As I am sitting in my bed writing this I hear the dog next door barking for what feels like 13 hours, and what has been 13 hours. So this dog barking sparked a peculiar thought process.

The thought of how some people do not take care of their animals. Yes, I understand you work, yes I understand you have to pay the bills, but leaving for work at 7a and not coming back until 9p every single weekday is grounds for saying you do not take care of your animal. Your dog or cat may be fed, but they don't just want food, they want love too.

You being gone for 13 hours, and sleeping for 6-8 hours that leaves a small amount of time to spend loving your animal. I don't care how big of a dog you may have, and how long you think his or her bladder may be able to hold, the only thing that matters is you are not spending the quality time your animal actually needs and deserves to have from you. Y

ou are not there to take care of it, and I, the bitter neighbor have to listen to the repercussions from this decision. Yes, I am sure, some of you reading this are guilty of letting your animal be home alone sometimes for a full day, and that is excusable, I can understand that. But, what is not fine is doing this 5 out of 7 days of the week. Animals are a responsibility, and I am sure we all heard this from our parents as we were kids begging for a puppy or kitten, but this is serious. If you can't take care of an animal do not think you are doing it a favor by taking it from a shelter if you aren't going to take care of it yourself.

This goes for any animal; dog, cat, rabbit, snake, iguana, bird, etc... Animals need TLC and TLC is not what he or she is getting when you are out all day and night, and never there to take care of it. Every animal deserves to live, and that life they deserve should be the best. Laws to protect our animals are changing every day for their benefit. Some of them are making animals comparable to children, so would you leave your child at home alone for 13 hours a day crying all alone? No, I did not think you would. So please do us all a favor, and take care of your damn furry friends, and remember this quote.

"They may only be here for a part of our lives, but to them, we are their whole life." - unknown