so what is a pet:?

@Snert

You don't know what a pet is?

Pet (dictionary.com)

noun

1. any domesticated or tamed animal that is kept as a companion and cared for affectionately.

@LiterateHiker yeah yeah, don't act like a twat. the morality of having a pet is in question

@LiterateHiker, @Snert ima go with the dictionary definition. It’s exactly my sentiments. Thanks for posting it.

@Snert You fuckfart, you specifically said "treat them as property". Read your own fucking post! All 2 sentences.

@traceyanarchist it’s about emotional investment on the animals part. When you have a beast of burden in general it’s trained d to do its job. Livestock is left alone to grow.

Pets on the other hand are interacted with in a social way. You , their owner, become in a sense their family member. There’s a great amount of evidence for this in mammals. Some for birds. Much less for reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

If you think it’s moral to gain someone’s trust purely for your own benefit and then abandon or turn on them when they no longer suit your needs then you are considered immoral in every culture I know of. I think being social creatures we instinctively know this behavior is wrong headed and will lead to a breakdown of a peaceable society in our tribe. I’m sure even mean ass people who don’t care about others know this is wrong, they simply don’t care.

The case with treating dogs like property is even more profoundly wrong. Even when used as a worker they will bond with their human counterpart like no other animal on earth. It is literally what they have been bred for. When we have a dog we ARE it’s pack. Period. For millennia we have been selectively breeding them to be able to understand us. There is no other entity in the universe that can understand a human as well as a dog. It’s not mystical, it’s a product of what we’ve done to them but it IS real. There’s been a fair amount of research and experimentation showing this in recent years. We owe them some loyalty for creating them. In a sense they are the children of our race. And for that alone we should not be treating them as property to be discarded when we are done.

No pet should be treated like that. It IS immoral to invite a living entity into your life and make it feel as though it is with its ( family tribe pride pack etc)for your own amusement or pleasure and then disregard it when you grow bored or inconvenienced.

@traceyanarchist no I don’t think all animal ownership is the same morally. I don’t really have much interest in defining moral, that’s an entire can of worms unto itself right? So let’s just stick with right and wrong. I think things can be right or wrong to varying degrees. Our laws recognize this. It’s wrong to kill someone because your not paying attention when you should be. It’s wronger to kill someone cuz you’re mad at them and wronger still to plan on killing someone because you want something they have.

So I think some ways of owning an animal are worse than others. Are you REALLY thinking some asshole that owns a pit bull to force into a life of fighting is on similar grounds to a farmer who uses on ox to pull his plow?

@traceyanarchist I understand about the choice to not eat animals but still eat factory farmed food. It def kills and tortures millions of animal lives. The simple act of plowing alone prolly causes more deaths than all the cattle that’s killed for food. I admire that you also realize this.

I get your point that we are not without culpability in our general relationship with animals. I don’t hold us morally responsible though as I view us as animals. And as you know we are def not vegetarian animals and are very much omnivores. I think it’s right and proper for us to eat animals just as it is for a tiger to eat a lamb. In some ways our meat animals lives are better for being bred as food. They have much less to worry about than their natural cousins and in most cases get a more human death than being viciously attacked by a predator. Maybe not those poor feedlot cows but that doesn’t totally negate my point here.

As for ya being an animals family I think you’re right but only when we choose to socially interact with them. If I own some goats and let them stay in their field and do goat things and they only see me if I fill the water trough and do other chores I don't think I will be viewed by them as one of the herd. If I stay out there and wander around with them and play with the kids and lay down when they do then yes ill be part of the herd.

I know this first hand with chickens. I had one or two that def felt I was in their flock because I handled them and interacted with them a lot. The others couldn’t care less about me or were downright skittish.

I give humans a pass for eating or even using animals for work.
Humans that befriend an animal and then turn on it for convenience or boredom have my ire and condemnation.

yeah yeah
but why?

Snert are you a masochist playing with us all....the list of insults for you is a mile long and you are loving it.

@Snert because animals are living beings with feelings. They get attached to their homes and the people they depend on. Having a pet is a responsibility to that helpless animal in the same way as it would be to take responsibility for a child. I
Also you should not have a child because you clearly lack the empathy necessary to care for another living thing.