LOVE ME LOVE MY PET(S)

I love animals – all shapes and sizes – domestic and non – I love animals. Over my lifetime I’m shared my living space with snakes, hamsters (not at the same time), rats, birds, ferrets, dogs, cats, lizards, fish and a multitude of spiders (who have chosen to live with me of their own accord). Outdoors, (because I don’t love animals THAT much) I’ve had horses, chickens and the occasional goat. The only creatures of any kind with a limited lifespan in my presence are centipedes (they move so fast!), cockroaches (who likes them?) and mosquitoes (do I even need a reason?). One would say I have a healthy respect for Mother Nature and all of her living creatures.

I wish everyone did.

You see, the more I know animals, the more I hate people.

I volunteer for an animal rescue/welfare organization. Over the years I have heard a multitude of excuses from both well-educated and slovenly individuals regarding why it is necessary for them to give up their pet, their cherished family member. We’re having a baby (no time or god forbid – they will steal their breath); we’re moving and the new place doesn’t accept pets (I’m too lazy to find one that does); we’re having a financial hardship (but we still have cable!); they smell (because we never clean their litter box); they are mean (because we teased them as a baby); they are bad (because we never disciplined them); they scratch the furniture (because they are animals); we didn’t know we’d actually have to take care of them (because we’re morons).

Animals do not reason. They are animals. You can not explain things to them. You can not tell them, “It’s not you, it’s me” the way you told your 9th grade boyfriend. They are not people (although some of us treat them as if they are).

Pets love their pet parents absolutely. They trust them for food, shelter and love. That’s not to say that just like human children you can’t get a “bad egg” every now and then. But for the most part animals are trusting souls that love you, and will in some cases put themselves in harm’s way to protect you, no matter what.

But in our disposable society of today it seems all too easy for people to just become bored with something and dispose of it. But if you grow bored of last year’s Marc Jacobs bag and want to sell it on eBay that’s one thing, but to just decide that you’re pet doesn’t fit into your life anymore is another. It is a responsibility, a living creature that you decided to bring into your home and care for – for better or for worse.

Your pet has made you smile when you were sad; made you get out and exercise; slept at the foot of your bed when you slept alone; greeted you when you came home and missed you when you left; kept strangers at bay; given you something to do when you were bored; and loved you unconditionally.

Yet people have tossed those trusting souls out of moving car windows; dumped these gentle creatures on the sides of roads; put their sad eyes behind shelter bars or worse under euthanasia glass; held newborns under water until the bubbles have stopped; tied up family friends and shot them; left these loyal pets to starve; given them unsuspectingly to strangers who then sell them for research; left these once loved animals out to fend for themselves because they could no longer, for whatever lame excuse, handle the responsibility anymore.

Are there any acceptable reasons when it is OK to give up a pet? OK – I’ll play – how about death or severe disability (going to an “old folk’s home” counts)? Allergies of catastrophic proportions (and I don’t mean – ooh – my nose is itchy)? Loss of home? Moving to another country (in which you’d be forced to quarantine your pet for an extended time)?

Ah – yep – that’s about it.