I tend to agree with the person who stated that quality of life should be
a large determination in an animal's being put to sleep.  Unfortunately,
it is hard to determine what "quality of life" can mean, since we cannot
"talk" with our animals.
 
I sometimes wonder if my Rasta should have been put to rest much sooner
than he was.  It plagues me almost every day.  I said in a post that I made
that I would not keep him going if I thought he no longer had "quality of
life" but my opinion could be wrong on this since I have no idea if he
wanted to continue to live or not.  All I could do for him was continue to
make sure he was eating, drinking and socializing without all the usual
"pain" indicators (grinding teeth, lethargy, etc..).
 
I guess that what I am trying to say is that it is too difficult for us
humans to define "quality of life" when we ourselves are not ferrets.  I
wish it was easy for us to know for sure, but there is no simple formula.
Everyone would probably define "quality of life" in different terms.  I
know that Rasta had good days and bad days but I don't think he was ready
to go.  It killed me to watch him change right before my eyes but I do not
believe it was his time.  The last two days, I will admit were pretty bad
and I had decided to take him to the vet for "the shot" but he beat me to
it and died that morning.  I am glad he went in his sleep and I HOPE I did
the right thing.  One will never know.  I am not Dr. Doolittle so it is
hard to say.
 
Nobody should be flaming you over your ideas on this - I don't think you
are a ferret-killer, but I think this topic is way too hard to define.
Every person has their own definition of "quality of life".
 
Also, I see a few people coming forward to defend Pat Wright.  I agree that
people should not believe everything they see in the media and I don't care
about the knife issue (whether it is true or not).  What I do care about is
that this man decided to use his animals to make a statement when he knew
NOT to take them in public.  He knew the laws in California.  I don't care
if he donated a million dollars to help out shelters or any other ferret
causes.  The point is, he broke the law and tempted fate.  Plain and
simple, so why should we all feel bad for him?  Jail time was a little
extreme but if he was wielding a knife at police, it is not enough jail
time as far as I am concerned.  This whole incident sheds a bad light on
ferret owners and is counter-productive to changing the law.  Did he think
of these things PRIOR to taking his ferrets out to a public park?  Did any
of the people who joined him with their ferrets think of this?  Shear
stupidity!  Why put your animals in harms way?  Again, I have heard from
several people who know Pat that this is not the first time he has put his
animals in this position.  I think it is sick to use an animal as bait in
proving a point.
 
Obviously, you will not get the sympathy vote from me on this issue.
Hopefully, he learned his lesson and will never own ferrets again (or at
least not use them for his own stupid anarchist endeavors).
[Posted in FML issue 2972]