THE IMPORTANCE OF RESPONSIBLE PET OWNERSHIP

Responsible pet ownership is important and should be practised throughout your pet's entire life-time. During this time, words of encouragement and praise must be regularly adhered to; so that pets will get to know their owners, and obey; look up to them whenever necessary, (likewise owners too must make an effort to get to know their pets).

When you teach him basic obedience training, such as 'sit, stay, come, or roll-over, remember to treat and reward him if he does it correctly with words like 'Good' or 'Good boy' etc.

When pet ownership is taken lightly, more and more animals will be abandoned, dumped or sent to shelter homes.

What can we do to play a more positive role in handling this type of over-population of strays? Spaying or neutering is the most effective ways this can be overcome. All parties concerned can make a big difference and must take a serious look at animals in general and see how we can effectively minimise such problems from occurring in the future.

Many a time, you hear of stories of kindness related to pets. Well, sometimes we see people going to great lengths in caring for stray animals. A month ago I was truly touched to see an old lady giving out food and leftovers to cats down the street. She would actually walk with a newspaper and some food and all the cats gathered around her and waited patiently for the food. Perhaps, the 'once-a-day-meal', was the only one they had, but seeing the satisfaction and love on each cat's face is truly something to behold. The old lady had some cats of her own in her house too which she may have adopted.

Why are there so many stray cats everywhere? The importance of pet ownership has always been taken lightly especially in Malaysia and it is time we seek some answers in handling this problem and make pet owners take their cats seriously. First and foremost, spaying or neutering should be practiced more often. If each pet owner plays a small role, responsible pet ownership will eventually become a reality while the number of stray cats and dogs will be greatly reduced.

Take for instance, this true story on how five stray cats will follow their mistress and her tomcat to the playground about twenty meters from the house. They will go along in a row and play there and at sharp seven a.m. when the mistress returns they too follow suit. And I thought only dogs went for walks! After being unofficially adopted and fed at least once a day they really seem to be in fine spirits. Wouldn't it be wonderful if someone could adopt them for good.

Every healthy cat or dog is worth saving, because of the mere joy and satisfaction they can bring to a person, for example some dogs can be trained as guides for blind people or help out in rescue and police work, they can even detect certain illnesses nowadays for example cancer, tuberculosis and even help coma patients in recovery and therapy related programs as proven in shows such as 'Animal Planet' etc. With advancement in the veterinary and medical field, scientists are themselves astonished at the improvements made in these patients. Who knows what more they could discover, all because of the sharper sense of smell, sight than us, humans.

They are also able to win over hard core criminals who are placed in rehabilitation centres and change their once hardened hearts into sensitive human beings. They also give themselves totally in the line of duty and die heroic deaths to save their partners.

So, let's all work 'Towards Responsible Pet Ownership' and become a true lover of animals so that our future generation of children will have something valuable to hold on to. We hope you enjoy this article as much as we care for your pets.