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Couple banned from keeping dogs

rory

Well-known member
http://www.shropshirestar.com/show_article.php?aID=41978

Dog ban as couple failed to seek help
By SUE AUSTIN

A Shropshire couple have been banned from keeping a dog for two years after they let their elderly dog, which was suffering from severe dental decay and a six-inch tumour, become emaciated.

Oswestry magistrates said Mark and Nicola Edge, of Ellesmere, let their pet — a 13-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Rosie — suffer because they could not bear the thought of her being put down.

Rosie was taken to the vets by an RSPCA inspector after collapsing in the street.

Yesterday Mark Lionel Edge, 35, and Nicola Jayne Edge, 32, of Berwyn View, were found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to the dog by failing to provide proper and necessary veterinary care. They were also each ordered to pay £1,000 towards court costs.

They had both denied the charge saying Rosie had been eating and acting normally the morning she died. But magistrates said photographs taken just before Rosie was put to sleep showed the dog must have been suffering.

The Edges, who had taken Rosie to the vet regularly until 2004, said she had been thin, but had been eating normally and had still been going out for walks.

The full version of this article appears
in tonight’s Shropshire Star

A picture of Rosie

SD1275394@dog2.jpg
 
Why is it illegal to NOT put a dog to sleep when it's ill and suffering, but it IS illegal to do the same to a suffering human?

Isnt humane behavior humane behavior, no matter who the recipient may be?
 
I think the objection was not that they didn't put her to sleep, but that they didn't get vet care at all?? i'm not sure. it's a weird case. i'm not sure anyone can make that call for someone.

there is certainly "hospice" care for pets nowadays for people who do not want to euthanize or who do not agree w/ euthanasia.
 
How sad, that poor girl was suffering for sure.

This also makes me think of how when the tables are turned and you're unable to care for your pets, how important it is that you include them in your will, power of attorney, etc. I have instructions listed in mine. AND, you're never to young to draw up such documents! We did ours a few years ago, and I'm really glad we have it--the Terry Shrivo case last year really made me think about how glad I was.
 
icon_banana Good decision for the courts !! How anyone could bear to see their dog/cat suffer rathe than do the humane thing or go a thousand miles for help is beyond me . Some people just dont need to have pets .
 
Absolutely appalling. How can anyone let their dog suffer like this? My babies mean the world to me and it really upsets me when i see stories like this :cry:
 
What can I say.... icon_furious & icon_crying both come to mind!

That picture is forever imprinted on my mind.... so incredibly horrible and heartbreaking...
 
A ban was hardly enough.........

How can anyoneone put their own wants in front of a dogs pain and suffering. Just appalling.

Don't we owe them the care that they deserve? It makes my blood boil to think of what they have done to that poor little girl, and it makes my heart break to think of the pain she must have endured.

"Sleep tight little Rosie" xxx

Alison, Wilts. UK.
 
Unfortunately, it really is up to the owners to decide when to euthanize. I have worked in a vet hospital and seen too many pets who are way past the point of euthanisia in my opinion - but the owners aren't there yet. It's a tough situation. I think if the owners are willing to provide hospice care and the animal isn't in pain, then there's not much anyone can do about it. It's their call. Some people have religious objections to euthanasia. You can't judge them for that and call them cruel if this objects with their beliefs. But certainly the animal should be kept as comfortable as possible in these situations. The courts in this case apparently felt that the dog was not comfortable and that it was neglected. Altlhough it sounds bad - it had been to the vets in 04? Some of my cats (although not geriatric and potentially suffering) haven't been to the vet in longer than that!

Anyway. This is an interesting case and I wonder what kind of precedent it will set. It's in the UK so doesn't really apply here in the US, but it will be an interesting day if the courts try to dictate when someone must euthanize their pets.

I have certainly seen much worse neglect than this.
 
I am literally in tears right now. Going a year or two years with no medical help is terrible now matter what the breed of the dog is. BUT my heart is aching even more knowing this poor Cavalier just wanted to love and be loved and instead was neglected. Oh gosh. I just can't shake this horrible feeling. And I know there are thousands of stories like this.....
 
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