How would you react?

[Agamid]

How would you react if an individual accused you of mistreating your recently dead pet?

Might i add that the aforementioned individual is completely ignorant of how one cares for the particular animal your pet was.

Oh, and that you've been keeping this particular kind of animal for over 12 years now, successfully.

Please answer honestly.

[Kaelaroth]

I would most likely ask them why they think this is the case, most likely with a large dollop of annoyance, especially as they are ignorant of how one should treat the pet. However, one should not totally shut out their ideas before you hear their reasoning behind it.

[thubby]

within the same day (maybe 2) of the pet's death, violently.
otherwise, I would distance myself from this person after a long and well thought out speech on how:
he is ignorant of proper animal care
is generally an *beep* in what he is doing

[Felixaar]

I think I'd ask them why the hell where they such an insensitive bastard (and/or bitch), how the hell could you possibly be so cruel my pet just died you sick mother... well, you get the idea.

Also, I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Agamid, though from memory I recall that you dont like hugs. So my greatest sorrow and commiseration, I too have lost pets only to be treated insensitively about it by those I thought were on my side.

[Nychta]

I would do my awesome kung-fu skillz on them, and get away with it because I'm small and cute.

Dead serious.

I'm really sorry to hear of your loss. The cat who owns me means everything to me. I really love her. I can't imagine how it would feel for me to lose her; I cannot empathise, but I sympathise.

[Ranna]

I would wonder why he/she has come to that conclusion, ask them why they came to that conclusion, worry about it and then worry some more about the people he/she might have told their nasty rumours to.

But then again I am a worrier!

[reorith]

i'd ignore them. arguement ad hominem is a fallback.

agamid, if the person in the situation is you, then i think you probably know what you were doing with the whole twelve years of experience issue.

[Shas aia Toriia]

I would most likely ask them why they think this is the case, most likely with a large dollop of annoyance, especially as they are ignorant of how one should treat the pet. However, one should not totally shut out their ideas before you hear their reasoning behind it.

In the gritty future of right now, humanity lies on the verge of ruins, and the only person who knows what they're talking about. . .

Is Kaelaroth.


But yeah, that's exactly what I'd do.

[BizzaroStormy]

Ask what buisness it is of their's then threaten to snap their neck.

[SurlySeraph]

I would be pretty annoyed, and explain to the person just what is entailed in taking care of that pet. Or just shove a pet-care book at him and tell him to compare what it says to what you did for the pet.

[Hazkali]

Ignoring the two caveats that you placed after the question, I would firstly double-check that I was in the right, and (presuming I was) argue my corner until I was blue in the face.

Whilst you claim that you have 12 years of experience of keeping these animals, I would still make sure you were in the right. I am by no means accusing you of being in the wrong (with the small amount of information you have given us it is hard to make any judgement) but for your sake, I would make sure you were not. If you have appropriate books, for example, then you would have proof that you were acting correctly should he continue his accusations.

Secondly, I would think about his motives. May there be an ulterior reason for accusing you?

[skywalker]

What kind of animal is/was it?

I'm kinda curious now.

How did they say you mistreated it?

I would wonder. I often wonder if just keeping pets is cruel. For instance, dogs supposedly have such a complex language of head tilts and "smiles" and stuff that I wonder if I'm not torturing my dog every day. I know my sister does(she's nine) because she doesn't consider whether or not she's holding food(Which she doesn't intend to give him) in her hand when she calls him, stuff like that. I guess it's not "torture" but it makes me wonder. I worry about those types of things.

[Thes Hunter]

I'd tell them to go get Phoened. :smallmad:

[Da Beast]

If it was within a few days I'd probably completely flip out, maybe even hit them. If I'd had some time to deal with it I'd probably just go with a very elegant "**** you" and storm off.

[Ivius]

I'd yell "No you!" and storm off.

[Mando Knight]

I'd stare. Stare with a piercing glare that says "You have no idea who you're talking to." A stare forged of steel and fire, of loneliness and anger...

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

[OwlbearUltimate]

I would just tell them that they don't understand at all, as a keeper of many pets myself (well, a few years ago I did) I know sometimes their death can be accidental, like my chamleon's a while back. I don't even understand why someone would accuse someone of that after a pets recent death.

[SoD]

I'd probably grin, as my mind translated what they said into reality, at which point my grin would either freeze, or drop straight into deadpan, and I would say, either way, in an expressionless voice ''What did I do that was wrong?'', listen to their explanation, tell them that they have the wrong idea, and, if they open their mouth to say anything that's not 1: appoligising, or B: admiting that they were wrong, I'd smack them in the face, and hope that they're amazed enough that harmless little SoD was violent that they wouldn't fight back. Because if they fight back, I'm basically screwed.

[I'm da Rogue!]

I'd react violently.
They should have known better than to accuse a grieving person.

[FoE]

I would consider the circumstances of that individual before flipping them the bird. Did they love that pet as well? Are they heartbroken from its loss? If so, they may be lashing out in their grief. If this individual is a loved one, I suggest you give them time to get over it and do your own mourning in the mean time. Hopefully that person realizes that was a dumb mistake and you can make up.

[Agamid]

@ Skywalker
he was an Eastern Bearded Dragon (Pogona barbata) that i'd bought about 8-10 months ago.
I was discussing the fact that when i did the necropsy i found that his stomach was bloated despite the fact that i hadn't fed him in several days. I haven't fed him of course because it's been pretty cold, and i've been trying to get him to hibernate - if you feed a lizard and then they either hibernate or aren't heated they can die.
The aforementioned jerk used the fact that i hadn't fed him in a few days as the entire basis of his accusation when a quick google search would have shown that even in midsummer adult beardies only need to be fed 2-3 times a week.

If he'd been more civil about it and rephrased it as a question rather than an accusation (and maybe, just maybe, if he'd thought about how anyone, but especially me, might be rather emotional after losing a pet), i might have reacted in less swear words.


@ face of evil
He'd never even met Ares.

@ Hazkali
I'm yet to get the histology back on the necropsy but so far it looks like it was a combination of pnuemonia and Isospora (a parasite), both of which he was showing no symptoms for and which he may well have already had when i bought him and his lovely lady friends (and mother).


I was told later (by a friend) that a friend of the accuser had said that i mustn't actually feel any grief for losing Ares as i carried out a preliminary necropsy on him myself.
But honestly, is my grief at losing Ares supposed to out-weight my fear of perhaps losing my other 10 reptiles in the possibility that he died from something contagious, say Isospora Parasites?
If i hadn't performed a necropsy, i wouldn't have discovered that his lungs were filled with fluid, or that his stomach was bloated, i wouldn't have taken him to the lab and i wouldn't have discovered that he had isospora and, given how contagious isospora is, i never would have suspected that any of my other animals might have it too. Thus, i may well have lost some of my other animals (not least Ares' old mother, whose immune system is nothing like what is used to be).

*sigh*... i think May is going to be one of those super-antisocial months where the only people i speak to will either be online, in my dnd group, or reptiles...

[thubby]

0,0...

that... well...

they suck

[Raiser Blade]

I would react in anger. Given some time to cooldown I may be forgiving depending on the attitude of the person in question.

[Serpentine]

Well, I (or the "I" that might think about things) would glare at them coldly, correct their error, then sit smugly in the knowledge that said person is an imbecile.

[Felixaar]

so thats what that smug look means.

[Greebo]

Agamid: Based on the circumstances, the reply, "Your ignorance shames you. You should close your mouth before you embarrass yourself further", would have been suitable.

Or, in modern colloquials, 'You don't know what the **** you are talking about, you arrogant creep!".

[dungeon_munky]

I would probably (with a secret rage boiling up inside me) point out, using examples, exactly why that person was wrong.

[Copacetic]

I would probably snap. I don't snap often, but some things set me over the edge. Pets is one issue.

[Izodor]

I would walk away. The person clearly has no idea what he or she is talking about.