Don’t know - my wife’s immediate reaction was “We have to get rid of the cats”, but she was pretty sure her mother would take them. I don’t know what would have happened if we couldn’t do anything but give them to a shelter.
I will note though, that we were already vacuuming her room & changing her sheets frequently as a precautionary measure. And the cats were already banned from her room, since, unlike Soylent Juicy’s shining hero, these cats expressed their love for the arrival of children by going into their rooms and vomiting. Usually some place out of the way and hard to reach, like under the dresser.
Now that you mention it, I was also allergic as a kid, I’d forgotten that. My folks kept the cat out of my room, and I eventually started shots (I was allergic to many many things, not just cat dander). We ended up moving to Paris and lived in the city (still with the cat and dog) and I outgrew much of it. I’m still mildly allergic today to animal dander (cats, dogs, horses) plus dust and grass and hay. I surround myself** with all those things, because I love them more than I hate having to take meds.
**Yes, I’m an adult and choose to do so, no my allergies and asthma are not life threatening, and yes I realize others are not so fortunate.
I must say I find the occasional levels of RO on a fairly far-out hypothetical situation fairly… interesting (I guess is the safest word).
I think it’s fair to say that I’m the [del]Prince Dark Prince[/del] Dork Prince of Straight Dope Hypotheticals, and I don’t think it’s changing to question to bring one’s kids in the equation. Apart from the fact that we started in GD (which is more real-life than IMHO, methinks), the thread question isn’t “Is it ethical to put one’s dog in an animal shelter when no home that will accept pets is available?”; the question is what specific posters would do. Posters’ answer obviously vary because of their actual circumstances.
Pretend I was as fond of a dog as I am of our cats. If I were single and would be living in a car unless I put the dog in a shelter, I’d strongly consider living in the car, because my (hopefully temporary) discomfort would be worth it as a means of protecting the dog’s life. But as a father, I have to say no, because nothing, including my own life, is worth more to me than my baby’s life; I’m not willing to risk her well-being.
If the question were, say, “Would you help a stay dog you saw on the street,” it’s not changing the question to say, “Yes, I would if it were a puppy, but not if it were a snarling Rottweiler that massed 60 kilos.” I’ve done the latter; I wouldn’t expect any layperson to do the former.
To be clear, you’re stating that you’d be willing to have a pet you’ve had for seven years euthanized so that you could avoid some temporary discomfort?
Not being able to live in a house isn’t “temporary discomfort”. I challenge the premise that I couldn’t find lodging that allowed pets or that I couldn’t find someone to take my dog for a period of time while I found better lodging - that’s just beyond the realm of possibility for me. But if we are taking that assumption at face value then yes, I’m afraid poor Tabby (that was our dog’s name, it made no sense) would go to a shelter that euthanizes.
Again, I reject the premise since I don’t believe I could ever be in a position where I couldn’t find a temporary home for a well behaved dog.
To be clear, homelessness is generally more than “temporary discomfort”.
Some people here seem to think that they’re agreeing to camp out and nothing else would change but where they sleep. Everything changes. All of a sudden you have to figure out what becomes of your other belongings, how you’re going to shower, how you will stay employable, how you will search for other housing…all with no fixed place that you call home. The question is not merely, “would you sleep outside for your pet?”
I also find it very hard to imagine such a situation. I own my home, I have friends who would take me (and my pet) in a heartbeat and there are many “pet hotels” in the area that I could put her in if necessary. There are no-kill shelters here.
However, the OP is about a hypothetical. And in such a hypothetical I can’t give up fido for a few days (or weeks) of living in my car.
Maybe to you, not to someone like myself who spent much of his youth without a home.
The hypothetical only proposes that you can’t find a home that will accept your pet. Assuming you still are employed, are financially stable and are not a moron, you can mitigate all of these factors. Though, if that’s the case, one might argue that you wouldn’t find yourself in this circumstance at all.