You write about ethics while I shift through bills, debts, memories and regrets.
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You write about ethics while I shift through bills, debts, memories and regrets.
Ethics Alarms 
Anyone hear about the illegals storming the border @El Paso?
Media Coverage:
NBC–none
ABC–none
CNN–none
MSNBC–none
CBS–36 seconds
PWS
Comment eaten?
PWS
Yup. Got it. Up now.
Fox covered it repeatedly. The video was eye opening, not a child or woman to be seen, just military age males overwhelming the small number of border/ national guard. Eventually they run into a fence and are ironically stopped.
https://x.com/LennyDykstra/status/1767334094466130321?s=20
Here’s an ethics question.
Say you have an old pet, but one that is in good physical shape. The animal suffers from some arthritis and missing teeth, but not much else. The vet has commented that they rarely see pets this age in such good shape. The pet is of an age where they could drop dead tomorrow, or live another five years, maybe.
However, this pet, an indoor cat, has been getting less social with other animals and more destructive in its behavior, specifically an issue with proper toileting. The vet has been involved, and there seems to be nothing physically causing the pet to pee all over the inside of the house. The medicines suggested are not helping. This is not the first vet approached, and the suggestions and medicines mirror what the other vet suggested. There are 6-10 messes a day, on average, mixed between urine and fecal matter.
Is it more ethical to give the pet to the shelter, knowing that it is a long shot that it can be adopted and rehomed, otherwise, it will likely live the rest of its life (which is winding down, but still could be five years if its health remains so good) in a small cage with no love, or is it more ethical to put the pet down, letting them die gently, with their loving family nearby, but cutting off whatever time is left while they are yet in good physical health?
My vote: put the poor cat down. This is why Mrs. OB and I are not getting another dog or dogs in the foreseeable future. At aged early 70s, it’s just too hard putting pets down. You can do it when you’re younger, but not as you get antique. Our last dachshund lived to age sixteen. She was arthritic, had minimal vision and was incontinent. She’d have kept trucking along given the opportunity (she was very determined as dachshunds are wont to be) but her liver was failing. It was a no brainer. I don’t think your cat’s having any fun. Tough decision and no fun, but putting the cat down is the right thing to do, for all concerned.
Sarah, I am a cat person and deal with multiple cats at home and at a TNR colony I care for.
You said he was getting less social with others and soiling inappropriately several times a day. Try giving this cat his own litter box and isolate him from the others but continue the human interaction. The others could be preventing him from using “their” box. This is similar to upstart alphas kicking the old man out. Another option as spring approaches is to allow him to spend time outdoors in a large crate or fenced area.
Unless, the cat is in pain I never recommend euthanasia. I understand the difficulty of dealing with cats whose toilet habits have gone haywire. Trying to rehome a cat because of toilet issues simply transferring your problem to someone else without telling them. That is not fair to the new pet parent or the cat who may be discarded in an inappropriate manner( like all those dropped off that I now care for). In the meanwhile the cat will go where it has gone before so get a enzymatic cleaner to destroy his urine and use puppy pads on those spots for awhile until the cat stops urinating there.
I hope this helps.
Chris,
I thank you for these suggestions. I hope you have others, because we have tried all these.
We now have five litter boxes and are trying to figure out where to place a sixth. The younger male cat in our house does sort of push her around a little, but she gives as good as she gets and she is in position one or two (of three) in the hierarchy, and has plenty of protected options. She used to be friendly with the other female cat, but now she is openly hostile with her and pushes her around. I have seen her use the litter box only rarely, but the other cats do not chase her from it.
She won’t use a box if isolated and instead pees and poops everywhere but in them. Then, if she gets out of isolation, she intentionally pees and poops where we can see her. She is allergic to some of the vaccines, so we can’t let her go outdoors. Rabies is the biggest problem, but she is deficient on many vaccines due to her allergies, by order of the vet. She is also terrified of the outdoors and a cat carrier/crate causes her severe anxiety which causes more toileting issues. She is, by preference and necessity, an indoor cat.
We buy enzymatic cleaners in multipacks to keep up. We’ve tried calming collars, spray, and diffuser. We’ve tried anti-anxiety meds. We tried different food, and we tried isolating from the other two cats. We have tried nearly everything that the vet or Google can recommend. We are at the point where our house reeks of cat urine and it is a huge burden to keep anything clean. We believe that we have to replace all our carpet. She has destroyed books as well as furniture.
I don’t want to euthanize her. I don’t want to rehome her (which would only be done with full knowledge, at least on the shelter’s part). It has been 2 years of constant cleaning, and still my life reeks of cat urine. I’m at wits end and trying to figure out an ethical way of dealing with a semi-arthritic fourteen year old cat (whom I love) who pees on everything. What else is there to do?
I wish I had a magic bullet but I don’t. I am sorry that your loved pet is such a problem. Whatever decision you make will be difficult but I am sure you will make the right one.
Sarah, I know of the frustration of having a cat that loves you but is an absolute mess.
Apples to oranges, cats to parrots. Someone had apparently heard that I took in unwanted parrots that were usually near death’s door.
One morning, I get a knock on my door. I open it and see a cage with four parrots and the backsides of the two dudes that had just brought these birds.
I came to learn that one of the birds was very old, way beyond a typical species’ longevity. They all arrived in a single cage that was barely big enough to house one parrot, and I watched the geriatric girl get shoved out of food, sleep, a perch, etcetera by her younger cage mates.
I got her her own cage and set up porches to make things a bit more stable for this bird that had suffered a broken pelvis that didn’t heal properly.
None of these four had developed the required social skills needed to ever be a pet.
I left her cage door open, and she’d sit on top of her cage with the occasional slip & fall to the soft floor.
Within a year, this bird now named “Grandma” would seek me out in order to get back to either her dish or her observation perch after falling
One day, she stopped eating. I bribed her with really good snacks, but after three days, I took her to the vet for hyperbarics & force feeding. If she hadn’t gotten her appetite back within 72 hours, I was going to let her go.
I wasn’t physically able get to the vet, and I probably would’ve second-guessed myself for months. She wasn’t eating; to me, that’s the strongest way to say that it’s time.
In the tearful conversation with the Dr, Grandma’s dish went from untouched to zero, ready to eat whatever was proffered. 48 hours later, she was eating everything.
She lived another two years. During those years, she became affectionate and demanded my attention.
Sarah, I don’t if the story is of any help to you, but if she’s not in pain and is able to benefit from your companionship. I think the urinating right in front is a common form of protest.
Before considering euthanasia, I’d try to get some blood & urine labs to find out if she’s actually ill or if behavior is being driven by something else.
Stay dry?
Sarah,
I don’t envy your situation. Finding a new home is going to be difficult, given the cat’s bathroom tendencies. Those tendencies could be exacerbated – and very frustrating for a new owner – in new surroundings, where everything is unfamiliar. Giving the cat to a shelter is a legitimate option, but again, the cat will likely live out whatever days it has left there, since it’s less likely to be adopted.
I don’t know if cats are the same, but I think dogs have a sense of dignity when it comes to the toilet. If Bailey (the dog we had until two years ago) messed in the house – which happened a couple of times – she would go to a different place to “hide” from us because she was ashamed. If cats are like that, you may be in a position of owning a cat that is healthy otherwise, but is losing its dignity. I don’t think that’s good for the animal, either. In our case, health issues forced our hands before the bathroom problems became significant. Your situation might be reversed.
Think it over carefully. If you are the only owners your cat has known, it might be more considerate to put the animal down. Our vet told us he would rather have owners put their pets down a wee bit early than wait until it was in pain or too weak to walk or even stand up. Maybe this is your situation. If you can find someone who understands the cat’s issues, but would love to give it a “retirement” home for a bit, that could be a very good situation for you.
All the best as you work through this.
Random recent thought/rant:
The entire notion of “systemic racism” is preposterous. Racial discrimination has been explicitly made illegal since at least the 1960s. “Systemic racism” is illegal. But old-fashioned “I don’t like them black people” racism is still in place to one extent or the other in various parts of the country. Why? Because a not insignificant number of people in the country are ASSHOLES! It’s as simple as that. The “systemic racism” people are trying to make being an asshole illegal. But being an asshole is not something that responds to laws. Being an asshole is something that used to be addressed in churches and homes. “Love thy neighbor as thyself” used to be taught in churches and even in some schools. But as we now know, according to the “systemic racism” crowd, religion is actually a white supremacist creation that furthers systemic racism! So, good job, lefties, you’ve killed organized religion. But laws don’t address problems with people’s souls. But of course, politics are the new religion. The solution? Forget about trying to make being an asshole illegal or addressable by the force of government. You’ve won. Systemic racism is illegal. You’re in the greatest country in the world. Go forth. Get educated, get a good job, raise kids, make money. It’s all there for the taking. Ignore the assholes because sure as heck no one else is going to get rid of them.
Rant over. Cue Gene Wilder explaining racial relations to the new sheriff.
I disagree. ”Systemic racism” is not just about making assholery illegal. It is a concept that perpetuates class animosity and conflict, and is a win for the grievance industry. There is absolutely no way to define “systemic racism” in such a manner to address it or eradicate it (assuming it existed at all).
Additionally, it is a form of thought control but directed by public policy to reallocate or redistribute wealth. Reparations are part of that movement.
Recently, a very nasty litigant in a case I have the misfortune of working on, has accused me and my client of engaging in racially motivated threats against her. It is patently false. But, how do I respond to that accusation? If I say, “yeah, no, that didn’t happen” or “I am not a racist,” then I am forced to defend myself. If I do nothing, then it encourages this obnoxious litigant to make further allegations. So, I thought about “put up or shut up.”
At the hearing, though, I simply said to the Court, “If Ms. ___ has evidence of this, she should show it to the Court and the Court can issue appropriate orders.” W
The litigant proceeded to show photos of racially charged stuffed animals in nooses bearing offensive threats to the Court, asserting that I and my client did it. Well, it turned out that the same stuffed animals in nooses bearing racially offensive threats have been circulating in the litigant’s world for many, many years. I had pictures where she had accused others of using the same racial threats with the same stuffed animal in nooses in at least three other cases she had filed against other parties. After about 14 minutes of showing the same picture she filed in the other cases, the judge issued a rather blistering reproach from the bench and promptly threw her out of court. Delicious.
jvb
That anecdote made my Friday quite a bit brighter. Thanks!
I’d say the assholery thing works both ways, John. “Systemic racism” allows the aggrieved to BE assholes with impunity by accusing anything and anyone they consider offensive to be evidence of systemic racism. This woman basically accused you of being an asshole but cloaked it in racism. But they use the trope that oppressed people can’t be racist.
Anyway, it’s just a game of gotcha that elevates personal bad behavior to some sort of important plain. It’s just baloney through and through. And again, the law is not going to deal with what they’re alleging. It already has.
A negetive systematic effect on minorities is certainly an emergent reality across all societies. Some of these effects are unethical intentional discrimination, some arise unintentionally.
Nobody claims that the age cutoffs for hockey are intentionally systematically discriminating against players born in the end of the year and favoring those born in January and February, but there is a measurable significant effect in this direction.
Not just hockey–even academic aptitude is significantly discriminatory to people born late in the year. https://www.educationnext.org/end-the-birthday-bias-age-allowances-high-stakes-tests-proven-boost-fairness/
The good news is that the U.S. has the smallest effect because of having the highest proportion of immigrant populations and highest social awareness of the problem.
The bad part is we excel at poorly identifying the causes and implementing solutions that instead exacerbate the problem.
Update on the transgender chess rules controversy: Why Do Men Dominate Chess? (quillette.com)
“Chess ratings (more on that topic shortly) are, on average, significantly lower in the Women’s category than in the Open category. So if a player simply transfers from Open to Women’s competitions, that player may be in a better position to get a rankings boost.
For example, the top-rated “active” (i.e., having competed in a FIDE-rated game within the last year) female player, China’s Hou Yifan, boasts a 2632 rating—which is lower than that of every single player who appears on the top-100 list of male players. If any one of those top hundred male players started competing in the women’s category, they would have excellent odds of becoming the world’s highest-rated women’s player…
Men don’t just loom large as a percentage of FIDE-registered chess players overall, but also at the highest echelons of achievement. Of the approximately 171,000 active FIDE-registered chess players in the world, about 154,000 are male and 17,000 are female. Approximately 1,300 of all active players are Grandmasters, and only about 2 percent of these are women. (The data are easily accessible here)…
Ultimately, sex differences in complex behaviors and skills are always a product of interactions between biology on the one hand (that is, our genes and their relatively fixed effects, such as hormone levels and body size) and our environment on the other (that is, factors such as our family circumstances, social dynamics, and cultural norms). Interactions between the two shape not only our skills and abilities, but also any emerging group differences. But none such complicating factors change the fact that the sex gap in chess is real and persistent. Given the circumstances that led to the creation of the female category, and the fact that many girls and women appreciate what this category offers, FIDE is correct to take the steps necessary to protect its integrity.”
Apparently there are significant differences in chess ability and gender is likely a factor. In Open category chess matches, women may participate against men. Men are not allowed in the women’s events, however.
hmmm, never realized there was such a difference in ratings by sex. Is it a matter of it being difficult to raise your rating based on the opponents. What is the win/lose ratio of the few women who compete in the open. Does the best woman decline to play men?
Breaking news from the Babylon Bee: “At publishing time, Trump was reportedly facing new indictment charges for failing to fall into financial ruin by the previous set of indictment charges.”