If you have problems with a stray cat, what are you supposed to do? The government answer is to call animal control, and have an officer come out and try to capture the animal. The government official will take the animal to a shelter or the SPCA. The vets will feed and water the animal, give it a bath, treat any injury and make an assessment about whether or not it is possible to place it in a good home. In most cases, after 7 days the animal is destroyed through a series of lethal injections. The whole process probably costs several thousand dollars and involves reams of red tape and paperwork.

Or, you can take the quick and efficient way out and just shoot that darned cat yourself. Unfortunately, while the end result is basically the same, it could land you in jail charged with felony animal cruelty. Apparently shooting an animal is no longer an acceptable method of euthanasia.

I am reminded of a man I used to work with. He was an old farm boy at heart, who even managed to raise his children without television. (He still has no TV which just baffles me.) But I digress.

This old farm boy who I'll call Fred (not his real name) took his sick dog to the vet. The vet told Fred that the dog needed surgery that would cost nearly $500. Fred told the vet that it was too expensive and that he would rather euthanize the dog. Fred said that he would not spend more than $50 to treat the dog, and that if euthanasia cost more than that it would be done with a shotgun behind his barn.

The vet insisted that the dog could live a long and healthy life, if only he got the $500 surgery. Fred refused, but the vet performed the surgery anyway. Fred picked up his dog but refused to pay the $500 vet bill. The vet tried haggling him up to $250 than $100, but Fred steadfastly refused. In the end he paid the vet $50 and the dog lived a long and heathly life.

Now, you may think this story makes Fred sound cheap or heartless, but I disagree. Fred took a very practical view of the world. Although it was a good dog, aside from emotional attachments it was nothing more than a dumb animal. Forking over a mortgage payment to treat your pet just didn't make sense, especially if you can't really afford it. Also, taking the dog behind the barn and quickly and efficiently putting him out of his misery was a perfectly reasonable solution. It was certainly as reasonable as paying a vet $50 or $100 to do basically the same thing. Granted the vet was nice enough to perform the surgery, he did hassle Fred about the money for years.

If this happened today, I wonder if Fred would face felony animal cruelty charges.