I consider myself a cat lover (no beastie).  So I ask this question knowing full well that I don't know what answer I would choose 

If you are a pet lover it is entirely possible that at some point in your life you will be confronted with a situation where your pet is very ill or severely injured.  If this has happened then you probably already know how expensive it can get.  My wife spent upwards of 3K on one of her cats which eventually died at the age of 10.  Many of you will chose to spend what many would see as a ridiculous amount of money to save your pet.  You will defend your decision by saying that your pet is like family.  Or that it has a soul and is just as important as a person.  Or animals are better than people so why wouldn't you save them.  It is after all the humane thing to do.

But I ask this question.  With local shelters over flowing with healthy animals waiting for adoption, how many more could be saved with those thousands of dollars?  Wouldn't those other animals become special to you also?  Don't they deserve a chance at a happy life rather than spend it in a shelter or end up with a lethal injection.  It could be said that choosing your one special pet over two or three others is not being humane at all but is just selfishness.

Hmmmm.