Here We Go...

*WARNING* This is a rant. These are my opinions. No one is making you read this.

I don't usually rant on here, but this one has been brewing up for a while...

I am sick of a few things:
-people not taking care of their animals
-people treating animals like a toy that is fun for a while but when the responsiblities come they are out the door
-people buying puppies from puppy mills
-free animals
-not getting your animals neutered
-disrespect of the veterinary profession

I am am sure there are more, I might add them later. Let me explain a bit

The first two kind of go together, well actually alot of them go together. I can't even think of where to start, but I will try at the first on my list. People not taking care of their animals. Why get an animal if you are not willing to spend the money to take care of it. If you think the animals is worthless, you probably shouldn't get one. This especially gets me when people get outdoor animals and they have kids and they don't get their animal vaccinated for Rabies. Not all Rabies is the crazy one where they are foaming at the mouth, sometimes they just seem depressed and want to be left alone. The animal could bite your child and they might not mention it too you and before it is too late... .there is no cure for Rabies once you have it. It scares me how many dogs and cats are running around unvaccinated playing with kids. You might say "what are the odds of that happening" Well I don't know the odds, but I know it can happen. Are you willing to take that chance?? I'm not.

It really aggravates me when people get animals on a whim, and then the animal has a minor problem, and instead of fixing it, they just get rid of the animal. I just wish people would understand that when you get an animal, chances are it is going to get sick sometime in it's lifetime and you should be prepared for that. If you are not willing to deal with a sick animal don't get one. I am not saying everyone has to do chemo for their animals or anything like that. I am talking about the little stuff. If your animal has mites, worms, fleas or any other parasite, just bring it in and get it checked out and get it fixed. Expect that kind of stuff before you get an animal.

Puppy mills also make my blood boil. The people pack tonnes of dogs into a kennel or a barn or the like and just pump out puppies for the profit, not caring about the health and genetics of the puppies they produce! AND PEOPLE BUY THEM. LIKE CRAZY. I know many people have turned away from buying a puppy from me cause they have to sign a contract saying that they will provide the proper care for the animal and give it back to me if they cannot keep it anymore. I just don't want my pups ending up in shelters!! I don't want to add to the problem! So many times I have heard people say, but I couldn't leave the puppy there in those horrible conditions. WELL, thanks for adding to the issue. Because you took that puppy out of there, many more will be produced to replace it. You are just feeding the buisiness and encouraging it to keep on going. Making more animals suffer.

This leads into my dislike of petstores that sell puppies. They put the poor things in small glass cages all day. That have to stand on grates so when they poop and pee it will go through the bars instead of taking them to the washroom outside. Also they charge 10x what the dog is worth. Most dogs are over $1000, and they are not purebreds with papers. They are "hybrids" which is just a fancy word for a dog without papers. For the price you would pay for a "hybrid" pup at a petstore, you could buy a dog from a good breeder and have a pedigree and know the dogs history and everything.

I hate when people get free animals. Of course, I have gotten free animals, and it is not the recieving a free animal that bothers me. It bothers me that because they got the animal for free, that it is worthless and they should not invest any money in taking care of it. Again, don't get an animal if you are not willing to take care of it.

I know alot of people have the "old school"mentality where nobody spent money on animals, and they often use that to justify why they will not spend money on their animal. Sorry guys, but that just won't fly for me. There is really no excuse to not take care of your animal.

If you do not want to breed your animal, get it neutered. Quit adding to the problem of overloaded shelters. Don't get an animal if you don' think it is worth the one time fee of $100-$200 to get it fixed. It is not like you have to pay that every year.

People around this area have often laughed at me when I tell them some of the things that we do at my job. They laugh cause they think it is rediculous that someone would spend that kind of money on an animal. So often I have heard "It is only 1 dollar for a bullet". EW. Again, they should be animalless.

Also, don't laugh at the people who spend thousands of dollars on their animals. Some people choose to spend thousands of dollars on luxury items on their vehicles, vacations etc. How is that any different. It is acceptable to spend $5000 on some fancy upgrades that are unnessesary for a vehicle, but it is not acceptable to spend that on an animal? It is the same thing!