I admit that some of the stories tug at my heart strings big time. I have given to people in the past, but honestly, as bad as I felt for them, part of me also wanted to ask them why they got into that situation because anyone with a brain could see it coming a mile away. Some times experience is the best teacher and a hard learned lesson is the best lesson to learn.
I am not saying I'd never give to anyone again, but it would have to be something highly unusual. I also sometimes worry about scammers since often there's no way to verify and it would be a great way to run scams.
I understand what you are trying to pass across. There are genuine cases and there are ridiculous ones too. I like to go through the page, the one that wants to go bankrupt to fix the pet is kinda unusual. But I won't judge but I don't think I'll be donating to the cause either. That's just the way I feel about it.
We actually ran into a lady that told us she mortgaged her house to pay for medical expenses for her elderly cat. She was a middle aged woman and I don't think she had a family/ I get it that sometimes the animals are like their kids. I feel the same way, but I walked away shaking my head over this. You know that if she loses her home because she can't pay her bill, you'll see the plea for help on GoFundMe. It's all so sad really, but people do have to exercise some judgement.
The things people do at times amazes me. Thank goodness that kind people are not hard to find.