>It's now getting down to individuals asking for help to cover their
>personal vet bills.  Again, I've had to put off surgeries for personal
>ferrets for a month until I could come up with the extra dollars (done
>by working side jobs)."
 
You could actually consider yourself lucky that you are able to work side
jobs.  Some people may find themselves in situations where working a side
job is next to impossible - single parents, those caring for an ill family
member, people already working two or more jobs to make ends meet - don't
have the time to work side jobs.
 
>But it kind of gets my goat for people to ask for money for a situation
>they created.  I'm talking about the guy in Ca. with the 13 confiscated
>ferrets.  You can't tell me that he didn't know they were illegal.  He was
>on this list.  I'm really sorry that he got caught, but he shouldn't have
>had them in the first place.  He took a risk and lost, why should we pay
>for that?
 
Personally, to a certain degree, I agree with you on this point.  Those
who blatantly break the law or knowingly take on more than they can handle
financially are basically "asking for it".  I personally know a couple who
were reported to Social Services because of the number of dogs and cats
they had; which they had to get rid of.  They are living on assistance from
the state, and are supposed to follow certain guidelines for a period of
time.  They have called us for favors, principally driving them somewhere
since they don't own a vehicle (they couldn't drive it anyway if they did
have one because neither of them has a driver's license).  I have had to
drive them to the hospital because the father got sick and wanted to go to
the emergency room.  I've also had to drive them to another town so the
mother could have visitation with her son.  They have called us to borrow
money because they need "milk for the baby" or diapers, or groceries.  But,
since Social Services doesn't show up as often as they used to, and because
Social Services calls before they come over, they got another dog.  Not
just any dog - a pure-bred Husky pup.  As you may know, pure-bred dogs
aren't cheap.  Sorry, no sympathy here because now you don't have money
to buy diapers for your baby.  Sympathy for the baby, of course, but no
sympathy for the parents.  They're also talking about taking a trip from
Wisconsin to California to get the Great Dane that they want.  If your
priorities are that messed up, you deserve no help from me or anyone else.
 
However, from time to time we all find ourselves in situations we didn't
plan for.  A loss or change of a job, an unexpected relocation, or sudden
major expenses.  Any of these can cause considerable changes to our
pocketbooks.  Cases like that do deserve our help if we can give it.
 
I guess it boils down to whether you can help someone you feel needs it.
 
Michel
[Posted in FML issue 2810]