animal cruelty ? - Page 1

This was something I figured would drag up a good argument,

Is this cruelty, or the system that we will have to endure?

www.14wfie.com/global/story.asp

I have cut and sewn my own animals many times in the past as do many people who live on a farm or ranch.

I suspect the Vet had a hand in this man being charged, or should I say charged for services with attitude.

Just pisses me off is all.

Do you think this was animal cruelty?

Moons.

I don't think so, he used a local anesthetic, how is it cruel? I also don't think cyst removal is always unnecessary, and to my understanding you don't know if it's benign unless you remove it and do a biopsy. I've had them removed on my dogs due to them constantly licking it in irritation.

I've given shots, removed stitches, and when a cyst burst on my dogs back a few weeks ago on a Saturday evening, rather than take her to the emergency vet for something so non-life threatening, I cleaned it, applied warm water/epsom salt compresses, and it healed beautifully on its own.

I know a lot of people who live out in the sticks who have to attend to their own animal's emergencies, hell, what did people do before vets?

Should he have done it? Probably not. Was it cruel? I don't think so.

I didn't either,
the old guy was only guilty of being old and a little poor, and trying to do for himself.

Bad judgment maybe, but if he had been able to keep the animal from getting the infection what was the harm.

It wasn't open heart surgery or a kidney transplant.

I paid much more to my vet to have an ingrown splinter and hair removed from my bitches forehead, and it was so simple I almost did it myself.

Moons.

I care for my own critters needs as much as possible; I vaccinate, care for boo-boos, microchip my dogs on my own, evacuate cysts when they open to drain...etc.. I draw the line at suturing, lancing, or doing anything that could potentially worsen a given condition...& I discuss stuff with my vet, who lets me know what she's comfortable having done at home. Our only disagreement so far was on ear tattooing...she said she felt that was cruel---but I noticed that her ears, like mine, were pierced, & after we discovered that we had each done our own ears at home as well, that arguement was pretty much moot, too! If you're willing to do it to yourself, well......my pups seriously gave 1 shake of the ears after tattooing & that was that! No drama, no trauma. And their tats came out fairly clear as well. (Thanks Shelley!) Sounds to me like there was some other issues between this guy & his vet....or the vet's a control freak. God bless my vet, she is a real gem! jackie harris

No, it was not cruelty.

Before the age of modern medicine, people did their own care, often with no anesthetics at all.  Farmers around here still castrate their piglets, calves, and steers, without the use of vets, and many times band the tails on lambs, as well.  Is it cruel?  No, I don't think so.  What, to me, is far more cruel, is having to pay a vet several hundred dollars to do what you could have done yourself.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do basic surgery or administration of medicines.  In this case, it was all about the money.

I guess next time this gent will learn to go to the farm store and pick up some antibiotics and treat the infection himself, as well as to be a little cleaner in his surgical field...

Crys

"It wasn't open heart surgery or a kidney transplant."

So where's the line?  Should parents be allowed to perform similar minor surgeries to their children?

Whether or not it was cruelty depends entirely on the skill of the person doing it.  Sure, some of you on here could probably do it well, but maybe this man couldn't, and if he couldn't, it was cruel of HIM to perform that surgery, since he was unskilled.

If your vet did without painkillers any of the procedures some of you mention on here, you'd have a fit.  Sure, we used to amputate people's limbs without anesthestic, too, but do we do that now?  No.  So why subject an animal to needless pain?

When it comes to splinter removal, even the ones that are not sticking out, I do all my own on myself and kids.  Ingrown toenails?  I do them at home.  Cuts, scrapes, puncture wounds?  You got it, I do them at home.  Hubby gets a deep cut?  We clean it very well with soap and water, then disinfectant, and bandage at home.  Butterfly closures are just as effective as stitches for closing deeper wounds, and believe me, when you can't afford to the pay the criminal prices that doctors charge for stuff you could and should do at home, you do your own.

Would I cut into my child to remove a wart or a skin growth like a cyst or some such?  No, I would not.  Would I set a broken bone at home?  Depends on the location of the break..Likely not, unless it was myself, and then, you bet.  Dislocated joint at home?  I relocated my dislocated kneecap a few years ago and sought alternative treatment from a naturopath..Good as new.

I think if people took more responsibility for taking care of minor stuff at home, dogs, and people alike, the way farmers do with their cattle and sheep, then I think we'd be a lot less dependent on the medical profession and might break the hold they have...Driving prices down for care because folks might just opt out of having the treatment because they don't want to pay that much.

To call doing for yourself cruelty...No, that's just self preservation.  We've been taught over the years to view doctors as some sort of gods, these highly educated men and women who know more about us than we can ever know.  In fact, that is not true.  Their knowledge goes hand in hand with our own knowledge...and does not supercede it.

That's just my opinion, Keith, and I doubt you and I will see eye to eye on it.  But I do think people do need to do more for themselves.

Crys

He used a local anesthetic, Tess...

And the tail docking of pups is done without anesthetic, as are dew claw removals.  Castration of piglets, steers, and the removal of tails on sheep, is done without anesthetics.

This guy might not have kept his field clean enough...but that doesn't make him cruel for doing a minor operation on his dog...he saw to the pain management.

Crys