Should we have pets?

Well i really love animals and i have a dog wich i really love and i think its ok to have pets like dogs and cats but i really feel sorry for my grandma's birds. Its not that she treats them wrong or they have a really small cage but i always thought they would live happier and more free if they where set free, ya know? Also i used to have a mouse and i was always sad because she was lonely in a cage. I hate cages, even if its big. So what do you guys think? Any ideas on how you can have pets and treating them more like family than a friend?

 

i think "pets" are a bad idea, but "animal roommates" a good one

mice might not make the best "roommates", but i used to let rats have the run of my house, little charmers that they are - they behaved much as dogs and cats do, very social

some birds would be better at this than others, i suppose [not being a birdman]

currently we have cat roommates - 12 of them - which precludes rats, and birds, and most everything else

if they weren't living with us, they'd be cold and hungry and germy outside - definitely some of them would be dead by now

they'd also have less cat friends, and even less human friends

cages are sometimes necessary - i caught a very sick kitten on the porch the other night and it needs to be isolated until it's better [and stronger]

sometimes setting animals free is not such a hot idea, it depends on the animal and the environment

the world we have made for ourselves to inhabit may be more alien to animals than it is to us . . .

 

^^ ya animal roommates is more acceptable.
My cat lives here and comes home to eat and be snuggled and at night but ultimately he's free during the day to explore.

 

We made cats and dogs our bitches over thousands of years. Just give it time, your grandma's birds won't be happy but her grandaughter's grandaughter's grandaughter's grandaughter's grandaughter's grandaughter's grandaughter's grandaughter's grandaughter's grandaughter's grandaughter's grandaughter's grandaughter's birds will learn to love it as long as we keep breeding the ones whose genetic mutations fit into our desires.

 

I'm thinking of having a fishy and his name shall be Silent Bob

 

I think its a matter of balance with the environment. If somebody has a farm there could be a reason for having a dog or a cat. Then dogs to rescue people or help blind people or a pig for searching truffels.
Keeping pets especially carnivores because of lack of emotional life with other humans is certainly not ok.
As long as humans ar so screwed up that they touch any stranger cat or other animal they see but dont touch a stranger human they see even if both would like to, there is no hope. No other heard animal is nearly as screwed up socially and emotionally as most modern humans.

 

^^^humans are animals

it's possible to have both human and non-human animal roommates

human animals who live with non-human animals are not emotionally "screwed up" as you suggest; we are just like anyone else

why "especially carnivores"?

and why did you leave out this perfectly valid reason for having animal companions: there are stray and abandoned pets everywhere, looking for food and safety and companionship, it is something good that we can do, to help them by letting them live with us, by feeding and caring for them, and by, yes, emotionally bonding with them

 

Humans are not animals, too many humans are alone these days, especially the old humans. They should care more about other humans then there will also be less pet animals bought against loneliness and therefore less abandoned pets.
Its just crazy thinking about the amount of animals that have to be killed to feed all the carnivore pets. Elsewhere, people are dying of hunger.
Not to forget that cats kill many little animals in a quite big area around, not a good thing especialy with endangered species.

 

Because feral cats won't kill endangered species? If your argument against domesticated cats is they kill more endangered species, that's silly. Many animals are domesticated now, and arguing over the semantics of calling them pets or "animal roommates" is stupid. They're pets. It doesn't mean they're unimportant or deserve anything less than good shelter, clean food and water, excellent medical care, and safety. Other animals don't pay rent. They're not roommates.

If you labor under the illusion that animals are slaughtered specifically so Fido can have dinner, you're incorrect. That comes out of remaining parts that most humans wouldn't want to eat. Until you convince every human to stop eating meat, it's silly to say owning a pet is destructive because of animal slaughter.

Being an animal advocate and animal lover does not mean utterly abandoning common sense.

 

We should put all domesticated cats, dogs, and birds on a park reserve where they get no attention after thousands of years of being domesticated and craving individual human attention? Is that what you're saying? I just want to be sure.

 

In reality it is very rare to see a pet animal kept correctly, its mostly abuse.
No cat or dog in freedom would sit all day long in a cave, neither would a bird. Maybe for mice or rats its ok to live in a human appartement if there is enough wildlife and place that they dont get bored, in nature they love to explore new places. Maybe the only animals that could be kept happily in an appartement are worms or little insects wich dont like/need to fly or travel over far distances to be happy with the feeling of this unlimited freedom in nature.
I have this problem sometimes when I find young birds, I raised already some magpies and ravens which I found around the farm. Its the art of not making them being dependend, that they can live in freedom after some help.
Once we needed a cat in a cold winter when there was an invasion of mice, then we have a dog for the sheep when in the mountains during the summer. Of course it would be better w/o a dog but there, its necessary for the work. With self sufficient agriculture, whatever the land gives, you have to think very well which animal makes a sense in the overall balance of soil/plants/herbivores/carnivores. Buying supplmt. food for producing too much animal waste isnt good for the soil/biodiversity.

 

you don't get out much, do you?

 

i've had human roommates that didn't pay rent either . . .

 

oh, i meant to ask you:

what should we do about all the stray, abandoned and feral cats?

the house cat is descended from a north african cat; they are native nowhere else

there's not enough natural food for them most places, not even here in the middle of nowhere, eastern montana, and unfed they starve to death, freeze to death

 

i forgot this little gem

are we plants?

 

That reminds me of a case where a farmer had masses of sick and degenerated guinea pigs in a dirty cage. We decided to free them, at least let them know nature before they die anyways but they were so terrorized outside that they rested frozen of fear at their places for hours.
The same farm had about 60 cats, they always put masses of food outside for those cats. In the end they had to kill almost all of them, these farmers were people from the city who called themselves animal friends. And they ate meat.
Iam against how most animals are kept but still work in a farm to make their life a little bit better, there are many animals out there on all these farms that need our help. We have for example old horses here that spend the rest of their life. They also need attention every day.
For me, a real animal friend doesnt have pet animals and doesnt eat meat. Helping animals in farms or in other prisons is a good thing to do, of course it makes no sense trying to free them in most cases.

 

I abuse my cat every day by feeding her and scooping her litter box. She's beside me right now with her face pressed up against my leg sleeping...

The poor dear.

Pets are good for humans, they lower your blood pressure and are good company. They keep vermin out of your house.

Yes, there are many assholes who should be thrown in prison for abusing animals, but they are not the norm.

 

you keep talking about farms

we're talking about pets

get with the program

 

because almost all farms I know do have pet animals as well.
And if you really love animals and care for animals I think it helps more to go to a farm and help the animals there than buying a pet for your own.

 

of course we should have pets!

never know when there will be a meat shortage :mickey: