Pet mania

Lots of people like dogs and cats — and that’s wonderful, of course.

But have you noticed how some people go a little overboard in their affection for dogs and cats? Or in some cases, a lot overboard?

Take the bizarre story last week about the nearly 800 (!) small dogs taken from a mobile home near Tucson, Ariz. (Oh, and 82 parrots too.)

Is it just me, or have these stories become sadly common?

Certainly every month, and almost every week, you read about stunned authorities finding dozens or hundreds of dogs or cats in some filthy home. The owner is invariably described as a well-meaning pet lover “who let things get out of control.”

Right, sort of like how Hurricane Rita was a windstorm that “got out of control.”

It is hard — realllly hard — to understand how someone could live in an apartment or house or mobile home that is ankle-deep in animal poop, pee, hair, fleas, dead critters, dying critters, fighting critters, etc.

Can you imagine eating a meal in that stench? Or trying to sleep at night?

You’d think it’s beyond something that human beings can endure. But again, barely a week goes by without another one of these bizarre stories popping up.

But this blog isn’t about the people who live in these homes. They are clearly koo-koo.

It’s about the otherwise normal people who read or hear about these stories and then become frantically determined to adopt one of the poor pets.

In the latest cases, hundreds of people were clamoring to adopt the Chihuahuas, Pomeranians, Chinese cresteds and Lhasa apsos found in the home.

The Associated Press reported that the requests “reached fever pitch, with calls coming in from around the globe and potential owners getting into shoving matches.”

Some dog-lovers called from Germany and Australia!

Uh, people, settle down.

Any town of any size in the developed world has an animal shelter. You can get a dog or cat from any of them any time you want. It is not really necessary to become so agitated over neglected pets in another state … or country.

The dogs and cats in these stories need someone to rescue them and take care of them. But there are millions of neglected children in America and the Third World who also need help every day.

Let’s not forget about them.