Posted on 06/26/2012 12:11:10 PM PDT by fteuph
Hi. I'm Art Caplan, speaking to you from the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. Today I want to talk about a very serious healthcare problem: irresponsible behavior on the part of a lot of Americans that isn't getting much attention, and that means you if you own a cat.
Many types of health costs are associated with cat ownership. We have allergies and asthma, people who wind up going to the hospital because they have allergic reactions either to the cat or the medicine they take, and there are all types of skin problems. The list goes on and on.
It is pretty clear that these miserable mousers are a huge healthcare problem. I started thinking about this when I saw a recent poll that was published in Forbes magazine that said that most Americans believe that there ought to be a tax on people who are overweight. They make a lifestyle choice and wind up causing more healthcare costs for everybody else due to the diseases and ailments linked to obesity, so Americans think they should pay more. By the way, their employers are starting to think that as well, that they should start to levy penalties and fines on people who are overweight at the workplace.
All of which takes me back to the issue of cats. If we are going to put a penalty on lifestyle choices, then shouldn't we penalize all lifestyle choices? If cats are really causing healthcare problems in the way that I think they do, then I think we need to be fair and tax cat owners.
If you look at the situation, there are probably 60 million or more Americans who own a cat. A lot of you out there choose to own more than one. Many of you have a cat and you actually keep children in the house near this cat, so these are all horrible, terrible, inappropriate, and immoral decisions.
Why? Well, we don't know exactly how much cat ownership costs, but it probably runs into billions of dollars every year in terms of allergy medicines that people take, hospitalizations that I mentioned earlier, and treating skin diseases. You are also exposing others who don't want to own a cat to cats because you can never get the cat dander and the cat allergen out of the rug, the furniture, and the carpet. Even if you move the cat, so to speak, the presence of the cat is left behind. This is a very burdensome thing, not just for people who live with cats but the rest of us who try to visit you or who want to move into a place where you have been.
Therefore, it is pretty clear -- probably beyond any ethical dispute -- that cat ownership is an irresponsible choice. Let me add that none of this applies to dogs. I own a dog. I think they are wonderful. In fact, there probably should be a tax break for dog owners. But for cats, looking at the kinds of costs that are involved and the irresponsibility that cat owners exercise in choosing to have them, I think we need to start thinking more seriously about ways to extend penalties if we are going to make personal responsibility a part of healthcare.
Cat owners, think hard about what I said. And those of you who are in favor of personal responsibility as a way to cut down healthcare costs, you know who I am talking about.
This is Art Caplan at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. I wish all of you a happy summer.
LOL! So true. The best a human can hope for is to be "tolerated". You have opposable thumbs and can open a can or change litter, so you are permitted to stay.
My co-worker was off work last week because her son’s ‘sweet’ pit bull bit a hole through her nose. Just sayin....
Someone is overlooking the pink elephant and fairies in the middle of the room. STDs victimize and kill and cost. Then there is mental illness and drug abuse.
This guy is a PhD, not an MD so who is he to talk about health risks associated with owning a kitteh. I tried to go to Medscape, the place this was published and since I refuse to join, I can’t see this loon’s CV to see what his PhD is in.
One more thing, everything he says about kittehs also applies to dogs.
He says, “Let me add that none of this applies to dogs. I own a dog.” Wrong, there’s dog’s dander, people are allergic to dogs and when the dogs leaves as he said (about cats) they (dogs) also leave behind dander or dog allergens in the rug.
Either this guy is a loon or this is satire.
Locally we are the only source for fresh eggs and what I charge is actually what the restaurants and a resort have offered to pay so they can count on the eggs. The way I use to do it was to sell them for like $4 a dozen and it was first come first served. This way is better.
Cheaper than Dirt is where we got our last order of .308
Let me guess; she put her face in the dog’s face.
No, she hugged it..... it also gave her a black eye...puffy cheek.... She still loves the dog, but forbids her 8 month old grandchild from being around it.....
If you want to get the lefties screeching, suggest that women stop using the pill, as the hormones are getting into the water (they cannot be totally removed in waste treatment plants), & they are the likely cause of frog deformities we’ve seen recently.
Sarcasm. Look it up.
In other words, she signaled aggressive/dominant behavior to her dog. One can conclude that her dog doesn’t view her as alpha of the pack and viewed her aggressive/dominant behavior as unwanted and “in need of correction”.
A dog is not a human; your friend erred by supposing her dog would interpret the hug the same way she did.
This is EXCELLENT because satire is supposed to have a certain amount of reality.
Unfortunately, if one substitutes “tobacco smokers and chewers” for “cat owners” you will have the EXACT sentiments expressed by anti-smokers in real life, including right here on Free Republic.
Then we should just kill ALL dogs and make you finally, truly happy.
[don’t you have a life?]
Nope.
Dog’s skull was too small and it squeezed his brain tumor until he went berserk and attacked for no apparent reason, as usual.
[this is the thing that says *you* have no life but stalks cat threads posting anti-dog crap 24/7. it is to laugh]
But seriously...do you think anybody’s going to admit they did something stupid when the only other witness can’t testify on its own behalf?
To a dog, it's aggression/dominance mounting behavior.
Possibly the most difficult thing for any dog to ‘learn’ is the bizarre human behavior of “hugging”.
In their world, it's a prelude to an attack by another dog.
It's a great credit to a dog's great intellect that they can learn to tolerate our freakishly alien/inappropriate body language yet we have a hard time learning theirs.
Ooops.
Ignore my post.
You already said it.
LOL
Back to the dungeons. Kittehs mocking......
:-)
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