What do you think about today's Dear Abby?

[kaygee]

DEAR ABBY: Our daughter, “Brooke,” is nearly 7 and very attached to our family dog, “Tuffy.” Tuffy is 13, deaf, going blind and has difficulty walking. We have spent a fortune keeping Tuffy with us, including tumor removals, but it has reached the point where we don’t want him to suffer anymore. We are considering having him euthanized.

We have discussed what will happen to Tuffy with Brooke. We asked her whether she would like to come with us when we take Tuffy to the vet, or if she’d like to say goodbye and stay with a friend while my wife and I go. She voted for the latter, but in discussing it further she gets very upset.

The alternative is to lie to her and have Tuffy put down while Brooke is at school, and tell her that he passed away during the day. Either way, she will be very sad. All I want is to spare my daughter as much grief as possible. What do you think? – FEELING GUILTY IN SAN JOSE DEAR FEELING GUILTY: First of all, please stop feeling guilty. When a pet can no longer be active and enjoy life, its owner is doing it a favor to give it an easy way out. (Human beings should be so fortunate!) It’s normal for your daughter to be upset at the idea her pet will die, and she should not be present when it is put to sleep. That’s too big a dose of reality for a child her age. While some might not agree with me, I also feel that it would be a kindness not to tell her exactly when you plan to take Tuffy to the vet.

HUMAN BEINGS SHOULD BE SO FORTUNATE!!!

 

[vegpotter]

That caught my eye too. My first thought was WHAT??? Then I started thinking, maybe she means that we should be so lucky to die quickly w/o lingering and suffering, not that we should use euthanasia on people. I’d be interested to see what others think.

 

[BlindSheep]

It seems to me pretty obvious that she means humans should be given an “easy way out” through euthanasia. Disgusting. I’m not surprised though - I’ve seen offensive stuff from her before. (Can’t remember what exactly).
We should all write to her. Such an evil comment should not be allowed to slip by without a response.

 

[kaygee]

Blind Sheep:
And I know just the place where you can do it
www.dearabby.com
I alredy have. And a protest to my local paper. . .
Karen

 

[JMJ_Pinoy]

kaygee:

DEAR ABBY: Our daughter, “Brooke,” is nearly 7 and very attached to our family dog, “Tuffy.” Tuffy is 13, deaf, going blind and has difficulty walking. We have spent a fortune keeping Tuffy with us, including tumor removals, but it has reached the point where we don’t want him to suffer anymore. We are considering having him euthanized.

We have discussed what will happen to Tuffy with Brooke. We asked her whether she would like to come with us when we take Tuffy to the vet, or if she’d like to say goodbye and stay with a friend while my wife and I go. She voted for the latter, but in discussing it further she gets very upset.

The alternative is to lie to her and have Tuffy put down while Brooke is at school, and tell her that he passed away during the day. Either way, she will be very sad. All I want is to spare my daughter as much grief as possible. What do you think? – FEELING GUILTY IN SAN JOSE DEAR FEELING GUILTY: First of all, please stop feeling guilty. When a pet can no longer be active and enjoy life, its owner is doing it a favor to give it an easy way out. (Human beings should be so fortunate!) It’s normal for your daughter to be upset at the idea her pet will die, and she should not be present when it is put to sleep. That’s too big a dose of reality for a child her age. While some might not agree with me, I also feel that it would be a kindness not to tell her exactly when you plan to take Tuffy to the vet.

HUMAN BEINGS SHOULD BE SO FORTUNATE!!!

I never read “Dear Abby” anymore. :nope: Her so-called advice is a load of rubbish, IMO.

 

[AlanFromWichita]

JMJ_Pinoy:

I never read “Dear Abby” anymore. :nope: Her so-called advice is a load of rubbish, IMO.

You’d think she’d get a clue. Half of her columns are needed to disclaim the other half.

Plus, she’s full of it that the chidlren should not be present. That may be true for a particular case.

Plus, you’d think she’d at least have spoken about lying to the child. You don’t want to lie to a child about killing its pet, at least I wouldn’t.

When we put our beloved Anna down, all six children, Julie and I were in the room with her. After they “prepared” her, the kids said their goodbyes and the youngest, Andrew, probably 4 at the time, asked us to sing her “Happy Birthday” before she went to sleep. We all nine sang Happy Birthday, our family plus the vet sang with us. When we took her, the decision had not been made because we didn’t know our options. We told the children that Anna might not be coming home with us, that she may have to be put to sleep (she was in terrible shape and this was already a second opinion). The vet examined her, then my wife and I went with the vet into another room, made the decision, and announced it to all the children together, who were keeping Anna company as she lay on the table. We sang, she got the shot, the vet tied a tuft of hair with a ribbon and cut it off to give the children (we also decided that in the other room) and her collar.

As I was the last one out,.the vet said she’d never seen anything like that in her practice, and she was so touched she nearly cried herself.

When we do important things, we do the best we can to do them as a family. The kids were heartbroken, but they got over it quicker than I did.

Alan

 

[swampfox]

Didn’t her sister disparage Pope John Paul II and the Polish people? These sisters have long demonstrated an uninformed conscience and have embraced moral relativism, so it is no surprise that abby endorses euthanasia and other aspects of the culture of death.

 

[axolotl]

One or the other did, I do remember that much. But “Dear Abby” doesn’t write the column anymore, she turned it over to her daughter, Pauline Phillips. So it would have been this woman’s aunt, if not her mother.