Aren’t predators more likely to feed themselves on sick animals, anyway? wouldalso asume that most diseases that could afflict a rodent aren’t threatening for a reptile…
Are you seriousl? Inform other people of what? That it’s more important that you hang yourself on a cross as the ultimate martyr do-gooder? Give me a fucking break. I’m all for helping animals, but if you can’t afford to, don’t. If you do it and sacrifice your own health for their sake (and I’m talking about for the sake of a sick guinea pig or fish), don’t tell people about it. It makes you sound like a raving lunatic.
Not everyone would agree. Your perogative. I am not trying to be a martyr. I was preaching to the choir. Those that would understand. I was not trying to make converts.
Let me finish since it seems that I cannot use a keyboard (funny, I was trying to crazy glue something and as you can guess, it only glued my fingers so now I cannot feel the keys to type. bleh)
The point I was hoping that you would take home is that should you want to adopt a pet try to avoid pet stores in favor of smaller, caring shops, rescues and human societies. Like many corporate entities, the big stores will only change when they notice their profits are falling.
clairobscur it is very true the snake would have been fine eating a sickly animal. A snake’s gotta eat, too. It was more the attitude of the sales person. Rather than seeing that the animal was cared for she offered it as food. She also did not seem to realize that one sick pet can jeopardize the others and as sick as Kiran was, it was awful to think she was selling other pets that could die as soon as someone bought them because of improper conditions. Just her disregard for animal health. Even feeder animals should be taken care of. At least the sick ones should be removed from the others.
Kiran died tonight. His lungs filled with fluid and diuretics did not work. Additionally, he lost his top incisors due to scurvy at his last feeding. He starting to fail very suddenly and his systems shut down just after I made a decision to euthanize him. I managed to give him a sedative before we went to the emergency vet to euthanize him, so hopefully his final minutes would have been somewhat less painful. He died before we made the vet. Poor little thing. He tried so hard.
No need to offer condolences; I thank you for reading and keeping him in your thoughts. I thank those who know better than to allow pets to be deemed as disposable items and as worthy in their own right. And I hope maybe someone who was not aware has read the thread and it has given them food for thought.
I am sorry that some chose to jump on my decisions not see a doctor. Lord, y’all would crucify my boyfriend if you heard him veritably coughing up a lung right now. And he is still smoking. I would rather do what I did than use the money to put a CD player in my non-existant car. I will add that as low as my own coffers may be my parents would give me money to go see a doctor. But for reasons not to be explained I would do that only if I woke up with my lung next to me in my bed. Sometimes posts do not and cannot convey all the nuances of the situation. You could argue I am a fool for not taking their help. But that is neither here nor there.
I would have rathered have kept the conversation to people’s opinions on pet stores. I was actually surprised there was not any posts that tried to redeem or exonerate them. Heh. I hope that is a positive sign that people only question my monetary priorities. If this thread does continue, I would think it would be a better discussion of when too much is too much in an animal’s care. Well, I guess that would include allotment of funds. So I retract the earlier statement of the relevance of my not seeing a doctor. But please do not call me a martyr. I may Catholic but that was not how I was trying to come across.
Sorry to ramble but I am feeling a little out of sorts- just a little sad that the treatments did not work. I will make mayself content, or possibly delude myself, that at least the treatment spared him some modicum of pain until I realized he was not going to get better and we could not increase his quality of life.
Now the additional thoughts: Even though this is the Pit conversationis still allowed, you know, not only the virulent shit I have been noticing on some of the threads. Jesus people, get a grip. Everyone is not an asshat just because they do agree with you. Insults tend to fly rather quickly at any perceived insults. And this is not a condemnation against any poster in this thread since no one was really offensive, but I am too tired to start a new thread. Decency is decency, even if tempered with incredulity and sarcasm. But don’t let my offhand remark turn to the purpose of the Pit and hijack this thread. Cut me some slack as I did write the OP. 
Also, do I come off sounding like a guy or do people automatically default to assuming unsexed posters are men? Second time it has happened to me on the Boards. I am not offended quite on the contrary since women can be trifiling. Since that is not particularly germane you may consider it idle musings on my part and can look and assure myself that I am indeed a girl. Yep, no dangly bits.
Regards,
boofuu
I am sorry that you consider a Guinea Pig’s health more important than yours. I sincerely hope that you do not keel over and die from your gross negligence of your health.
Christ, is it really necessary to jump all over boofuu? Have none of you ever made a decision because of an emotional attachment? This may not be a connection that you understand (some people love animals or types of animals, some are ambivalent), and you may not agree with the OP, but you don’t need to be nasty about it. Heck, I’m sure all of you have, at some point in your life, risked your health for far lesser things – like a thrill, or eating habits, or smoking, or what have you. It’s not like boofuu used up chemotherapy money.
boofuu, I’m sorry to hear about Kiran.
Seconded. The only time I would get upset at him (or a person in general) treating a guinea pig before a human was if he had a sick child and ignored that in favor of the pig. It’s his decision to make about his health, not anyone else’s and, like fluiddruid, I doubt that every person makes optimal decisions about their health.
5 years ago, we had to pay $600 for surgery for my dog. It meant that we couldn’t afford groceries for 2 weeks (although we had a ‘stockpile’ of dried and canned food, luckily). Were we stupid? I don’t think so. Taking on a pet means you agree to take care of it to the best of your abilities.
“Congestion for a month” sounds more like allergies than anything else (IANAD, but I do have allergies). If boofuu were coughing up blood or running a fever of 105 or had huge black lumps in her armpits, then it might be justifiable to say she should go to the doctor instead of trying to save a guinea pig. But congestion for a month just doesn’t sound that serious. It’s boofuu’s money and boofuu’s body, she gets to do what she wants with it as long as it is not hurting anyone else.