The Victims of a Throwaway Society

Okay, so I am guilty. I don’t even have that much money and I am guilty of doing it. Something breaks? You get a new one. The flashlight not working? It’s not the batteries, could be the bulb. Heck, for a few bucks at Walmart I just get another one. My daughter rips her shorts. I’m not a seamstress, we bought 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 the company, package the rake, and return it. By the time I purchase shipping materials and pay postage, I might as well buy a new one. And the cost to get a repairman out to fix the washing machine almost equals what I would pay for a brand new one on sale.

Our busy schedules, our need for immediate gratification and solution, and the pressure of getting it all done leads, in many instances, to us ‘throwing out the old and getting new.’  While we may teach our kids the value of saving money by watching for sales or working within a budget, our actions often belie our words. We toss things aside when they break, or get old, or simply take up too much space, and buy new ones.

Unfortunately, this mentality can permeate all aspects of family life. And in some families, nothing is sacred.

Think about that 75 pound dog the neighbor got ten years ago as a cute little puppy? He now has hip dysplasia, can’t always make it down the steps, and occasionally messes in the house. There’s no one to help him down the steps as he’s so heavy and no time to clean up the accidents on the floor. The 15 year old cat who for, yes, 15 years has been someone’s faithful, lifelong bed buddy?  He is now confused, meowing most of the night, and the parents can’t take it – busy lives, they need their rest. And that pair of kittens the kids got for Christmas? They’re now full-grown cats, sharpening their claws on grandmother’s antique chairs, giving mom a headache.

These are just some of the stories we hear in rescue – the list goes on and on. The folks who have too much going on in their lives and have no time to worry about the cat who now has glaucoma and can’t see; the ones whose kids grew tired of the puppy they got for Christmas when they have to walk it before and after school; the family whose kitten grew up to have food allergies and now requires a special diet. What are these people to do? They’ve been saddled with something that no longer fits the mold – something that is no longer easy, convenient, or inexpensive.

Well, if it’s like most everything else in society today, you toss it out. “We can always get another cat when we move,” the mother tells her sobbing daughter. “The dog will be better off in the shelter where she has a chance to be adopted by someone who has the time,” says the dad. “I just don’t have the time or the money to deal with this problem any longer,” says each person in the parade of individuals that walk through our shelters’ doors.

So shelters and rescues suck it up. We take what we can fit, what we can cram into every spare cage and corner. We help what we can afford, with budgets that are already stretched too thin.  But despite our best efforts, our endless compassion and hard effort, there are too many animals out there in need, too few cages, too little money, and not enough help. We are just spread too thin. So what happens to those animals that we can’t get to? To those animals that don’t fit in our already crammed cages, or for whom there isn’t a spare penny? Yup, you got it. Many of those animals will actually make a trash bin.

So have at it. Toss that flashlight and by yourself a new one. Get that new dishwasher you’ve been needing when it goes on sale. But a pet? They are family members. Be responsible. Teach your children the right thing. You brought them into your family. It’s not up to someone else to take care of them when they become a challenge. Think carefully before surprising those kiddos with the gift of a pet for the holidays. While there are, in some cases, legitimate reasons for rehoming a pet, not having spent the time upfront to consider the responsibility a pet brings with it, is not one of them.