week 2

So the last class, we had a discuss on the ethics on animals and taking them to the vet, and all sorts of other things. While in discussion, a few of my classmates talked about how many had to "out down there dogs" instead of trying to "fix" their pets and extend their pet's life. But the thoughts of why did it have to be life or death right away?

Why was it that the owner had the right to "put the dog down"? Who said that they had the right to take the pet's life away just because they weren't doing well anymore? The reason why this thought came about was because my friends just recently lost their dog. Their dog, I believe had medical conditions but because it was costly and because it wouldn't do much for their dog, decided not to take on those procedures. But instead of "putting the dog down" they just kept it for it's remaining time and later died naturally.

In pertaining to ethics, it is ethical to have the right to take an animals life away? Most of the time, when a human is not in a healthy condition, we leave in hospitalized for a long time unless they are no longer conscious or are at near death. So what makes it okay for us to believe that putting a dog down is the right thing to do?