Annoyed and Frustrated

Ok. I'm going to rant a little. I normally don't, but this frustrates me to no end. I read an article today on how Americans are over medicating their pets. If you want to read the article for yourself, here is the link.

Now, I've had my share of pets when I was growing up. We always had a dog of some sort. We never paid for them. Some were strays that just showed up; others we got from people who either couldn't take care of their pets, or whose pets had puppies. We even had a ferret for awhile, which we got from the high school when they were downsizing their biology department. We would take them to the vet for shots and for their fixing. When they got old or sick, the neighbor would put them down. (Remember, I grew up in a rural/farm setting in NE Ohio in the 70s and 80s. That was/is an ok thing to do.) Never in a million years would we have spent money to buy a pet or medicate it to keep it healthy. Even at the dairy farm I worked at, the cows would be treated better, but if they became too sick to produce milk, they were "put out to pasture".

To read and see that pet drug companies are spending millions of dollars on advertising and that Americans are spending even more on the wellbeing of their pets frustrates me. I'm not saying people shouldn't have pets or care for their wellbeing. Some people enjoy the companionship and protection animals give them. That's fine. My question to them would be at what point do we draw the line? How much is too much to spend to get an animal? How much is too much for the things we need do we need to keep Fido a part of the family? At what point do pets get elevated above humanity? We Americans I'm sure spend millions of dollars on Fancy Feast or whatever is the stylish thing to feed our pets is while people around us struggle to survive--while parts of the world struggle to survive.

Now, for all two or three of you who will read this, I'm sure you will come back at me and say, "if we take your ideas to the extreme, we could put some of those fellow humans out to pasture." That's not what I am saying. What I am saying is lets think theologically or morally about what we are spending our money on, so that humanity is put at the top of the care list. What I'm saying is that if I struggle to pay my bills, I should probably think twice about spending money on a new puppy or on chemotherapy for Spot the family dog.

You might say, "you know, it's not pets for you, but you do spend lots of $$ for such and such that you don't need to." I would agree with you. I have hangups just as much as others and I'm working on them. I'm trying to gauge everything I do theologically, like trying to take shorter showers so I don't waste water or the energy used to heat the water. Do I fail sometimes, sure. We all do. Does that mean I give up and fail all the time. Not at all!

Ok. I'm done.