Pet Hospitals: Are they obscene?

[Alexander's Horse]

I was just briefly watching a program called Animal Hospital before switching it off as usual in disgust.

Don't you think its obscene the money some people spend on their pets? If your pet required complicated and expensive surgery wouldn't the more moral thing to do be to give it a needle and get another one? Isn't it cruel and wrong to keep a sick animal alive?

Give the money to a charity for humans or the environment of some worthwhile cause. Don't spend it on your pets.

When my pets have got really sick, and I've loved having them and looking after them, I've always had them put down. Am I a heartless utilitarian?

[Makeo]

Am I a heartless utilitarian?

no your normal. ie not a wacko.

sick animal. bullet. buy a new one.

[Alexander's Horse]

You can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy

[Dis]

heartless

I'd spend money on my dog. I wouldn't spend a lot, because well, I'm a cheap person. I'd spend hundreds of dollars if necessary. But I wouldn't spend thousands of dollars.

[Skanky Burns]

People don't like change.

[Solver]

Fortunately, I don't have a pet and don't plan on having one... but I can understand what pets can become to some people. I spend money on my computer, buying stuff and upgrading... some people feel that way about their animals .

[Ishtar]

I spend money on my dog. She is my child. She's treated as a member of my family by my parents and my brother. If she is sick or injured and it's within my means to get her well/better, then I will do it.

[Az]

Ishtar: that's very correct, and I think that way myself.

But I don't think that the government should subsidize such things, when there are people about to starve in that country.

[Pekka]

Where I spend MY money is no ones god damn business!

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by Ishtar
I spend money on my dog. She is my child.

No she's not. She's a freaking dog. She has no feeling for you comparable with the love of a child.

[Az]

Actually the dog has very strong feelings towards humans, and vice versa. not as much as children, but still very strong.

[CerberusIV]

Pet hospitals are simply part of the society that supports them. These medical treatments, often pioneered for people, work for animals too. People have the money and feel the need to spend it this way. If you think there is something wrong with that then you are basically saying people should not be free to spend their money on what they choose.

[Alexander's Horse]

I've used vets. I've had minor surgery performed on my dog. But pet hospitals for animals which are suffering and clearly should be put to sleep, what a waste of money.

I saw a vet performing surgery on a budgie for God's sake.

[Az]

yes, vets do great stuff.

[DinoDoc]

If it is within your power to restore your sick pet to health, why shouldn't you do just that?