Brody The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (Click to enlarge)
Meet Brody. Twelve years of still active and willing. Though diabetic (insulin twice a day) he looked spry to us when he arrived for his time in the lights. If glancing quickly you may not see his gentleness, in spite of his exaggerated under-bite. In this age of improving-daily veterinary practices and procedures, many more of us will be graced with our beloved animal friends much longer than ever before…but not all of us.
Surprisingly, veterinary medicine is still not universally accessible for all pets.. They have had the technology to improve and lengthen a dog’s life for quite some time, but the extreme expense of treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy has forced many of us to make an impossible choice. Thousands of dollars is an insurmountable sum for many loving, but working class pet owners.
Today I do not criticize or judge; I lament these costs and wonder why we have allowed the seeming uncontrolled breeding of a species to the detriment of that species. If there are too many dogs and cats to afford each of them adequate medical care, then why have we allowed their numbers to swell beyond what a person, family, community, country can care for?
Revolutionary thought coming, one from which a more practicable solution may arise. Imagine what would happen if there was a moratorium on breeding puppies and kittens for five years. Radical, for sure, but even if we could not trap/capture all ferals and stop their breeding, if we weren’t replacing them daily with puppies and kittens purposely bred in homes and kennels, within five years the population would be reduced significantly. My breeder readers could take heart that in five years your puppies and kittens will be cherished and sought after. As I do not have empirical data to support this claim, I will quite understand reader dissension, but it must be time for some new plan.
Insane: doing the same thing and expecting a different result. We cannot continue to place this burden on the few no-kill shelters and independent rescuers acting on their own. In some cases these rescuers deny their human family so they may help in this cause. We have two choices. Throw money at it or throw laws at it. One thing I know, chugging along as we’ve been will not improve the lives of animals.
Luckily sweet Brody cares not a lick about this discussion. His care is exceptional, and his sunset years will be spent receiving the advantages of all the medical advances.
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