Editorial

Take steps to be responsible pet owner

Wednesday, March 5, 2025

The one thing about my children when they were younger was the fact I could always tell when something was wrong. So when my youngest daughter suddenly threw on a jacket and a pair of shoes and ran out the front door one memorable afternoon, I knew something was bothering her.

Unable to see where she went, I grabbed my own winter jacket and shoes and quickly followed. Huddled just out of sight below the living room window, she was trying to comfort a cat that was meowing hysterically.

It was the same gray and white tabby we had seen wandering through our yard and across the neighborhood for the past few weeks. Most of the time, it would run off if we got within 20 feet of this little critter.

I’m guessing the cold, windy weather made it change its mind that afternoon. It seemed very desperate to get out of the elements. At one point, it jumped onto the window ledge and looked into the house, which I knew would’ve been perceived as a threat by at least one of my family’s cats.

Against my daughter’s wishes, I did what seemed the right thing to do. We convinced it to climb into a pet carrier, complete with bowls of food and water, and kept the feline in our garage and out of the elements until a city police officer took the cat to the local animal shelter in hopes someone could identify the owner.

Since it didn’t have a collar or any form of identification, my gut feeling told me that someone had abandoned him. Why someone in this town believes that a pet used to being around humans could suddenly adapt to being without food, water and shelter is beyond me.

Allowing it to run free in the vicinity of two of the city’s busiest roads made even less sense since it was only a matter of time before it would’ve died after a passing car hit him. In fact, my wife almost hit this cat when she pulled her car into the driveway that evening.

I’d like to say this was the first time I’ve dealt with stray animals, but I can’t. Even in a town of this size, things like this happen far too often.

And it’s not just cats that seem to roam free. Listening to the police scanner in my office, I overhear frequent reports regarding dogs roaming the streets of Mountain Home.

There’s one thing that always bothers me when these reports come over the scanner -- where are the owners -- the ones who are supposed to be keeping an eye on their pets in the first place? The volume of stray animal calls seems to indicate that people either need to take better care of their pets or find someone who will.

My personal view on the issue stems from an incident I witnessed when I was about five years old. My mom, my brother and I walked from our house to a local fast food place to pick up lunch when a stray puppy started following us.

Despite our attempts to get it to return home, it simply refused. Then I watched helplessly from the window of the restaurant as it walked into the middle of a busy street and got run over by a car.

The scream it let out is something that haunted me for a very long time.

Then there are other incidents I’ve dealt with over the years regarding owners that ignore their pets, which also got my blood boiling. I remember the time when my family and I were stationed at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., and we lived next to a home in which the owner kept his German Shepherd tied up in a fenced-in yard that faced our backyard.

I lost count of how many times that dog would bark uncontrollably any time my children would go into the backyard to go play. It got to the point that none of us could ever enjoy our time because of the non-stop barking.

There was only one time I ever saw the owner play with the dog. It was probably the happiest moment of its life since it clearly begged its owner to give it any type of attention.

The fact the owner seemed too busy talking on his so-called “smart” phone versus playing with his canine companion didn’t help.

At one point, I finally decided I was going to be the “bad guy” in the neighborhood and report the dog’s owner. But it was too late.

After being neglected for so long, it died -- alone and apparently unwanted. All it seemed to want is someone to give it a little bit of love and attention every day. Was that too much to ask?

These are just a few examples where I really wish people didn’t own a pet, but unfortunately I know of many more examples I could share with you. During my family’s time in Japan, for example, my wife and I volunteered to help out at the animal shelter on base and got a first-hand look at what happens to pets when they’re no longer wanted or are no longer “cute” since they’re not a puppy or kitten anymore.

The worst involved the dog of a military family preparing to move back to the United States. But instead of dropping their dog off at the shelter or finding a new owner, they drove two hours to a rural area and simply abandoned it.

By the time it was caught, the dog had developed heartworm. Due to bureaucratic red tape, no one was authorized to euthanize the animal, which continued to suffer and eventually died.

When my wife and I decided to adopt our first two cats, we made a pact that they would stay with us the rest of their lives, regardless of the cost. The $1,200 we spent to ship them from Japan to the United States was a bit pricey. However, one of them lived another 15 years, and the other prepared to celebrate her 19th birthday before her old age took its toll on her.

Among the cats living in our home include one whose mother was left abandoned on a piece of farm land near Hammett. Our youngest “feline “daughter” was her family’s lone survivor after a predator or a piece of passing farm equipment claimed the lives of her mother and her siblings.

Why someone would simply toss a pregnant cat out the door of their home is beyond me.

While I understand peoples’ desires to own a pet, I really wish they would all stop and think about what that decision entails. Owning a pet comes with plenty of responsibility, which goes beyond providing them with food and water.

This includes all their medical bills, which I’ve discovered can add up quickly when a dog or cat gets up in years. Then there’s the need to provide them with the one thing they crave the most -- our love and companionship.