Is anybody going to be watching this on Channel four this evening?

I'm quite interested to see how dogs cope with "wheelchairs" as I've seen a lot of this in the media over the last few years and wonder if they'll soon become quite common place for badly affected dogs.

we saw a trailer for it last night and my OH pointed out that looking at some of the owners, they were more special needs than the pets LOL!!!

I'll be recording it because it clashes with "I'm A Celeb..".

I'm looking forward to it but hope it isn't too sad.

Im looking forward to seeing it!

I didn't like the clip on the advert of the dog walking tall on her hind legs as she had no front legs at all.  Will be interseting to hear the background on that porr girl.

I saw a film about a dog in America that was born without front legs.  I don't think I could put a wee puppy through all the stress of learning how to cope like that.  How can a dog interact with other dogs?  I am recording it, might need to get the hankies out.

I will be flicking back and forth between this and Celeb! :-)

I watched this programme and was thinking to myself most of the way through would I do this to any of my animals.  Short answer no.  I think we are turning into a nation that is now doing more harm than good.  I mean some of the pets like that rabbit for example with me I would have had it PTS, you cant explain to an animal why it cant walk or move, how do they know it isnt in a load of pain.  Why didn't they accept the fact and rescue one of the many healthy animals being PTS in shelters everyday?

Emma

Yes my sentiments exactly,and those parrots made me feel Ill,Having said that when my dog was paralysed from a disc herniation, there were no gaurentees that she would get her mobility back,I knew in my heart of hearts that I wouldn' be getting her a cart ,because I didn't think she would have had any quality of life.That we would have to make that decision.But luck was on our side and thank God she made a complete recovery

I couldn't be that cruel and selfish.  I thought the birds were so sad, I don't agree with having pet birds anyway, I think it's the whole being caged thing.  Plus Hitchcock put me right off them.  That dog made me smile though with her little wheelchair :-) she seemed so happy zooming around.  I would not have kept the rabbit going that long though and you could see the woman's face when the reporter asked her if she'd keep it up - no way would she.

i missed the start of this programme but what i did see i thought was very sad, i dont know if ever i found myself in any of those circumstances what i would do t.b.h it is easier to make a decision until the crunch comes then its a different kettle of fish. i also saw that programme on the american puppy that was born without front limbs, that was very upsetting  at times he just did not look like a dog i am not sure what quality of life he ended up with as i could not bare to watch it all.

Having just lost a special needs girl, there is no way i was going to watch it (far too heartbreaking) i made the choice to pts my beautiful girl at just 13months old as she had major spinal problems, surgery was far too traumatic with a very poor prognosis, and as for a  wheelchair...no way!  I loved her far too much to deny her a good quality life and keep her going for my own selfish reasons. Without doubt the hardest thing i have ever had to do...2 months on and the tears have not stopped, everyday the questions of guilt are still there but i do believe that you have to consider the fact that you can not explain to a dog why she/he cant walk and that dogs live in the here and now and we must respect their needs and dignity. Though my girl was a very big girl and maybe a small dog would cope with a wheelchair...but not my personal choice.

mandyc i am so sorry to hear about your puppy and at such a young age i know how you must be feeling  your post has definately put things into perspective for me re- quality of life of special needs pets  thankyou.

I watched this programme last night the issue I had was with the poor cats- the one that had to have its back end squeezed to go to the toilet- which by the sounds of it hurt the cat and the overweight cat which was suffering from the owners over feeding it- maybe the RSPCA should take the cat away for 6 months to see if they could reduce its weight? Another thing I found odd was the lady with the rabbit in the little cart- she was laughing at this pet? would you really find it funny watching an animal struggling to walk? very distasteful I thought. As she said you wouldn't let a person with a disability be put down but you wouldn't laugh at them either !
The only one out of the group of pets shown was the over weight Jack Russell that couldn't stop falling over- he looked very happy in the cart.:-)

The owners of that overweight cat really annoyed me.  They admitted to giving the cat tidbits of food - and then lied to the vet saying it happened "only once a month."   No wonder the cat was barely losing any weight - and given it had nearly died already as a result of being so overweight IMO that cat should have been taken away from them.  Maybe that's harsh - but I would have told them that they had 6 months for that cat to lose a significant amount of weight and if it did not happen it would be taken away from them.

The Jack Russell did seem to cope well with the cart.  Again made me mad to see how obese it was - which surely has to effect its mobility.   And then to see the owner taking two slices of white bread - smearing them with a thick layer of butter - and then giving it took the dog on a plate.   Plus talking about how much it liked cream and some other fattening sweet - infuriated me.  What is wrong with these people?  They clearly adore the dog - but someone ought to educate them. 

As to the other animals, I adore my dogs .. but I love them to much to put them through what their owners were doing "for their pets".  To me it was cruel and showed a lack of respect for them.  They are not humans and do not understand what has happened to them. 

I have this recorded along with most of i am a celeb, so be watching it tomorrow i hope too anyway!!
Hope it isnt too sad, i will be bawling my eyes out!! :)

I agree Emma, that's how I felt throughout it all, with the exception of the Jack Russell.  The psychological impact on these animals must be awful.  I really felt for the birds though.  Its such an unnatural environment, they' don't adapt like other animals can to being pets.

The look on the Jack russel's face though when she got her wheels.....such relief from the previous constant frustration of not being able to move properly without bumping down.

Just read your post Mandy... that sounds such a heart breaking but seems to me you made the right choice, you clearly had your girls best interest at heart and did it for the best reason an owner can, the love of their animal :)

It will be hard for you still, but dont doubt the decision you made, you made the right choice and ended the suffering

From reading the posts about this programme, i am wondering whether to watch it or not now.. seems really sad and horrible :(

> I watched this programme and was thinking to myself most of the way through would I do this to any of my animals.  Short answer no.  I think we are turning into a nation that is now doing more harm than good.  I mean some of the pets like that rabbit for example with me I would have had it PTS, you cant explain to an animal why it cant walk or move, how do they know it isnt in a load of pain.  Why didn't they accept the fact and rescue one of the many healthy animals being PTS in shelters everyday?

Couldn't agree more, Emma and have posted on this subject with some UK cases before. Maybe when (tongue firmly in cheek!) we have more homes than dogs in rescue, and we're not putting healthy dogs to sleep for lack of homes, it will be time to look at some of these special cases and evaluate whether throwing money and effort at them can give them a decent quality of life. I didn't see the programme, but in several cases I have seen I don't think all the money in the world would get the dogs to a quality of life that I would be happy with.

M.

I watched the trailer for it and thought it was quite simply cruel and ridiculous. Sometimes you have to make the hard decision to have an animal PTS to do the best for it. Being cruel to be kind. The quality of these animals lives made me tearful. I just think it was unneccesary and how any geniune vet or loving owner could contemplate it beggars belief

Haven't watched the program yet but have it vidoed.
Some dogs I've known (for example GSD) have adapted brilliantly to using a cart. The thing is, they don't realise they are "disabled", and neither do other dogs they mix with. Consequently they all just get on with life. Obviously, if the dog didn't like using a cart or chair type mechanism, it would be different. I think it has to be decided on an individual basis.
The two legged dog in America is called Faith. I interviewed her owner, and that dog has a great quality of life, and amazingly does interact perfectly well with other dogs. She is a poster dog in the States for special needs dogs, and is doing a wonderful job.
I do think that it's important to know when the time is right to let the animal go, and that is when their quality of life is compromised too far.

Channel four programme

I watched the programme and thought the owner of the Jack Russell summed it up when she said "everyone needs something to look after". Of course she was already caring for her disabled mother who was in a wheelchair, but I suppose that's a different matter.  I thought her dog looked as if it was doing really well with its little cart.  But I think I would have let all the others go though.  Facing up to your responsibilities is pretty crucial IMO.

Julie, you summed up exactly what I was thinking when I watched this programme. I think there are people who don't know when to make the decision to pts, but there are also other times when it is appropriate not to. We look at them and talk about dignity and so on, but, you are right they don't know they are disabled and feel no loss of dignity about wearing a nappy (and those are fantastic). Animals don't look back with regret at what they've lost, nor forward about what they won't be able to do in future - that is us putting our feelings on to them.

I actually had my own personal view (which followed that of most of the previous posts) turned around recently, by a friend who has a GSD who has DM, and is almost immobile. She is the happiest dog I know, and is definitely not ready to go. I posted on here for help with her incontinence and we got her a dog nappy, and she is now even happier. She has not got too long, we know this, but while she is happy still bossing her doggy household about, she will go on!
Kat

i watched it and thought that although the subject matter was very sad i felt that the programme seemed to take a lighthearted look at some of the problems people are dealing with on a day to day bases or am i wrong to think this.
It came acroos as more enterainment then a facual doc.

The programme left a very unpleasant taste in my mouth, of course we would all want to do as much as we can for a sick pet but I felt that a lot of those pets were being kept alive not for the animals benefit but that of the owners.

I believe we owe it to our animals to give them quality of life and dignity, paralyzed rabbits wearing nappies do not have either nor do 2 legged dogs, cats that have to have their bowels manually evacuated. A lot of what we saw was the ultimate in selfish owners.

The psycotic parrots are a prime example of the problems with hand rearing these birds, they don't know that they are birds they think they are people, the problem starts when they reach sexual maturity then they are completely confused and stressed. The poor Molucan at least I think it was, hard to tell with that amount of feather plucking would have massively improved if the owner had acclimatised it and put it in an aviary with other birds even if they had to be wired off for their own protection.

I felt like newf3 that the tone of the programme was all wrong, it was almost a p*** take on these poor animals, I didn't find any of it amusing or in anyway humurous and I think that most of those owners should be ashamed of themselves.

I have over the years like many of you no doubt had to make 'the descision' about a beloved pet, and as sad and heartbreaking as it is, I know that I have never caused one of my animals to suffer any more than they needed to.

A lot of what we saw was to me not very far removed from being a abuse of these poor defenceless creatures.

The only bit that made me smile, was when the JRT lay indisposed in the flower bed! She was so happy to be mobile again & I think it was admirable to get the cart made, after all it is no different from the lady's 'Mum' in the wheelchair. The owners were cruel who let their cat get that obese & the rabbit should certainly be PTS to save any further suffering. Those poor parrots, why on earth hadn't that woman taken the advice & found a mate & built the aviary? It made me wince when I saw it pulling out it's feathers, poor thing. Can't comment on the first 5 mins, I missed it.