According to the ASPCA, more than 3 million animals get adopted every year.

The decision to adopt a pet can bring you great joy as well as huge responsibility.

Pet owners will often say, I love my pet, but sometimes I feel like I just adopted a child.

Choosing the right pet can bring you a special love and satisfaction, or it can turn into a nightmare experience where you rue the day you adopted your pet.

So, don’t leave your decision to adopt a pet to impulse, emotion or chance. Use the positive timing in you’re horoscope to provide you with the best time to select a pet that will work out to your satisfaction.

Here’s how:

The 6th House of your birth chart rules all domestic pets and small animals. The 12th House rules large pets (e.g. horses) While there are many transits that can provide you with great timing to select your pet, when Jupiter transits either of these Houses, you’ll have a whole year where luck and fortune can help insure that you have a happy experience in selecting a pet. This is an ideal time to acquire a pet if you’ve always wanted one. Or, if you have a pet, it’s a good time to expand your activities with your pet.

For example, my friend Lorna decided to enroll her puppy in an obedience training school. This is also an advantageous time for animals to be bred for positive results. (Note: To learn where Jupiter is in your horoscope—see the end of this article.)

However, my favorite pet story for successfully using Jupiter’s transit of the 6th House, concerns the love of my life, Leslie. During a time I was extensively traveling, she asked if we could adopt a cat to keep her company.

Since it was going to be her cat, I looked at her transit chart. I told her that her transits weren’t favorable at that exact moment for finding a cat she’d be happy with. But, if she waited about two months, she’d have Jupiter transiting her 6th House, making a very favorable transit. This would assure her finding an ideal cat she would love.

She agreed to wait. Then, a few days later she said, “Why don’t we just go to the San Francisco animal shelter and just look.” I said that was fine with me as long as we only looked. We drove over to the facility to see all the cats that were available for adoption. Of course, we petted and played with lots of cats.

Then, the inevitable happened. Leslie saw one that she really liked and said, “Larry, I just love this little kitty. Her name is Minnie. She seems timid and shy, but so lovely. I want her for my cat.” I looked at her and said, “Before you make your final decision, I want to remind you that according to your personal transits, it’s a bad time to choose a cat. But, of course, if you really want that cat, we’ll get it.” She said that she didn’t care about the transits. So, we adopted Minnie.

Over the next 3 weeks, Minnie proceeded to hide under the bed and everywhere else. The cat wasn’t just timid; she appeared to be very frightened. Minnie was not the least bit social, outgoing, or interested in being around us, despite all of Leslie’s loving care and patience.

Finally, with tears in her eyes, Leslie said, “It’s been almost 3 weeks. I’m sorry, but I am not enjoying having this cat as my pet. I am the wrong owner for a cat with this personality. Can we, please take her back?” When we returned Minnie, the people at the animal shelter were very understanding, telling us that she hadn’t been properly socialized prior to adoption, and should have been gone to a family with multiple cats.

We waited another 30 days for Leslie’s positive transit to occur. On that anointed day, we drove to the animal shelter and looked at a number of cats. One caught my eye, a large, furry, friendly Maine Coon named Rocky. I showed him to Leslie and she fell in love with him immediately. We played with him for a while, seeing that he was outgoing, curious and unafraid. He really enjoyed being touched and petted. Each time Leslie put him down he jumped right back onto her lap to be petted some more. It was clear: he was the right cat at the “right time.” We’ve had Rocky for eight years. He’s a totally sweet, affectionate, people-cat. If it ever comes down to Rocky or me, I could be playing second fiddle.

TIP: Use a positive transit to your 6th House (or 12th) when picking the best time to choose a pet. Both you and your pet will be happy you did.

If you want to know where your personal transits are — to see if they are affecting you, go to the Free Transit Calculator and enter your birth date. You may find that the transiting planet, Jupiter might be bringing luck and good fortune into your life right now.

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Editor: Rachel Nussbaum

Photos: elephant photo archives