I
know I shouldn’t be surprised by it anymore, but I am. I’ll never get used to folks treating their
animals like disposable commodities.
When I was working as a veterinarian technician a lifetime ago, this
harsh reality slammed into me time and time again when owners brought their
neglected or abused pets into our pet hospital.
One
would think I should’ve been grateful that the owners were taking the time to
bring their pets in to—finally—receive the treatment they so desperately
needed. In a way, I was glad, for the
animals, that is. But oft, it was too
late, the animals too far gone with sickness or neglect to be brought back to
health. That broke my heart.
One
of the things I saw repeatedly at my particular pet hospital was when folks,
who had large parcels of land, would cage their pets in the farthest back
corner of their acre or more properties, in enclosures that weren’t large
enough for the size of the animal. As if
that wasn’t bad enough, the owners would then forget about the pets being there.
What the heck?
How
does a person forget that a living being, in their charge, is confined to a
cage…that they put them in? But they did.
Over and over again, we’d have animals brought into us that had been
starved near to death, or suffered massive infestations of maggots that
completely undermined their skin, separating it from their muscle and other
underlying tissue.
How
could this happen, you ask? That was
what I wanted to know, so me being me, I’d ask the self-righteous owners that
very question, as I cradled or comforted their suffering pet in my arms. The owners’ replies never ceased to amaze
me. What I was told, always in an
indignant tone, was that they just didn’t know what happened to their pet.
After all, it was just a week or so earlier that they’d gone back to
check on their caged animal.
A week or so earlier?! What the heck?! Who does that to another living being and
then has the audacity to be indignant when asked about their mistreatment of
said pet?
Of
course, back then we didn’t have the animal protection and rights laws that we
do now, so we in the veterinary business had to suck up our feelings, bite our
tongues and concentrate on what we could do—help heal the animals. When that proved impossible, we’d do everything
in our power to minimize their suffering….
The
other thing that boiled my blood was when owners would bring their supposed
beloved family pet in and then dump it with us, no longer wanting to be
bothered with it, expecting us to find a home for what they now viewed as a
bother.
Again, what the heck?
Animals
are living beings that count on us to take them in and treat them with dignity
and respect, not toss them aside when we grow bored of them.
Today,
I spoke with a girlfriend who, along with her sister, a few other trusted
friends and I have worked together for the past twenty-some years to place
animals that need homes. My girlfriend
told me of a white boxer puppy that was taken to a local vet to be put to sleep. Why did the owner want it killed? Simple—at least to them. Seems the puppy was deaf. And…according to the owners, having a
disability was a perfectly good reason to destroy a loving caring animal that
wanted nothing more than to be cuddled and return love.
Anyhow,
the pet hospital convinced the owner to sign ownership of the puppy over to
them, explaining that they would not
euthanize but instead find it a new home.
Enter my friends and me. Once I
was made aware of the puppy’s plight, I sent out feelers and asked a few
individuals for probable new home solutions for the deaf puppy. Didn’t take long before one of my friends
came up with a great idea.
Since
the puppy is completely deaf, it tends to get startled if asleep and someone or
another animal happens upon it. Also, it
can’t hear the audible clues from other dogs that playfulness might have gone
too far, so sometimes, the puppy finds itself in fights. Otherwise, however, it is a mind-mannered dog
that adores everyone it meets, wanting nothing more than to be and give love.
So
what was my friend’s solution? It was
suggested that we contact a regional institute for the deaf. Why?
Because they have live-in residents who are deaf themselves, so would
therefore completely understand the needs of a deaf puppy. How to communicate with it. Make it feel at ease. Socialize with it. They’d also be able to minimize the pup
feeling threatened by individuals or pets “sneaking” up on it. In addition, having interaction with a deaf
puppy could be a great therapy dog for those learning how to deal with their
own deafness.
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