In a nursing home or underneath the porch, In the US we dispose of the elderly

Here in the United States we don’t do as well by our elderly as China, Japan, Korea, France or the Mediterranean and Latin cultures.  We are a youth centered society, relegating our elderly to a lonely, isolated existence or hiding them away in nursing homes.  They get little respect and little support.  Rather than placing them on a pedestal or considering them the core of the family unit, we as Americans often consider them a burden.

Thor and his dad.
Thor was 11 when
he was adopted.

We do, however, treat our companion animals quite well.  Well many of them.  The rest we euthanize because there are just so many in the system they don’t fit in the shelters.  These unfortunates are not adopted.  They are put down by the millions.  As Marleen Oetz from LNF Dog Rescue says, “Half of them don’t make it out alive.”

We really like puppies and kittens.

Today I read about some elderly dogs.  They are treated much the same way as elderly Americans.

Chelo at Muttville Senior Dog Rescue
(Photo by Muttville). www.muttville.org

Chelo

In an article in Dog Heirs online, Chelo, a senior Pomeranian, was surrendered by his “family.”  The reason: Too old.  The article goes on to say he lived outside 24 hours a day, underneath the porch, utterly alone day in and day out.  And the capper is that they shamelessly informed the shelter staff at Muttville Senior Dog Rescue in San Francisco, CA, where they dumped the dog, that they “got a newer dog to replace,” like he’s a light bulb or something.  They actually wrote on the surrender paperwork, probably read it back to themselves (yes they can read and write) but felt no guilt or shame, no desire to pretend to be decent humans by lying and saying something- ANYTHING- besides “Too old. Got a newer dog to replace.”  I think our shelter system should have a black list shared among them and when creatures like this come in to dispose of the inconvenient little life they had a whim for and then lost interest, they get on the list and they no longer have access to living beings as property ever again.  I can think of an appropriate name for the list.

Chelo has since been adopted and has now begun his happy life with a loving family.

Baus at www.socalbulldogrescue.org (Photo
by Southern California Bulldog Rescue)

Baus

I also read on the Deaf Dogs Rock Facebook page about Baus.  He’s a ten and a half year old bulldog.  He was surrendered to Southern California Bulldog Rescue because he was “Old and smells.”  His neglect was so thorough that he has cherry eye in both eyes and other eye maladies which have brought him to near blindness, severe dental issues, and ear infections that have rendered him deaf.  He smells because he has been allowed to fall apart piece by piece.  His new caregiver says, “He wants nothing yet gives everything he has to you. I love kissing his face. And his smelly breath from his rotten teeth is just the cologne of a tender old man to me.”

Baus is currently in foster care and is available for adoption.  And he will be adopted, I have no doubt.  Under the post one person commented, “Can’t wait ‘til his ex owners get old and smell.”  And they will, I have no doubt.

A violent end

According to Dr. Jared Diamond, UCLA professor of geography and physiology, traditional Nomadic tribes sometimes had to abandon their elderly on treacherous journeys.  Aché Indians who were plagued with famine assigned young men to essentially assassinate the elderly with an axe, spear or the practice of burying them alive.  No doubt this was a situation in which sacrificing the one for the many was a necessary evil, but burying them alive?  One can’t help but think the youngsters who used this technique for culling the group shouldn’t be given responsibility for a pet. 

Human vs Canine

As I have grown older (I am not yet at an age where the tribe would leave me alone on a desert trail to fend for myself or stick me in a nursing home), my philosophy and attitude toward dogs has evolved in such a way that it may be subject to ridicule by some pragmatics in our society.  When my dog passed away I kept the extent of my grief largely

Ruby, forever young, died suddenly
from liver failure at 8 years old.

to myself, aware that some of my friends and even family would think to themselves, it’s not a child after all.  It’s just a dog.  No, she was not quite a child.  It’s difficult to define how I relate to my companion dogs.  I don’t try much to compare dogs with human children.  Not really less than or more than.  Equal to?  In some ways that feels like comparing apples to oranges.  Yes human children probably pee in the living room quite often, but do they steal your underwear and eat the crotch out of it?  Probably not.  Can your human children join sports teams?  Yes.  But can they catch a tennis ball in their mouth?  Not likely.  And kids always laugh when they pass gas.  My dogs don’t even care.

At the end of the day there are two sides to the story of the abandoned elderly dog.  There are those who cause suffering and those who rescue.  I think Anne Frank said it best:

“In spite of everything I still believe people are really good at heart.”

But maybe dogs are just a tiny bit better.

-Kiki Nusbaumer

http://theweek.com/articles/462230/how-elderly-are-treated-around-world

http://www.dogheirs.com/tamara/posts/5250-update-on-neglected-senior-dog-deemed-too-old-by-former-owners-looking-for-a-new-home

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/jared-diamond-on-aging-150571

www.facebook.com/deafdogsrock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ach%C3%A9_people