I am just shocked, and left speechless by this whole thread. To be honest, this whole thing is beyond my understanding. I cannot understand Bri's attitude, but more than anything, I am shocked at the advice some of the PT'ers are giving her.

"Leave your mother"

"Forge a signature for your mother"

Something must be seriously WRONG with some of you people.
A mother, who carried her child in her womb for 9 months, fed her from her own body when she was a baby, raised her, cared for her, fed her, her entire LIFE, has FAR MORE rights over her CHILD, than anyone else on the planet. How could you possibly tell a daughter to leave her MOTHER over a PET?!?! My gosh! Now I bet some of you would gladly choose a pet over a family member, but unless a family is abusive, I cannot imagine taking such a path. She is her MOTHER! Can any of the mothers here with young children IMAGINE that 10 years from now, perhaps there will be people out there advising your child to leave you. Sheesh. Every child has conflicts with his/her parents sometimes. If they go and tell others, that means those other 'elders' should advise them to leave their parents? Just imagine... I KNOW the mothers here would have a hard time even thinking about someone adivising their kid with such nonsense.

And to THINK Bri's mother would want money from people like that? I know for a fact that if I were in her mother's shoes, I would be furious about her asking for money from strangers off the internet. There are so many unseen dangers on the net, and teens often don't see them. I know that PT, in general, is a rather safe site, but parents have their very valid concerns.

As to forging a signature, that is encouraging a teenager to lie, cheat, and giving her the 'message' that breaking the law like that is okay.

Sad, very sad. I wasn't going to comment here, but after reading that statement, I just couldn't take it anymore. I don't understand why some people on PT NEED to interfere with her life SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much. She's 14 years old. Sometimes young people tend to make decisions without thinking, or can't understand WHY their parents make certain rules. That doesn't mean WE, strangers on the internet, need to do these things without talking to her MOTHER. She's a minor, not an adult, and her mom is responsible for her, AND, she has her own life in Tennessee, with her own pets, her own family. If I have a kid someday who goes online to ask for money during times of financial difficulty, you can be sure that not only would that kid NOT get that help, but that kid would have all internet rights taken from him/her. Why? If the child can't respect ME enough for raising him/her by asking me if this was okay to do first, then the child WOULD have to face consequences.

If Bri's mom is having financial difficulties, and her pets are healthy and not sick, her first priorities would be to pay rent, get food on the table, feed her kid, feed the animals, pay the bills. No one wants to accept money from strangers unless they're in a situation where they cannot even afford to have food on their table.

I just can't stand it when people turn kids away from their parents, rather than try to get them to understand them, and explain to them that no one is perfect, and no one's parents are perfect either, but they should respect their parents for all they have done for them.

Remember, there are people in this world who have no shelter. There are children in this world who's parents cannot afford medical care. There are people out there with serious illnesses, and no one to treat them. There are animals out there that roam the streets with no food or water to nourish themselves.

If you look at how a GREAT DEAL of poor people AND animals live in this world, you'd consider Bri and her pets fortunate. Life is not a bed of roses. There are thorns too...
...AND there WILL be thorns, in EVERYONE's life. You just gotta learn to deal with them in the right way.