Poor People Should Not Have Pets?

[loyallyroyal]

Therapy Animals? Thats definitely a luxury, getting certified takes a lot of time and money.

I think you are talking about service animals, when you get a service animal, you are also getting a whole support network. They help you form a budget and talk and train you and pair you with a highly trained service animal. This is all at little or no cost to you and helps with everyday functioning.

Having a wheelchair is more like getting a service animal. Going on a trip to disneyland is more like having a pet or child.

[Young]

Bless the woman for not giving up her pets, smoker or not.

I don't think smoking is an issue or how much money she spends on a pack of cigs. In her current situation, it's probably the only calming habit she has.

We all in our daily lives spend money of frivilous things, be a pack of gum or a happy meal, even when we can't afford to pay the utility bill. We've all done it so please, lets not be too hard on her.

As for her pets... Bless her for needing them so much. She probably has nothing much right now to love and console her.

I know and many of you will agree, that aside from death itself, nothing could separate us from our lovely little babies.

[Tom Lawless]

There are a lot of good points here. If I didn't think I had the money to properly care for my animals I may not have adopted them. That having been said, I think animal people need animals especially when they are going through a hard time. There are times when I didn't have much and my animals (dogs mostly) were the bright spot in my life. I didn't have the money to travel. I didn't have the money to go out on weekends but I was never lonely or unhappy. Part of that was good friends and the other part was dear pets. I think someone down on his or her luck might be just the person who should have pet. Lately I've heard about a program that helps people with HIV keep and care for their dog or cat. I think stuff like that, or animals visiting nursing homes, are really tremendous. If I'm ever sick or disabled it would make a bad situation worse if I had to rehome the boys.

O.K., I don't know why this struck a chord with me but now I've got it off my chest. Animals make the sucky part of life a lot better.

[jimpierce7]

huh. Most the homeless around here have dogs.

[Addicted to Tequila]

No... I meant owning an animal for the purpose of therapy for an emotionally needy child or adult.

An animal used FOR therapy. Picked for traits due to that particular purpose.

(just playing devils advocate here... but with good reason, what with my daughter and all)

[Tom Lawless]

huh. Most the homeless around here have dogs.

I used to see that a lot when I was in seminary down in DC. I was happy for them that they had that companion in their life.

[loyallyroyal]

Many homeless people keep dogs, especially in colder areas. A warm body next to you makes the night much easier.

Maybe Im just weird but I think pets have a right to proper vet care and diet. Which costs money, which is something I hope people think about before taking on pets.

I see 2 different situations here:

1. a person makes say, 100k a year before taxes, they have a nice apartment, room to be promoted, very comfortable lifestyle so they get 2 dogs. Say the person loses their job, falls on hard times and has a hard time finding an apartment that allows animals on what he can afford.

DO I advocate getting rid of his dogs, no, but he may want to have a friend or family member watch them for a couple of weeks while he finds an apartment and gets his life on track.

2. A person barely makes enough to provide themselves the nessecities, they get 2 dogs anyway, and are having a hard time covering vet expenses and food. They loose their apartment and cant afford one that allows pets.

Now in this case, yes, I probably would advocate rehoming. Its not about what you or we want, its about those animals deserve food, health care, and shelter.

[NaniOokami]

I don't think smoking is an issue or how much money she spends on a pack of cigs. In her current situation, it's probably the only calming habit she has.

We all in our daily lives spend money of frivilous things, be a pack of gum or a happy meal, even when we can't afford to pay the utility bill. We've all done it so please, lets not be too hard on her.

Smoking is extremely expensive, and saying it's the "only calming habit she has" is just giving her an excuse. Walking/running/etc is a major stress-reliever, among other free methods of stress relief. You don't need to spend money and buy things to feel better.

As far as us all spending money on frivolous things? Not when I can't pay the utility bill, I most certainly do not. It's important to learn to live within your means, even when the tough happens. It's not fair that the dogs suffer because she has a bad habit - and for the cost of cigs, she most likely would be able to take care of those dogs pretty easily.

BUT - I have no sympathy for smokers. They may's well roll up a dollar bill and light it. :/

[Astrid660]

"BUT - I have no sympathy for smokers. They may's well roll up a dollar bill and light it."

That's what I used to say before I got hooked to it. Now it's like, oh uh oh now I see why a lot of people can't seem to stop.

Very good points everyone. I think the reason this was in the paper is it's a small town, that was the headline this week, (I swear!) Not much crime and violence to report here...
They have to find people's life story to fill in the blanks between dull news.

All your posts strike a chord with me because I am currently not working and my mom had to buy my bird's their last few bags of seeds and my groceries. At least I have something to fall back on, many people do not. in the summer I was in a truck accident, wrecked my truck and got a skull fracture. I am a great driver but things happen to us that no one can predict. Only now am I ready to work again. It has been tough but never once did I think of selling or rehoming my birds. I know I won't be ''destitute'' forever.

[Tricia Mullins]

I could say so much on this, but what I do want to say is that so many lanlords & what not do not allow people & familes to have pets if they want to rent, there for if you have a family that includes fur & feathers & scales etc it makes it so difficult to find afortable housing. We all fall into hard times & we don't pass our actual children off for adoption when times get tough...do we! The only exception for this is people like my sister in law that just have the pets to say they have them & the care for the pet has never really been there in the first place. We were very lucky years ago when we found our house to rent that accepted pets & cheep rent! A four bedroom house for $475 a month! We stayed there untill we bought our house because we cannot live without our pets they are just as much our family as our parents, brothers etc.