Responsibility

A couple of days ago I had a discussion with a young person in the street I live who is trying to convince his parents to allow him to have a dog.

I explained how important it is to realise you are taking on a living breathing pet not a toy, how you will be responsible not only for his life but his death too, his parent didn't agree with me bringing that up.

Now I know this is a volatile subject but I have always felt very strongly that as a pet owner you are not only there for the good times but for all the time, your Dog, Cat or other will give its all, love devotion, depend on you, our pets do not set limits on us, so how can we do the same.

I hear it time and time again "oh I couldn't be there for my dogs end of life it was too hard for me" "I was a mess I couldn't do it" "I had to go home".

Sorry you are a bad pet owner, and before you rip into me for that let me explain, How we care for our pets does not come with a statute of limitations, and our special friends never put a limit on devotion and care they give to us, in return we always have to put them first and do what is best for the even if that means having them put down when the time is right so they do not suffer.

Its our job, how we look after them at the point of death is as important as how we look after them in life and don't you dare say I am a better person for being able to hold my dogs in my arms (6 up to now in my life, I am 49) as the vet gives them the injection, Don't you dare think or say that some how I care less or will be less wrecked by the event than you.

Every time I come out of that surgery or thankfully more often than not say good bye to the vet as they leave my home and take my dog to be cremated, I am in shock, I am falling apart, I am shaking and I second guess and destroy myself until while the house is now silent the kind of silence that only pet owners know when they are gone, I go and choose another lovely girl or boy to look after. Because that is the only thing that ever takes the edge off of what I dealt with.

I am no better than you, no worse than you I just made a choice and put my dogs feelings and care first imagining how I would feel at the end of my life if I was alone with strangers.

When you take on a pet please remember it is a whole of life responsibility.

I will add the following because usually when I see a post like this people will say Illness or situation prevented me from being there for my pet.

Well during the last 21 years I have had dogs in my life, I have also looked after a Wife slowly dying from cancer, a mum fading away due to dementia, I am in remission from Bowel cancer, I am diagnosed as somewhere on the higher functioning autistic spectrum, ADHD, Bipolar type 2, PTSD and grief from my wife dying in 2018, and even through all that I never stopped being a responsible pet owner and yes it terrifies me to think of when Bertie and Beryl come to that stage of life, but I will do no less for them than I have ever done in the past. It just may take me a hell of a lot longer to deal with the aftermath now I will face it without my Wife or Mum.

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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/fdbi57/responsibility/