Do You Deserve Your Pet?

Sometimes I hear or read comments from pet owners that just floor me. “It’s just a cat”, “they don’t deserve any better than what I get”, or “I’m not going out of my way to help a dumb animal”. I can’t get over it, it makes me incredibly angry and it’s really difficult to hold my tongue sometimes. For the most part people I’m in contact with are very loving pet parents who would do anything for their fur children. But if you belong to any forums or know someone personally who’s ever said one of those phrases, I’m sure you’ve had your own choice words for them.

I can’t for the life of me, understand why people take pets into their homes and lives when they don’t seem to have any love for them, and they certainly don’t have any respect. Why is it such a luxury to give a household pet a good diet, good health care, and proper love and respect? Why don’t they deserve that just as much as we do? Personally I think their reasoning for having a pet says a lot about them as a human. Do they treat their spouses that way? Do they treat their human kids that way? I am an animal advocate and lover, period! I do not want to hear or read that anyone treats their pet horribly either by abuse or neglect. Amazing to me how some pet owners think neglecting their medical needs is perfectly okay, and not because of lack of money but because they think they don’t really need medical attention.

Some of the things that I read and hear from pet owners disgusts me to the point that I’ve broken off a few friendships because of it. Unfortunately when it’s a relative, we’re stuck with them but a couple of times recently I lit into a few people and told them I was “the absolute wrong person to be making remarks like that to.” When I made that announcement they knew I meant business by the daggers  shooting out of my eyes. Needless to say this past holiday season I quieted the dinner table very quickly at one point. Just yesterday I was in a sandwich shop ordering lunch and talking with a friend who works there. We were talking about our pets when I commented that I can’t have a Christmas tree because my cats would take it down. One of her co-workers chimed in immediately that I should just get rid of my cats. My immediate look of disgust surprised her as I stated as politely as I could that “my cats are my kids and something material like a Christmas tree was not nearly as important to me.” That shut her up.

In the same shop a very broad shouldered and large man making the subs spoke up about his tortoise and how much he loved him. This was perfect and reiterated what I’d just said. He too loved his pet more than anything and hearing that made up for the insult to my cats I’d heard right before that. You never truly know by the looks of someone how they feel about animals. Sometimes we’re repulsed by their comments and sometimes we’re very pleasantly surprised. I always love talking with other animal lovers and appreciate the love they have for all kinds of pets.

This blog entry is basically me venting as I’ve heard quite enough of this lately and I need to talk about it with others who understand my frustration. I can ask anyone if they deserve the love and devotion of their pets but I know for a fact my readers definitely do. I know your pets are all your kids as well and they are lucky to have you as I know you feel lucky to have them. Thanks for listening!