Montana Representative Wants All Pit Bulls in the State Killed

Photo courtesy of www.downtownpet.com

Robyn Driscoll, a Democrat who represents the 51^st District, has introduced a bill that would authorize the state sanctioned killing of all pit bulls in the state.  If the bill is made into law, any person who owns a pit bull will have to surrender their dog(s) for euthanasia within 10 days. If a person who has a pit bull refuses to cooperate under this scenario, any officer can obtain a search warrant to seize the dog(s).

As a person whose pets are like her children, I cannot imagine anything more horrible.At the risk of sounding too cliched, dogs become a threat when they are not raised, trained, and cared for properly. Any animal can bite, and any animal can turn vicious. Be it a pit bull, a shi tzu, a snake, or a parakeet, any animal that is kept as a pet has the potential to strike out at a human or another pet.

The National Canine Research Council reports that between 1965 and 2008, there were 3 fatalities in Montana from dog bites.  Yes, 3 in 43 years.  In 2005 alone, just one year in Montana, 1,400 people died from smoking and 251 in traffic accidents.  (Maybe Driscoll should work to protect Montanans from smoking and second hand cigarette smoke or negligent or drunk drivers; that would at least be something useful.)

The NCRC notes, “All the dogs involved … were …not spayed or neutered….All three cases involved unsupervised children left alone in a yard with unfamiliar dogs (2 cases) or the child wandering off and encountering an unfamiliar, chained dog (1 case).

source: Animal Law Coalition

Neville - Photo courtesy of the Animal Farm Foundation

Neville is a beautiful pit bull who was rescued from Canada after breed-specific legislation (BSL) forced him into a shelter. He is now a happy, healthy, and much loved bomb-sniffing dog in United States. Read his story here.

Dogs are not designer bags. It is unfair and shortsighted to single out one breed simply because it looks a certain way. You can help to put a stop to this unfair, cruel legislation. Contact Robin Driscoll and other legislators and remind them that BSL is misguided and wrong!

• Robyn Driscoll, (406) 534-4874, rdriscoll@peoplepc.com

• Contact the House Local Government Committee by calling Joe Kolman, 406-444-9280

• Find Montana legislators and email, fax or call them and urge them to say no to H.B. 191.  Here is the fax number for the House: 406-444-4825

If you aren’t sure what to write, just remember, be respectful, don’t insult the person you are writing to, and always be sure to proofread. If you still aren’t sure, feel free to copy and paste what I sent. Try to add your own thoughts, though.

Dear Ms. Driscoll:

I am writing to express my concern over the unfair breed specific legislation that you have introduced in Montana. Breed specific legislation is, at best, shortsighted. Proposing to kill all of the pit bulls in the state is cruel and inhumane.

Please, take the time to learn more about the breed that you are working to eradicate in name of misguided fear. No animal should be punished for ignorance or because it has an irresponsible and/or incompetent owner.

Thank you for your time.

Is Proper Pet Care Is Cost Prohibitive?

Over the years, we have spent what seems like a lot of money on our pets. Be it for food, toys, supplies, routine care, emergencies, or problems that may have arisen, money has never been an issue regarding our animals. There have been occasions where it was extremely difficult. We adopted all of our animals when we were young, and we had no idea how much they would be like human children when it came to expenses. We were just married, both in college, and, well, broke.

It started when we found Chewy, our oldest cat, lying in his litter box. We made an appointment with the vet and took him to be checked out. The vet wanted me to leave him for a few hours because he said that he needed to be catheterized. By the time I got back home, the vet was calling me on the phone. Chewy’s bladder had ruptured, and he was in bad shape. The Dr. said that he could operate, but that there were no guarantee that he would even survive the surgery.

He also said that it would be somewhere between 600-800 dollars. (To put this into perspective, we were probably only bringing home somewhere in the ballpark of 300 to 350 a week at that time.) After a moment that seemed like a flurry of sadness, panic, and shock, we told the vet to go ahead with the surgery. We loved our cat. Before we hung up, I asked him if we would be able to set up a payment plan. He told me to come back to the office and make a deposit (which I did) and we could pay monthly until we had a zero balance.

Fortunately, Chewy came out of the surgery like a trouper, and came home a few days later. When all was said and done, we had a bill that was almost 700 dollars and a “prescription” for special food. The food was sixteen dollars for a five pound bag. We have three cats.  There is just no way to separate the cats for meal time, so they all had to eat the new food. That in itself was a major expense. Now, eight years later, we buy the same food by the 30 pound bag. It is up to forty-six dollars for that size, which lasts for exactly two weeks. While that’s a lot of money for cat food per month, Chewy has been healthy and energetic ever since. He is twelve now, and still as sassy as ever.

Fortunately, we have had no major issues with the dogs. Aside from Bill’s lymphoma, most of the dogs’ care has been fairly routine - checkups, vaccinations, and the occasional dental cleaning. In fact, Pub just had his teeth cleaned last month, and the bill was a whopping 300 dollars. He has a few fatty lumps on him (which the vet said are common and not anything to worry about) that we contemplated having removed, but at the additional cost of 200 to 300 dollars, we decided to leave them alone unless they become a health concern.

When I went to pick him up, the dog dentist, who was extremely nice, explained the easiest way to care for his teeth at home. That included a rinse that I was instructed to use daily. The rinse ended up being twenty dollars for eight ounces, so it also ended up back on the shelf. It would last two weeks AT MOST.

At thirty eight dollars per large bag, the dogs’ food is also quite expensive. It lasts between two and three weeks, usually. We are willing to spend that kind of money on their food for several reasons:

• It contains only quality ingredients and no fillers – You can check reviews on your dog’s food here.
• It is not tested on animals like Iams and Eukanuba is.
• It is not made in China.  These days, it seems like nothing that comes from china is safe.

Just for fun, I decided to go back through my checkbook since January of this year and add up all of the money that went toward anything for the animals, including food, check-ups, medication, toys, kitty litter, and surgeries. The final tally includes Bill’s euthanasia and cremation, as well as Annie’s spay. Still, these are not totally unusal expenses. When all was said and done, from January to October of this year, we have spent $1,316.07 dollars on pet care. There’s still two more months to go before we have a final tally.

Here’s the point. We love our animals more than anything, and we will spend whatever we have to to keep them healthy and happy. It’s not a problem for us. Five years ago, it would have been a major problem. Ten years ago, we would have never been able to do it. So here is my question: How can veterinarians sleep at night? It is thirty dollars just to walk in the door. That seems bad enough. Why on earth would a vet charge eighteen dollars to squirt eye wash in a dog’s eye? Why in the hell would they charge forty dollars for a urinalysis, or thirty dollars for a heartworm test?

My friend recently called her vet on a Friday to see if he would see her dog that day or the next to check her knee. She had had it replaced the year before, and began favoring it. The receptionist told her that they had no appointments, but that the vet would see her if she paid a SEVENTY FIVE dollar emergency fee. But the vet was already going to be there all weekend! Needless to say, she has since found another vet.

If I were a vet, I could never turn an animal away because it’s owner couldn’t pay me. And it does happen. I wish it weren’t about money to so many.

To a lot of people, expenses for animal care are crushing. There are a lot of people out there who have adopted pets, and who love animals, but they cannot afford the ridiculous prices that many vets charge. Often, these pets are fed poor diets, not spayed or neutered, and don’t receive the proper vaccinations. It can be very difficult to mange all of these things plus flea and heartworm prevention, and anything else that may come along. I know, because I have been in their shoes. Pets are a major responsibility. We were fortunate that our vet let us make payments eight years ago. Many will not. We have borrowed money from our parents, and we probably even charged a visit or two.

Sadly, many animals will probably be put to sleep when their care becomes too much of a burden, and, even worse, many vets will put them to sleep before they will offer their services at a reduced rate. It’s a disgrace.

So, what do you think? Are some vets more concerned about money than the animals?

A difficult journey…

I really don’t know why I have bothered to wear makeup for he last few weeks since I have been sobbing regularly. Not many things in my life have been as rewarding as the relationships I have had with my animals, and not many things have been as painful as watching them grow old and deteriorate. This is coming from a woman who has been through many, many difficult times.

I talked about Bill’s diagnosis with lymphoma in an earlier post. While he did well on the prednisone, the last couple of weeks have been difficult; his health is rapidly declining, and he is near the end of his life. For the last few months, he has been losing weight; about a month ago, he began to sleep much more than usual; in the last few days, Bill has had difficulty with stairs and standing without help. He loves getting treats, eating snow, and snacking on “people food,” but he doesn’t really eat on his own anymore.

We have discussed the inevitable, and know that within a few days we will have to put him to sleep. The decision is absolutely agonizing, especially when I see him wagging his stubby little tail, getting frisky about treats or snuggling with his brother. He is not in any pain, we are certain of that; he is, however, losing quality of life. I wonder if I am doing the right thing, or if maybe if we wait one more day he will go peacefully in his sleep.

Life will go on, the pain will lessen, but I can’t bear the thought of waking up and not seeing his sweet, smooshy face. I dread that first morning without him. I will miss him dearly. I already do.