u/janewalch

Big vegan family here. Wife and I are having trouble with this one.

We don’t believe in zoos. We have taken our son to many animal sanctuary’s as we do support rehabilitation centers. Our 5 year old son’s class is doing a big zoo day. This zoo is quite modern and does do a lot of animal welfare work as well as rehabilitation - but we just can’t support the confinement of animals that have been removed from the wild for display purposes.

He’s very excited and far too young to understand the welfare aspect. He is the only vegan in his class and up until now - we have 0 issues. His school is incredible with accommodating our lifestyle but there’s really not a ton that can be done here other than keeping our son home.

Our goal is not to control our son. But we do our best to protect him and also educate him. He’s told us that he wants to go - and we are on the fence but leaning more towards making the exception and letting him go and having the equal experience as his peers.

What are your thoughts on this and how would you approach it? We don’t want to guilt him or make him feel any sort of way about his friends either. We have not spoken to him about it other than asking him if he would like to attend. He will more than likely love this experience as he loves animals and we anticipate him asking us to bring him back. That is something we will not do as we have ample sanctuarys in our area.

I am not looking to debate whatsoever. This is a questions directed towards fellow vegans. Thank you

EDIT: I GREATLY appreciate all of your input and guidance here. This got a lot more attention than I had anticipated and unfortunately I cannot reply to every comment. We feel much more confident in our gut instinct with letting him experience the zoo with his peers. I see a few comments regarding AZA accredited zoos and this zoo is AZA accredited. We are always learning and becoming better vegans and this has opened our eyes immensely and we appreciate you all. I’m sure he will love it and when he becomes a bit older - can decide for himself where he stands on the ethical aspect of zoos.

36m. No medications besides painkillers for the infection and am on day 2 of azithromycin for the tooth infection as I am allergic to penicillin.

I have a tooth that is essentially half a tooth with a giant hole in it. I am not good at caring for my teeth but I am starting better hygiene. This tooth has been this way for a year as I don’t have any forms of insurance and can’t afford to pay the astronomical out of pocket fees associated with dental care here in the US. There is a walk-in clinic that I have been going to that will see me for a reduced out of pocket fee.

On Thursday the 18th - the tooth became unbearable. Besides the intense pain - I did not have any other symptoms. I saw the walk-in dentist the next day (Friday the 19th) where they took an x-ray and prescribed me azithromycin to help fight the infection. I have taken 2 doses but it has only been a little over 24 hours since taking my first double dose.

Today things have really ramped up. Pain is still 10/10. I can see/feel my face swelling a little which has happened with a tooth infection I had last year as well. This is a bottom left side molar and now my bottom lip has had intermittent numbness as I assume the abscess is pressing on a nerve. I do not have a fever, issues swallowing, or swelling any wear besides the jaw/cheek area.

I have an appointment Monday to have the tooth extracted. That gives me about a day and a half until that appointment.

Am I in any immediate danger that would require me to see the Emergency Room now? They really don’t offer dental procedures in our ERs at all and I am already on antibiotics. I have taken my daily limit of both Advil and Tylenol so painkillers are out of the question until tomorrow. I would just like to hear the general consensus on what my next best move is. I can muscle it out for another day of pure agony but I don’t want to put myself in any more danger.

Thank you.

We are a band from Los Angeles. Been releasing music for the past 2 decades with some hiatuses in between. We just finished our first full length since 2015 and our first track is back from mastering. We are totally open to judgement/opinions - but we’ve battled with finding the right genre. I think in the beginning we were pushed into the indie genre. Really appreciate you all. The song is called Ghost - and we are honored to work some big names in the industry who have worked with artists like The Killers and Nirvana. Much love to you all.