03/7/11 :) Angel and Marisa

The main points in this article are showing how attached people get to their pets as if they were their children, and showing how far they are willing to go to keep their pets for as long as they can. Some might pay up to or more than 15,000 dollars for one surgery as a way to show their undeniable love for their pets. Some owners leave their lifelong estate or entire life saving to their animals because they are considered children. 

 

Pathos is reflected in not only the author's writing, but also in the emotional reactions we had in class while reading this article. There is not a part where there isn't any pathos in "The Last Meow." We would always catch the emotional feeling whenever it came up while reading. The reactions in class were mixed. Some people were happy at parts because they were reminded of their loving pet, and others were sad because of a loss of a pet, or even an absence of feeling.

Logos is presented while describing doctors, the animal hospitals, and statistics from related studies. This paints a picture in our minds because we then understand what professionals these doctors are, and their facilities that they work in to care care of other people's pets. We get a sense of how qualified everyone is, and how Lady, the cat, is in good hands. Referring to the statistics, we really know now how people love their pets, and how people spend more for their pets, then for actual people on Welfare.  

Pathos is much stronger in this article then the logos. This article is all about a man's struggle to keep his wife's dying cat alive, while he can barely afford to live. Shawn Leverings doesn't even have a real assurance that the cat will even live. The love for the cat takes over, and in the end Shawn knows it was the right thing to do because Lady, the cat, was like one of his own children. This was all in effort in making his wife happy, by doing that he made himself happy, and reassured himself that he made the right choice. In the end, we feel that Shawn made the right choice because of all the pathos, and how we felt while reading it.

We agree with the author because we too can relate to experiencing that love for an animal. We have always wanted to care for our animals, make sure they are always happy and love them unconditionally like they do for us. Although we love our animals, the thing we don't agree with is the cost of doing anything for them. We think Shawn is crazy for spending 15,000 dollars on a cat that might die or may live. Also, he doesn't have the money to spend anyways. While others have different opinions, and like the Leverings, they would do anything to make their animal live a little longer, Angel and I like to think it's not the biggest priority.