(Probably toomanywords, but I'll try anyway)

But this is about Sierra (solidarity with her living cohorts) -- who was elderly-enough that, had she not 'chosen' me first and I her and.. somehow she'd ended up in one of those places ??
(before or after the family arrived ~ 40 mi E. of Reno where there is winter snow etc.)

Emotional paradigms don't translate well to Boolean, we see. Can one 'prove' that the suffering is greater when a decade (say) of conviviality is suddenly rendered into separation / strangers / new and loud noises, etc.
VS a shorter experience of similar intimacy ??

As to the arithmetic: Muricans appear to be unusually adept at rationalizing the treating of a 'pet' - an animal (any animal) as a toy-for-the-kid (and if the cute puppy becomes a dog requiring daily multiple attentions, or little Genghis suddenly becomes hooked on Magna-VisceraBlaster on his Wii-Wii? why: send the no-longer-wanted thing off to the pound "for a new home.") yaSHURE ... in the Disney dream scenario.

At 5 million and counting (cats only) -- my drop in that ocean of miserably betrayed creatures and their fate offers no statistical comfort at all -- maybe because such attitudes re. animals-as-things (with few Rights. Yet.) is so deeply a part of our flushing-down-the-toilet any-hard-choices mindset: I don't see the 5 million lessening.
It can't, because I also don't see any signs of increased maturity.. elsewhere.

Emotional 'logic' (when I found Sierra's staff was leaving and I could officially adopt her) could have been:
she had a cyst on her side*, was 'old' via US-lowered life expectancy. Do I want to pay for the same sort of open-ended vet-bills [I now know fershure] as precisely mirror the bankruptcy-producing $$-rituals for bipeds??

That question never arose
(* ..and I had to Tell Them about the cyst! many months before: about which they subsequently did nothing, as with dental.) Did I mention they were/are-still(?? hmm..) Republicans?
thus maybe looking for best ROI on the deal. Any deal. Needless to elaborate: I made the appointment immediately + the dental cleaning while anaesthetized, etc. Cyst was benign.

But actually I don't know next fershure:
sometimes eye-contact is Enough and final -- as with Sierra way-back. Age/appearance not even a factor there..
The second time she sauntered down my gravel driveway and right up to me, I'd have catnapped her if it weren't just Wrong (well, wrong.. in a milieu where animals still have 0-choice and virtually no Rights.)

I'll practice with some hours of cat lap-sitting/socializing at a local shelter -- I can weight matters towards 'older' but instant-Chemistry at any age cannot be superseded in such matters, I wot.
So maybe we're both 'right', even if

A=B, but in this math B!=A
complementarity Fail. aka:

The heart has its reasons which reason alone shall never conceive
-- Pascal, IIRC

:-þ

for all the unspayed and the other common contributory neglects, millions of fine animals Shall continue to be slaughtered.. taking a toll too upon the dedicated people who HATE having no other recourse than that.

Nobody can competently do the triage, though -- re. the cute puppy/kitten as, no matter what their choice that day -- most of the animals they see won't be around in a few weeks. Fortunately locally, Brighthaven's head is a great blurb writer and has gotten many adoptions for special critters via her descriptive writing and a large network: some drive hundreds of miles. Drop in the ocean, but then when you go swimming you don't worry about all the ocean you'll never experience. I guess.

But if I won the Lottery despite not playing: I can see where a few $Millions would be going.