You can't keep your pet?? Really?

[peterbusa]

TO those who dont own an animal,YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOUR MISSING

 

[peterbusa]

By the way,you messed up my day

 

[MelodicMetalGod]

Sad thing is, I could write something equally grim about the nursing homes in this country - they are on par if not worse. Why worse you say? Because we keep these poor people alive..... for years... and years....

Euthanasia seems to be a touchy topic in this country, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms and would require a whole nother thread. We already spawned one gremlin from this thread, so I shant.

To quote Einstein on this topic:

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. "

and Voltaire:

"As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities."

Different but a related topic to be sure. I agree completely that nursing homes have massive issues. Their clients are there for care but the business is just there for profit. If you're VERY lucky, the paitient winds up with an attendant/nurse/caretaker that's actually invested in providing good care and <gasp> a bit of social grace, but the majority of nursing home attendants are just there to do the job/get the paycheck.

I've watched hospital nurses move 90 year old woman recklessly as she cried out in pain even though it was known that by taking a couple minutes to do it another way would mitigate the pain exponenetially.

I've seen call lights in nursing centers go off and remain unanswered for nearly 30 minutes while the attendants/nurses were simply changing linens on their "regular routes". Somebody might be dying, have fallen and broken a bone, etc., but they can't be bothered to take 60 seconds to peek in the door to check.

Still, most patients, have some voice, no matter how small, or a family member or a 3rd party advocate to raise the issues of their care. And in that way, the attrocities levied agains animals is different, b/c they have no voice at all in virtually every case. Once their in the system or on the street, they don't exist to most people. Folks just assume they'll be OK or folks just don't care at all.

That's why the first step that all of us can do to deal with either of these issues is to take care of your own.

Do not forsake your pets to a shelter. If you must give them up (can't imagine doing that, but it happens) then work to find them a good and loving home or at least find an adoption organization that will commit to doing so and is willing to keep you in the loop while they do so. If they can't give you some means of follow up, then you must assume that the pet is at risk.

Same goes for your old/ailing people. If a family member must be hospitalized or put in a nursing home, do not drop them off, leave them flowers and only drop by once a month. They, in virtually ALL cases, WILL NOT receive adequate care/concern!!!! You must visit them regularly, ask them specifics about how they are: Are you eating? What are you eating? When was you last bathing? Who is your favorite nurse and why? Etc. The answers to these questions will help alert you to possible issues. Also, VERY important, talk the staff, socialize with them and drop hints that you'll be in very regularly to check on the loved one...this goes a LONG way to ensuring that they get the best level of care at the facility, mostly just due to the fact that the workers want to avoid "trouble" for themselves if the family is informed and aware of issues.

Are these issues depressing? Absolutely. But we can each do quite a bit to reduce the suffering and increase the care for both animals and our elderly/ailing.