Life and Death

When Is It the Right Thing to Euthanize Your Pet

   Today's a sad day. When I went to clean out Scarlet's mouth this morning, I realized she has to be suffering. Scarlet is our snow corn snake, for those of you who may not have read my last post. She's had a respiratory infection this spring and more recently mouth rot, and though those two things have seemed to have gotten better with the care of a vet, special treatment, and medicine, she still seems like she's getting worse. 

   Her condition got me to thinking about what my husband's been trying to tell me he thinks we need to do. Until this morning, I couldn't even think about euthanizing our pet. I admit, I am one for the lame duckling - I am one who holds out hope until I see that there's no hope left - but at what point is it the right thing to do? 

   I know people euthanize their pets all the time. I know animals at the pound get "put to sleep" when they become too burdensome or whatever. But what determines when to let go and end a pet's suffering, especially when you can't be 100% positive that they are suffering? Is it when the pet has cost too much money, more than they are worth? Is it when the owner thinks they cannot be saved even with vets and special treatments and medicine? Is it when their medical care is too expensive for the owner? Is it when they are thought to already be on the brink of death? What conditions have to be met for it to be the right thing to do? Does it only depend on the person who's caring for the animal?

   Scarlet may be a snake, but she's our pet. I don't know how my husband feels about our pets, but I feel like I'm a kind of mother to them. I love them. I love Scarlet. But she's lost color in her eyes and tongue, which have both become duller or more whitish. She's lost her healthy shape and has a few concerning lumps on the second half of her - though I've considered these lumps may be unfertilized eggs that she can't let go of and I've tried techniques that would help her pass them, these lumps are darker in color than I think eggs would be. She's become pretty lethargic and feels light and limp when I pick her up to care for her. The last time we fed her, she threw up everything and hasn't eaten since. 

   She has cost us more in medical bills than we could get two new snakes for, but I don't want to trade her for two new snakes. I want her to get better and be healthy again, though I know her chances are becoming slimmer by the day. I want to take her back to the vet, but there were so many unanswered questions the last time I took her, that I think maybe the underlying cause of her recent illnesses is a mystery even to our vet. I don't think the vet can help her any more than she already has. 

   So, I'm asking you, you who are reading this: at what point should I let go and admit that it's her time? When is "putting a pet to sleep" the right thing to do?

Makeup

Yes or No

   Make-up is expensive when you wear it everyday and don't have a job. Lately, I have decided I don't need it unless I'm going out and either meeting new people or coming into contact with a lot of people who don't know me personally. This saves me and the hubby money, probably about $20 every month or two. 

Image borrowed from www.skincareto.com.

  

   According to The Science of Sex Appeal, a documentary about the facts behind physical attraction, one's attractiveness is unconsciously based upon the golden ratio and symmetry. The closer your facial features fit to the golden ratio (for more, go here) and are symmetrical, the more attractive you are to other human beings. So, if used correctly, make-up can make people more attractive - if it's used to bring one's features closer to this ratio (which, if you watch the documentary, is totally legit, or so it seems) and appear more symmetrical. And thus, some people need make-up to look and feel attractive, and others do not. Make-up gives those of us who have less natural beauty that extra boost to try and meet up with our more beautiful human counterparts. It evens the playing field, so to speak. 

   So, some of us need make-up to look and feel beautiful, while others don't. That's why we have those who are totally against make-up (probably those who are pretty enough naturally not to need it, or not pretty enough to be helped by it at all) and then those who are totally for it, and then those of us that just wear it to boost our confidence or fit in. 

   Personally, I wear as little as no make-up most days, only mascara on others, just eye-liner, brow definer, and mascara sometimes, and make up my face fully with foundation and the works (though I try and keep it subtle, like I believe it should be) on rare occasions. It depends on where I'm going, who I'm meeting, and a variety of other factors as to how much make-up I wear and what kinds of it. 

   But I want to know about you. Do you wear make-up ever, on occasion, or have other habits or opinions you'd like to share? What do you think about make-up and the people who wear it? How old should a young girl be before she's introduced to make-up and how to use it correctly?