Bigbluestars I am an animal lover but I am not one of those people that feel that animal rights should come before those of humans and I doubt that anyone on here would disagree with you that it is an absolute outrage that many dc in third world countries lack even the most basic medical care.
And I sometimes get the same feeling of uneasiness when I watch that Supervet programme (the chap that fits prosthetic arms and legs to domestic animals) and the, sometimes questionable/perhaps sometimes imo even unnecessary operations, cost a fortune; which would pay for hundreds of say, mosquito nets for children.
But I am not sure that the one issue is necessarily directly connected to the other.
Responsible pet owners tend to take their vet's advice; and in most cases, the vet's advice is fairly sensible and middle of the road. I doubt many people would turn down an operation that their pet needed and send that money to a third world country instead because one isn't faced with that direct dilemma in rl.
In rl, both humans and animals suffer horribly.
That doesn't mean that the two issues are mutually exclusive however. I spend a fair bit of money on my pets but I also support a children's charity in London, and fund-raise for a UK charity which helps disabled dc, and for a foundation which provides medical assistance to people in third world countries. It's not one or the other.
You need to look after a pet well if you take on ownership of it. And I think it's responsible to be sure that you are able to afford care and veterinary treatment before you take an animal on.
But that doesn't mean to say that, most importantly of all, the world doesn't have a duty to tackle child poverty. Because it does. My rabbit suffering unnecessarily won't change that unfortunately.