Life and Hope

Last Saturday, as I was walking into a food court with my family for our evening meal, my daughter tugged my hand, "Mom, poor thing!" pointing in the direction of a little kitten. It was meowing very loudly. I noticed that one of its paws was twice the normal size. My daughter urged me to take it home but I told her to wait till after our dinner. "If it is still here then, we will consider" I said.

After dinner, it was still in the same spot meowing very loudly. My husband told me it was very badly injured. Its front paw was broken and dangling. To me then, there was no question. It needed medical care and without a second thought, we brought it home, in a big plastic bag.

The next day, we brought it to our usual vet. She appeared a bit taken aback at the condition of kitty. All three legs were injured. The hanging paw had dropped off by then. The bone on its hind leg was exposed. Even its tail was broken. She was deliberating what to do.  Her opinion was that though there is hope that the leg would heal, she could not be certain. Alot of time and cost would be involved. She said that if it were her, she would put kitty to sleep. 

With a heavy heart, I went home. I then checked out the funding available from animal  organisations. My friend who is an independent dog rescuer, suggested that I seek the opinions of other vets. The second vet I went to said there is a small chance of recovery but questioned whether I want to put in the time and money on that little hope. He suggested that I put the kitty to sleep. He asked me if I was willing to take care of a paralysed cat round the clock, if it did not work out.

I was very troubled that night.  I thought through the various reasons commonly given for euthanasia. In this case, we make the decision for the animal. Is animal life less precious and more dispensable than human life? Is it selfish to allow an animal to suffer a long and painful death? What possible reasons can justify such a decision? Is it to avoid creating bad karma for ourselves? Or is it that we do not want the suffering of having to take care of the animal?  Is it  just to reduce its suffering or my suffering? I think it is both. Is it really more compassionate to put an animal to sleep  to reduce its suffering? 

If it were you, would you choose to ignore the injured animal and leave it to die? Or would you take it home and put it to sleep? Would you take care of a paralysed cat, feeding it, cleaning its poo and pee, blow drying its backside for its entire life? Which would you choose?

Principles and ideals are all very good, till it happens to us. It is then, that we take a long, hard look at ourselves and what our values really stand for, especially when things become an inconvenience for us.