Well said.
Coming down hard on those who want to get rid of their pets because they beome “inconvenient” is hardly being judgemental.
The fact is, puppies shit all over before they are housebroken, cats sometimes start marking territory, pet food is not cheap, neither are vet appointments, animals get old, they can become incontinent and they get sick. If you aren’t prepared to deal with these things then don’t bother getting a pet.
I do understand that if your pet has a very serious medical condition and treatment is extremely expensive and you don’t have the money that it’s better to euthanize than to let the pet linger untreated and suffering.
My post was directed at those who are judging people for NOT immediately disposing of their pets.
News flash: Animals are animals, and humans are animals.
Psst. Post 14. Just sayin’
You presumably are asking that question rhetorically, but I do believe that some of the people you are addressing would do just that.
BTW, I do find your post a little naive. People who have limited financial resources ARE entitled to have pets, and DO need to sometimes weigh the advantages of keeping the animal alive vs. their other financial obligations. This does carry over to damage to the household. It’s just a little glib to say, “if you aren’t prepared to deal with those things, etc.” Most people with pets are prepared to deal with MOST things, but when the level of damage or expense reaches a certain point, they make a tough decision. You certainly have the right to choose a home or financial security over a sense of duty to the pet.
Is that your usual approach to your personal responsibilities when they become inconvenient?
I think that animals are not as important as people. That said, I am appalled by the “throw 'em out when they get troublesome” position.
There are people, and there are critters that walk on two legs and might be mistaken for people. One of the distinctions between the two is that the former understand a concept known as “personal responsibility”, and that it applies even when it becomes inconvenient.
Man, this is dumb.
There is black, and there is white, and there are inconvenient “shades of gray” one must consider when categorizing and casting judgment on others.
As someone who works at a humane society, allow me to reassure you that we’re not interested in adopting kittens into homes where they’ll be thrown away as soon as they become an inconvenience. Jesus Christ.
Daniel
Ummm…it was the late news.
This just in: Generalissimo Franco still dead!
Bolding mine.
More “no shades of gray.” EITHER you deserve a pet because you’ll go to the poor house and live in a litter box to protect Fluffy, OR you don’t deserve a pet because the first time it piddles you’ll drown it on the $7 bath mat. NO shades of gray. No 14-year-long commitments with expensive vet bills, regular food and litter, lotsa love and cat toys, and a few hundred dollars of carpet, ending in an unfortunate but inevitable euthanasia to prevent the animal and yourself from suffering. You’re either LOVE your pet, or you don’t.
It seems to be me that some people ought not to post their opinions on the Internet. They can’t handle the responsibility.
Bolding mine.
More “no shades of gray.” EITHER you deserve a pet because you’ll go to the poor house and live in a litter box to protect Fluffy, OR you don’t deserve a pet because the first time it piddles you’ll drown it. NO shades of gray. No 14-year-long commitments with expensive vet bills, regular food and litter, lotsa love and cat toys, and a few hundred dollars of carpet, ending in an unfortunate but inevitable euthanasia to prevent the animal and yourself from suffering. You’re either LOVE your pet, or you don’t.
It seems to be me that some people ought not to post their opinions on the Internet. They can’t handle the responsibility.
Gotta side with Rune on this one. I’m not one to dispose of a pet because it has become an inconvenience, but when it starts making a loved one uncomfortable then it’s time to ditch the bitch.
And saying I’m egotistical for valuing the life of any human being (aside from murderers, rapists, etc…) over that of ANY pet, including one of my own, is a fucking joke. Please tell me, if you’ve had a cat for 5 years and then have a child that is allergic to cats, which one, if either, are you relocating?
Cats who out of the blue start peeing outside of the litter box usually have a health problem that needs to be addressed by a vet. We had a 9 year old cat who started doing that-turned out she had cancer.
When you take a pet, you take in the responsibility of caring for that animal. People who shove animals outside because said animal starts having accidents are people who shouldn’t have pets. Simple as that.
Well appearance always was of the utmost importance to me, so here I go…….Right thanks for waiting. I see no pressing need to discuss the woman or her thread, but since a man was taken to the pit - she sure does seem to me inordinately emotionally involved with the animal and some distance and perspective, as advised by mr. Fierce, seem both reasonable and sound advice - if put a bit harshly. So there. Quite unpitworthy if you ask me. Of course bigdfrombigd can feel how she bloody well wants to, we all got out idiosyncrasies. I for instance, think animals should be treated with respect, but as animals – not little humans or children. Keeping a cat alive to a ripe old age where it has lost all teeth and has to wear diapers not to piss on the damn carpet doesn’t seem to cover it though.
ewww… TMI already!
Where you get such outlandish ideas from is simply beyond me. I looked it up. There were some murky bits about a spirit floating over the waters, six days and a quick nap, something about an apple and the frailty of women – or was that Shakespeare? …anyway not thing about humans being animals. Quite right too, humans cry, while for instance cats don’t - cats don’t forgive either because they don’t hate, neither do they love like humans do for that matter. I believe that’s what you’d call bambification. As I said humans are humans, animals animals. Lets see if we can keep the two apart shall we.
Gosh, that’s interesting! Too bad it’s got nothing to do with what I’m talking about. I was responding to the post that opined, “I do think that when pets become more of a nuisance than a joy, you should get rid of it.”
That’s not a “shades of gray” situation. That sets up a situation where you get rid of an animal when it becomes more of a nuisance than a joy. Nothing to do with the animal’s own welfare, just with whether you find the animal an inconvenience, a nuisance. Nothing to do with whether you have too low a bar for an animal’s being a nuisance.
I know you’re real fond of your “shades of gray” analogy, but kindly get it the fuck away from me. I teach kids and adults about the reasons why people bring animals to the shelter, and I emphasize those shades of gray. When I talk to volunteers about the reasons why people surrender animals to us, I explain that the reasons range the gamut from the pretty pathetic (“I’m bored with this dog!”) to the very reasonable (“My child has developed serious allergies to cats, and I can’t keep this cat any more”), and that there are tons of reasons in between, and that we must be civil to everyone who brings us animals, no matter why they bring them to us.
Nonetheless, if someone is going to get rid of an animal once the joy has worn off and they consider the animal a nuisance, then they’re a bad adoption choice: we’re not sending an animal home with them.
So back off, mkay?
Daniel
Daniel,
I appreciate the work you do with animals and adoption, etc. I am sorry if I misread your posts, but there seems to be a lot of finger-pointing on the one hand, and sheer nastiness on the other. I originally came into this thread to make the same exclamations as you about the tactlessness of how some treat the euthanasia of pets, but since I’m in a predicament where a much loved but old and ailing cat is pissing every where, I like to think I have the right to put that animal down at some point rather than feeling obligated to recarpet the entire house because some guy on the Internet thinks I oughta. I’ll spare you any more analogies. It pisses me off that some people treat pets as disposable, but most of the people I know who’ve put animals down did so after much painful deliberation and trying every other remedy.