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To you, life is life. Do you feed your grandmother in a bowl on the floor? Do you take her outside to use the bathroom? No? Whyever not? Life is life and your dog's life is so much similar to a human's that it only stands to reason that you treat all life the same, I imagine. I expect she also sleeps in your bed every night like the rest of the life in your home?
No...life is not life. Humans can reason, make choices, and anticipate pain and the future. They are functioning at a higher level of living, no matter what your personal beliefs are. A dog cannot reason as to why he is miserable and you cannot explain to him that maybe tomorrow he will get adopted and it may just be the family that will keep him for life~or not.
All that dog knows is sensory level life....hunger, pain, loneliness, cold, heat, etc. He knows changes in environment, both good and bad. He cannot, however, do much about it to insure he is kept comfortable. We humans can....we can apoint guardians, get our humans into a medical facility, give them a quality life even if their families cannot. Abused children can be placed where they no longer receive abuse and, when they grow up, reason how to avoid abusive situations in the future....dogs cannot. Dogs just wander around until they find a food source and/or good company~usually they are not mutually exclusive unless they are raiding your coop.
If you've never seen human suffering up close and real personal, then you might not understand the difference between humans and dogs. You think that all suffering by any living creature is the same, but it is not. Dogs can't ask you why nor plead for death when they are hurting beyond imagining.
I've been a nurse for 18 years and the past three have been in the field of hospice. Do I think that people should be put down when they are old? Of course not. Do I think they should be allowed to die when they are past curing? Yes, if they wish it. There are worse things than dying and I've seen them.
Unfortunately, dogs cannot make such an informed decision.
You are assuming I have never seen or met a person suffering or dying... That offends me. I wont go into it because no Im not a nurse but I have known and loved many people who have left this world and watched them as they withered away. Note I didnt say someone terminal in that list above did I? (And dont misconstrue that I believe we should put down terminal patients either... I dont even want to talk about that subject)
And no I wouldnt feed gramma from a dog bowl on the floor but just because their life is different does not mean they need to be treated any less as if they dont matter. And yes if Petie had cancer and had NO HOPE then sure I would agree... but just because his previous owners were bad and he has ticks doesnt mean his life is already past helping!
