Throw-Away Pets
“OK so I'm guilty. I don't even have much money and I'm guilty of doing it. Something breaks - I get a new one. The flashlight's not working? It's not the batteries; could be the bulb. Heck, for a few bucks at Wal-Mart I just get another one. My daughter rips her shorts. I'm not a seamstress, so we buy another pair. The handle broke off the rake the other day. They say it's guaranteed for life. Too much work, too little time to write to the company, package the rake, and return it. By the time I buy shipping materials and pay postage, I may as well buy a new one” (Zwemke). America has quickly become a throw-away society and sadly enough this mentality effects everything in our lives, nothing is sacred, not even our pets
I have worked in an animal shelter, I have fostered cats for three years for The Siamese Cat Rescue I know their stories, I have seen it all. Our family pets like everything else can quickly be replaced; I once fostered a Siamese who for eighteen years had lived in an apartment with his loving family, one day they left for their busy day, patted his head goodbye and left, forever. He came to my house after nearly a week of living alone in the abandon apartment extremely emaciated, dehydrated, and in kidney failure. For what does he deserve this? For eighteen long years of loyalty and unconditional love shouldn’t he deserve another chance? He was one of the lucky ones, most “broken” pets wind up with everything else that can be replaced; the garbage.