she was able to climb down.
** In the ''Graystripe's Adventure'' manga, Graystripe is caught by humans while trying to free his Clanmates from captivity, and is adopted by a family. Although he lets them pet him, his feral nature means that he's never completely at ease, and he scratches the furniture and shreds a toy at least once. Once he's let outside and gets over all the noise and smells of the city, he runs away with another pet cat to find his Clan.

* ''WesternAnimation/GreenEggsAndHam'': Snerz had a Flemur as a child. He was heartbroken when his mother accidentally left the door open one day and it escaped, never to be seen again. [[spoiler:His mother later reveals that she let the Flemur escape intentionally, since Snerz's "love" was smothering it.]] That betrayal led him to become estranged from his mother and drove him to possess all the rare creatures he could, preventing them from ever leaving him.

** In "[[Recap/RugratsS2E9NoBonesAboutItBeachBlanketBabies Beach Blanket Babies]]", Chas gives Chuckie sea monkeys as a pet, but Chuckie believes the sea monkeys are homesick, and decides to release them in the ocean when he and Tommy go to the beach.

* In ''Literaure/TheGirlTheDogAndTheWriter in Provence'', one of Freja and Tobias's neighbors used to own two rabbits named Nina and Odette, but they ran away.

** In "A Pal for Gary", Spongebob adopts a pet named Puffy Fluffy, who runs away permanently. Just as well, because [[FluffyTheTerrible Puffy Fluffy kept trying to eat Gary]].