Instead of fighting the hypothetical, you’re adding to it. 
I meant for everone to assume they’d be returning to their lives as they live them now. The single-&-childlesss remain so; the married-with-kids have spouses and rugrats waiting for them; etc.
Fully agree, 100%. I have yet to own a dog that didn’t love me unconditionally, so I can just go out and get a new dog. Pets are temporary. Very few have lifespans even half as long as a normal human. When you get a pet, you should expect that, at some point during your life, it’s going to die. To give up your own life to save the life of an animal that’s very likely going to die in a few years anyway is just bizarre to me.
I didn’t say that there WAS no other way. I said that, as far as you can see at that moment, there is no other way. I wouldn’t consider taking your chances that you’ll find another way to be fighting the hypothetical.
As for smuggling the dog on board, well, the captain is obviously about to cast off, and he’s just said, “Leave the dog right where you’re standing and come aboard right now. I’m not waiting for you to take it elsewhere, and if you try to come aboard with the hound in tow, we’re not letting you on.”
I fling Caelan into the Captain’s face. This distracts the crew enough that the other cats race aboard and secure all weapons. I then calmly walk up the gangplank, kick the Captain’s bleeding corpse overboard (thus lightening the load sufficiently for the cats and I to safely embark), and inform the cowering crew that their new Captain (moi) says to cast off and weigh anchor.
The cats then gather on the railing to wave their hindparts at Skald.
Now THAT is fighting the hypothetical.
ETA: Whence came these cats with opposable thumbs?
Meh - you don’t get to add in these details now. In my imagined scenario, an alternative, pet friendly route home opens up in a reasonable time span so sticking with the boys merely delays my reunion with hubby - it doesn’t preclude it.
I think that’s the issue with the more fanciful of your polls Skald - a fanciful poll results in fanciful answers.
I don’t see myself as adding in details here. From the OP:
To me, that seems to clearly indicate that I’m asking people to imagine their real selves in their real lives.
I once had a fuzzbutt who would have ripped the face off anything that tried to harm her. I would not have any qualms about leaving her behind to fend for herself. If I ever came back, she’d be God-Empress For Eternity.
I’m single, though, and while I’d like to come back to my parents, my eldest fuzzbutt was abused and abandoned pretty brutally by his original owners. He sets up a-howling every time I leave and is inconsolable until I return. Yes, I know, just a dumb animal and all, but a devoted one. Would another cat be as devoted? I’ve never met one, but I guess it’s possible. Still: he goes with me or I stay with him.
Can we barbecue Toto and eat before we leave? :eek:
Seriously, pets get left behind in emergencies all the time. Stray dogs and cats were a major problem in New Orleans after Katrina.
People go to extraordinary lengths to care for pets. However, there are limits. Elderly people lose pets when they move into retirement homes. Some people give up pets if they are having financial difficulties.
My dogs stay with me. Period. This goes for any dog I’ve had. Humans can fend for themselves, my boys depend on ME. Yes, they’re animals and will “survive” but me being there gives them a fighting chance and both of them having been abandoned at some point, I couldn’t leave 'em alone and stay sane.
Why do you say “humans can fend for themselves”? Are you saying, given the choice to save your dog(s) and a comparable number of human beings, you’d choose the dogs?
And I might be dead tomorrow. I made a promise to the animals in my life, and that includes caring for them in shitty circumstance. If Skald changes the hypothetical to: I leave or I have time to humanely put my animals down, then we can talk about whether I go or stay. Otherwise, I stay.
Do you plan on sharing your animal communication technology with the rest of us?
Yeah, I think that’s a significant issue here. As I stated, I had no reason to believe that this scenario as presented was true, so I’d have more reason to resist.
(Plus currently, I own two rabbits. If I were being truthful about the situation and it’s not Oz, the rabbits would have died of terror or starvation long before getting to the boat and the decision. If they did make it, they would surely be in terrible shape healthwise, and I’d have to think about putting them out of their misery, and I really don’t want to go there mentally for the sake of a for-the-lulz board poll.)
This. I’m single, childless, and wouldn’t really have much of a tangible life to go back to in the first place… but still, die with my cat in some god forsaken hell hole, or return to civilization and try to enjoy the boring life I have now? On the boat I go.
I’d leave any pet if the choice were ‘leave pet and get back to look after daughter, who would otherwise be orphaned,’ which it seems to be.
If that weren’t an issue, then it would depend on the pet. My current pets are two insane budgies who would survive anywhere I could survive, and the little bastards have caused enough problems that I would probably be secretly relieved. A dog that I loved? I’d only leave it if the choice were ‘I leave = I survive and dog dies,’ and ‘I stay = both of us die.’ The dog wouldn’t be helped any by me dying alongside him.
My parrot is fanatically loyal to me and probably has about a 50-50 chance of outliving me at this point anyway. I think I’m duty-bound to stay.
Besides, he’s a useful accessory if it’s a world of pirates.
It’s a nice dog and everything, but this is a no-brainer. I’m getting on the boat. The only thing that makes me hesitate is the thought of how my sister would react if I came home without him. She’d kill me for abandoning him. I’ll have to make up some story about him meeting a nice girl dog and the two of them running joyfully off to start a life together. She’d still be inconsolable, but the damn dog will die in a few years anyway. I’m not sacrificing what could be my one chance to get home so she doesn’t have to cry quite so soon.
My current dog is so loyal to me that I would never consider leaving her. We’d die together.
Have we learned nothing from the Twilight Zone? It’s a trap.