pet care... who cares ?

[ecuworrier]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/01/pet-care-hit-by-recession

love to hear your thoughts.... keeping pets can be expensive if essentials are costing the earth...for folks who have in the short term little else to keep them on their toes and add comfort and compnaionship ..

is this cause for concern?
or just a case of hard facts of life... getoverit and all that...
who is gonna worry about the pets what's got no home?

GOD BLESS!

Peace and Love,

[administrator]

[Jan]

[tranchiebabe]

Humans come well before pets in my opinion. Having said that we have one tarantula spider, one gerbil and a tank of goldfish. They get proper care of course, but I don't idolise them they are possessions that is all.

[Jan]

I have always had animal companions from being a child. For a number of (early) years as there weren't so many children my age around, my pet poodle was my best friend. For many people their dogs or cats mean so much to them - granted some do go cringingly over the top in how they look after them. Having said that - companion dogs never judge, never compete, they are generally affectionate and loyal - easy to see why many would choose a dog over a person I guess.

[AndyHB]

Humans come well before pets in my opinion.

And sometimes, in order for the human to come before the pet, the pet has to be healthy and capable to make sure the human is healthy and capable, T.  There are many, often older folk, who rely on their pets for company and a reason to get out for walks.

[tranchiebabe]

People should not have pets if they don't care for them properly, I would be the first to complain if I saw anyone abusing one. However treating them as quasi humans is wrong, not least for the pet itself which should have the dignity of the species to which it belongs.

[Jan]

Also remembering that certain animal companions are not just pets - they do a lot more than keep their human companions company. In some cases it is the animal that is doing the 'caring' 

Examples:-

Hearing dogs www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
Guide dogs www.pathfinderdogs.org/  & www.guidedogs.org.uk/
Dogs for the disabled www.dogsforthedisabled.org/  &
Monkey helpers for the disabled www.monkeyhelpers.org/

[pow wow]

Neighbours liked to tease dad about how he pampered his herd of herfords during the cold Canadian winters. As a teen ager I agreed with them only because I hated forking hay and hauling chop in -30. Today I agree with dad's methods. I was taught to keep your pets and livestock happy. I kept the chickens and turkeys happy but I still took the axe to them in the fall. I kept the geese happy for years but mom still had them sent to the Hutterite colony.

[Boudi]

Also remembering that certain animal companions are not just pets - they do a lot more than keep their human companions company. In some cases it is the animal that is doing the 'caring' 

Examples:-

Hearing dogs www.hearingdogs.org.uk/
Guide dogs www.pathfinderdogs.org/  & www.guidedogs.org.uk/
Dogs for the disabled www.dogsforthedisabled.org/  &
Monkey helpers for the disabled www.monkeyhelpers.org/

yes, if you get it right, it's a two way thing to the benefit of both parties.  'Ownership' is then a two way street.  One side pays cash, both sides are rewarded.

[Jan]

yes, if you get it right, it's a two way thing to the benefit of both parties.  'Ownership' is then a two way street.  One side pays cash, both sides are rewarded.

Ownership with cats though might be slightly different in that they own the house - we just pay the mortgage 

[ecuworrier]

Neighbours liked to tease dad about how he pampered his herd of herfords during the cold Canadian winters. As a teen ager I agreed with them only because I hated forking hay and hauling chop in -30. Today I agree with dad's methods. I was taught to keep your pets and livestock happy. I kept the chickens and turkeys happy but I still took the axe to them in the fall. I kept the geese happy for years but mom still had them sent to the Hutterite colony.

yeah growin up with animals 'in the house or backyard' changes a perspective on life

i know someone who i think would have some beasts in the house but one of the concerns they has is they trooly can't afford them

i guess one could do it on the c heap and adopt the local animals like wood lice spiders or someat

GOD BLESS!

Peace and Love,

[Boudi]

you'll get people who 'adopt' birds, particularly things like robins, who will look out for a pet human

[AndrewF]

Good post Pow Wow - like you I grew up on a farm and fed the calves which went to slaughter and then came back to us a quarters which we then butchered and put in the freezer! - Had we been allowed to kill them ourselves we would have...

[Jan]

Good post Pow Wow - like you I grew up on a farm and fed the calves which went to slaughter and then came back to us a quarters which we then butchered and put in the freezer! - Had we been allowed to kill them ourselves we would have...

Obviously though there is a bit of a  difference in how we treat our pet/companion animals and how we treat livestock for food. Yes we should take care of both, give them the best life we can (good animal husbandry) - but we don't generally kill our pets for food.