Pets...

Okay, so in the past week or so, 3 articles on our obsession with pets, Lost cat, lost heart, Do Americans love pets too much? , and A Pampered Pet Nation.

Okay, so let me preface this with this.... I love pets... they are fun to interact with, comforting at times and overall a pleasure to have around. I personally have never had a pet (I refuse to count the fish I had as a child or my younger brother...) but am often around those that have them. My last 2 roommates have had cats and they were/are great (Fel is probably the best dog-cat I have ever met (she earns the title for being a extremely social cat)), though I really appreciate the fact that they are not my cats (too much responsibility). I couldn't even imagine having a dog, it would just feel too constraining (having to walk them every day, etc).

But I think that we have gone too far. We are anthro-morphizing these animals... They are not humans.. I think that there are some people that would let a human die in order to protect their pets.. They do serve a purpose but it is pretty disturbing when you think that there are a huge number of animals that get better treatment (in both food and medical terms) than a large component of the population. People are not having children and are instead treating these animals as though they were, buying them toys, daycare(for gods sake, fricking daycare... they are animals, they can survive pretty well on their own), and even (god help us) psychoanalysis. People... please.... for the love of God... If you are going to treat a pet like a child either a) go to your bedroom with your SO and don't come out until you are ready produce some offspring b) adopt c) go volunteer somewhere.... As long as your pet has food, a clean environment, a good chunk of attention every so often they are going to be pretty content. Save the love for humans.