Occasionally, I watch the local evening news. Though what they have to report on (other than weather and local sports) is rather banal and worthless to me, an occasional tidbit does strikes my interest. According to the latest trends of the day, there is always a text message poll these days with every broadcast. In the midst of the fiasco involving the highest paid quarterback in NFL history a few months back, the inquiry was “Should people who have been charged with animal cruelty be able to own pets ever again?” This destroyed my guts with the laughter that ensued on my end. The answer, my friends, is a rousing “No!” But, that’s not my point here. If you can’t even take care of the average household animal (that being a dog or a cat, big surprise!), it is my belief that you probably shouldn’t be given reigns over children, water bills, mortgages, etc. either. The duties that are involved with taking care of the average household animal include feeding them, hydrating them, cleaning up their refuse, and taking them to a vet when they act out of character.
Actually, I think those four things are the only things that you need to do to be a successful pet owner. That whole “TLC” thing matters, too, but that is a subjective term.
Now that we (we are a team!) have laid the groundwork of what I believe is the right protocol as a pet owner, I suppose I will let you know what I think is inherently wrong. When you take your beloved to the vet for a check-up and he discovers that something is terribly wrong with your little guy or gal, don’t spend an inordinate amount of money to save the pet’s life!
I know that this is a terrible and inhumane idea. Hear me out, though. Even your vet would probably recommend putting the thing down, if the cost to save its life is just too much for the average suburbanite to really spend. He’d probably do it at no extra charge (well, I’m sure he’d charge for the syringe and solution). If the operation costs more than the pet did, let nature have its way. Someone just doesn’t want Fluffy or Harold to see many more days.
If you have that kind of money to throw around anyway, why don’t you donate money to hospitals to save real people’s lives?! You know, things with jobs and titles that make this world go around.
After digesting this rather harshly penned opinion piece, don’t walk away from this thinking I’m a monster that goes out of his way to kill flies. I have the prettiest of the precious kitties in my lap as I type this. He is so wise that you could mistake him for an owl. He kills things, too. He ran away for three weeks once, and I was a living wreck.