OK, this would probably be considered a lecture

This morning my students and I were talking about the animal shelter needing donations and one student said they didn't want to donate if it was a kill shelter. Perfect teachable moment. I explained to my class that there wouldn't have to be kill or non kill shelters if people were responsible pet owners. Pet owners need to be responsible and get their animals spayed or neutered. Yes, this costs money but if you can't afford it then you can't afford a pet.  I continued to share with my class. We recently took our cat, Midnight, to the vet. His yearly check ups with immunizations, wormer, etc. was $180.00.  This is not inexpensive but this is the price of proper pet care, so I once again said to my class that if you can't afford to take your pets to the vet for their yearly check-ups and immunizations, you can't afford to own a pet.  When I get on a roll, my kids know to just shut up and listen. So, I continued explaining to them that if you really love pets, you take care of them. You give them some place warm and safe to sleep. You feed them and exercise them, which doesn't mean chaining them outside to a post to run a round in circles for hours barking. You bring them inside when it is too cold or too hot. You take them to the vet when they are sick and for regular check-ups. Pets are not cheap disposable gifts you get your kids and then tie or pin them up outside when they aren't cute any longer. If you are on a fixed income, one pet is more than enough, if you care for it properly. If someone really loves animals and their pets they take care of them properly, making sure they have adequate food, water, shelter and proper medical care. Like many things in life people don't want to offend other people so we turn our heads when it comes to saying anything about how people do or don't take care of their pets.  We need to start educating kids at a young age about the proper way to take care of pets and their parents, also. Sometimes, everyone just needs to speak up and not worry about offending someone, because clearly some people don't learn unless they are offended.