should you have a pet, when you cant take care of yourself?
By yelrihs
@yelrihs (298)
Australia
August 15, 2009 10:31pm CST
i work in a house for the people with disability. one of the residents loves cat and was just given permission to have a cat in the house. he then was bought a new kitten and named Jenny. i have been objecting this because, i know they have the right to own a pet, but he (the owner) cant even take care of himself. the kitten is not toilet trained, she poop on the carpet, in the laundry, in the bedrooms, etc.. and she climbs on anything, absolutely anything, she even jumped on kitchen bench, staff's bed, and other residents' bed. The staff have been cleaning her poo and the owner has been yelling at the staff to feed her and not to keep her away when the staff is meal preparing. all he does to the kitten was played with her. when he was told that he should be in charge in training the kitten, he was upset and said, 'thats not my job!' Thus, do we (staff) have the right to be upset? we were paid to take care of the residents, not another extra cat! i really think people who cant even take care of themselves should not own a pet. i am desperate! Lemme know what you all think!!!!!!!!
2 people like this
3 responses
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
19 Aug 09
It is a hard question. On one hand I think that people with a disabilty should be able to do the same things are others, and I think that they should be allowed to have a pet if they want to. On the other hard it is not fair if the staff has to take care of an extra pet. You wrote that the resident didn't think that it was his job to train the cat, and that he was yelling at the staff to feed the cat etc. That behaviour is not okay, if it is his cat, it is his responsibility to take care of it.
In my country some people who live in an institution are allowed to have a pet, but they can't just get a pet, there has to be some kind of "contract" at first. The disabled person or mentally ill person generally has to take care of the pet, (s)he might get some help from the staff, but the pet is the responsibility of the resident, and all the details about feeding, training etc are written down in the "contract" before the resident is allowed to buy a pet.
@fruitcakeliz (2641)
• United States
19 Aug 09
I have two thoughts on this issue:
One, pets such as cats and dogs can be extremely theraputic for older people, sick people, people with physical and mental disabilities, and i whole-heartedly support there use in care facilities. It is proven that pet owners tend to be slightly less sressed and able to remain calm and peaceful...which helps with all sorts of healing or issues.
But as for my second opinion:
They should not have gottenn a kitten! (or a puppy, if they were going to get a dog instead) I really think they should have checked out local shelters and found an adult animal for the house, as this animal would already be house trained, and would require less training, care and also would be much calmer than a young animal. I don't think this is a fair responsibility to put onto the workers as they already have their hands full with all the other care taking activities they must perform, and if the people you take care of are not mentaly or physicly able to do the training, i think an adult, mature animal would have been a far better choice.
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
16 Aug 09
hi I live in a retirement center and yes we have some disabled
people here but the ones who have pet dogs or cats must take care
of their feeding and their body excrement themselves, it is not'
put on the caregivers shoulders. and the pets are not allowed to run free in aNy other place but the resident's bedroom. If the resident goes to the hospital the care givers will fed the pet but that is all.they are very particular here as to who they let have pets.
