Just a question to the assembled masses here. I know you’ve probably all seen them, or at least seen post about them on Facebook or various other web sites. I’m talking about the poor little puppy or kitten that’s running around with one of those animal “wheel chairs” attached to their hind end. The little critter was born deformed and whatever shelter ends up with them pours hundreds, if not thousands of dollars into their care and outfitting them with a critter “wheel chair” and then rolls out the pictures or video on the internet to show how caring and compassionate they are for saving said little mutant.
The question is do you think this should be done? I mean, first of all, is the animal enjoying any real quality of life? It has to be daily hooked up to that wheeled contraption and, I’m sure, if it is paralyzed in the lower half of the body it requires assistance when it craps and pees (more expense having a vet tech or shelter worker handling that). In a time where most animal shelters, both private and public, euthanize many good “normal” dogs and cats for lack of room and lack of funds why should both room and money be spent to keep a critter that nature obviously did not intend to survive. How many good “normal” dogs and/or cats are sacrificed so these shelters can showcase one little physically deformed critter to show how kind and compassionate they are?
Now, I can understand an individual private person maybe going the doggie “wheel chair” route for their own aging pet, that they’ve owned for many years, and doing it at their own expense, but the use of shelter resources, especially public shelter resources, saving something that should not have survived, to the determent of other “regular” critters, is what I really have a problem with.
…Or am I just an uncaring, unfeeling bad guy for thinking this way? What do ya’all think?
The question is do you think this should be done? I mean, first of all, is the animal enjoying any real quality of life? It has to be daily hooked up to that wheeled contraption and, I’m sure, if it is paralyzed in the lower half of the body it requires assistance when it craps and pees (more expense having a vet tech or shelter worker handling that). In a time where most animal shelters, both private and public, euthanize many good “normal” dogs and cats for lack of room and lack of funds why should both room and money be spent to keep a critter that nature obviously did not intend to survive. How many good “normal” dogs and/or cats are sacrificed so these shelters can showcase one little physically deformed critter to show how kind and compassionate they are?
Now, I can understand an individual private person maybe going the doggie “wheel chair” route for their own aging pet, that they’ve owned for many years, and doing it at their own expense, but the use of shelter resources, especially public shelter resources, saving something that should not have survived, to the determent of other “regular” critters, is what I really have a problem with.
…Or am I just an uncaring, unfeeling bad guy for thinking this way? What do ya’all think?
