A Hard Day

Forgive me if this is a preachy one, but today was a hard day.

One of my pet peeves in this world is lack of responsibility. I'm not talking you forgot to pick up the milk after work or your underwear is still in the dryer four days after you dried it, but REAL lack of responsibility. And today, my pet peeve is abandoned pets.

Today I had to look deep into the eyes of, not one but, two animals and tell them they were loved, they were beautiful, and it would be ok, as our vet put a needle into their vein and sent them onto a forever sleep where, I can only hope, life is better.

The first animal was a dog with aggression issues towards humans, i.e. a Biter, who was sweet when she wanted to be, and wanted to take a chunk out of your arm if that suited her as well. It just depended on the situation. This dog was rescued from dying a terrible death in a filthy pound on a concrete floor in a gas chamber in Ohio, and came here to be rehabbed, vetted, and sent onto her happy life. Oh, how I wish. Instead, it became obvious that this unlucky little Fido was in the pound for a reason- whether her owner turned her loose on purpose or just never came to get her on purpose- she likes to bite people. But instead of the owner doing the responsible thing and having her humanely euthanized, she became my problem instead. And that's not fair to me or to her. She deserved to have her person standing there beside her today, not me. And I deserve to not have to be the person standing beside her.

The second animal was a cat with fatty liver disease. A purr machine and sweet as could be, this cat had no faults, other than a crappy owner who abandoned her, leaving her with a roommate who has migraine-inducing cat-allergies, and had to give her up. The stress of her new environment no doubt exacerbated her condition, leaving her to vomit if you even looked at her and miserable to the core. The roommate did not know about the condition, but it wasn't his place to- the fuckhead owner who abandoned the poor cat should have been the one standing in my place today. Had this cat not been taken out of it's home, it's comfort zone, she would still be with us today. She deserved that.

Day in and day out, I deal with the slime pet owners of the world. Those who rent a new "no pets allowed" apartment and suddenly remember they had a cat for 10 years. Or those who have kids and suddenly don't have time to scoop a litterbox. Or those who work for a living and suddenly don't have time to throw a scoop of dog food in a bowl and let the dog out in the morning. Those who simply can't tolerate that Fido is getting old and needs to go out more than twice a day now. Those who beat their animals, leave them out in the cold, and those who just don't care- animals are nothing but possessions, to be thrown away when no longer useful. I hate these people. These people who shirk real responsibility like a coat in warm weather. I hate them. Especially today.

I told a woman over the weekend that I wish someone would put me out of business. That there were so few abandoned animals that dog and cat rescues weren't needed, were archaic. What a dream. Instead, today I was the last person on earth that this dog and cat saw, the last person on earth that told them I loved them, the last person on earth to kiss their foreheads as the slipped into the Forever. I hope they didn't hear me, but heard the people they loved before me, and I hope that, in some drug-induced way, I was whoever it was they loved most on this earth. They deserved that.

My heart hurts tremendously. Today was not fair to me nor to them. Today was a very hard day.