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Pets
JoyfulGirl
Veteran
Since there was a discussion on what to feed pets, I want to discuss what your thoughts on having pets are? Is it ethical to own another being in a sense? I want a cat, but I think that the cat might feel like it is owning me more than me owning him/her? 
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Comments
Honestly?
I sometimes find such 'soul-searching' to be almost 'anal'.
The world will always have pets, and the world will always have people who have pets.
Ethics be damned.
While the desire to own pets is prevalent in humans, pets will always be available.
If you have a pet, do the best by it you can, without spoiling it.
It's an animal, not an anthropomorphous extension of its owner.
I'm not sure I think of my dog as someone I own, but rather just part of the family; he's a rescue dog and needed a home; and I'm glad he's part of it.
He's a good looking lad, just like his owner!
But....
I do have a cat that I rescued from being put down.
So I guess I have a no pets policy for myself when it doesn't compromise my precepts.
I try to feed them a healthy diet of what they would eat in the natural environment and try to source it ethically.
I also make sure that we don't impact on the local environment by always cleaning up when I excercise with the dog and the cats don't catch the local birds or small mammals. Although the cats did look a bit timid the other day when there was a sparrow hawk flying through the garden trying catch its dinner.
I know people who treat their pets better than their kids. I know people who treat their pets like something to kick around. I know people who treat their pets like actual babies and will readily admit to dressing them and treating them like babies because they miss having children. Oy oy oy. Treat them like an animal and respect them for who they are, quirks and all.
We have a boxer who is just nut-tastic, lol. She's a joy and she's hilarious and she has more personality than some people I know.
Even our beardie has a lot of personality, they are pretty unique as far as reptiles go. You can leash them and walk with them and such, they are easily handleable and low stress.
The ferrets are pretty crazy, too. Love having them. They amaze me constantly with their brightness and how different they are yet they love each other just the same. They are a lot of fun to watch.
Our tortoise just kind of is. He eats loads of our garden veggies (he's half our compost, lol) and then in the winter he pretty much hibernates.
Isn't dharma a cat?
http://www.mahabodhi.net/dcat/
You and a cat will both be happier. Rescue cat sounds an affordable pedigree . . .
:clap:
Back when I worked night shift, he would wait at the window every morning knowing I would arrive (he never went to that window except during those mornings). Before zazen I would look for him in my apartment and bow to him first.
I think most probably would.
And I tend, in general, to agree with him, just not so black and white about it. I've rarely seen ethical realities that are so stark.
Pedigree Dogs Exposed (BBC Documentary)
Hour long documentary on the genetic cruelty that is purebreed dog breeding. Puppy mills aren't the only thing that is cruel and inhumane about dog breeding. That is putting it nicely! Much more accurate...Puppy mills aren't the only thing that is cruel and inhumane about dog breeding.
Additionally, from where are the most dogs and cats euthanized in the United States? Animal shelters.
If you can trace and personally inspect every step of the process in all pet stores that you are condemning, then I might agree with you, maybe.
Mass condemnations of groups of people are unethical.
There are so many animals that could be adopted from shelters, but people want pedigree and designer animals. Anecdotally, it seems shelter animals make the best pets... they seem to know they're wanted. We humans are to blame from start to finish for the plight of these animals.
I'm a bird owner, and unfortunately, birds from shelters are often not ideal. There's a huge bird rescue center here in Colorado...literally thousands of birds. A place I would love to volunteer in, but it's too far a drive. They are in my will for a big chunk of $.
If want to condemn everyone in a particular profession, go ahead. I won't be a part of that. I'll chose to look at each individual in a profession and see how ethical they are. To prejudge everyone in a group is to be prejudiced.
Thanks.
Farnsworth the cockerspaniel was rescued by @Brian and his fiance. They found him running down the side of a highway in northern Michigan with enough ailments to prove he'd been on his own a long time. He is loveable and gentle but dumb as a brick.
Rocky the rat terrier was rescued by me at a local adoption fair. He is my perfect foil. I would gladly rescue a second dog, but Rocky sleeps in my bed and I can neither handle a second dog in bed nor hold 2 dogs to different rules.
I think it is unethical to own cats because I am allergic to them. :mullet:
I think "Wolverine" is all wrong.
He ain't a wolf; he's a feral cat with attitude.
And you really don't want to mess with an animal that will happily lie on your face, or ambush you as you come out of the bathroom.
In bare feet.
So, if all private breeders, puppy mills, and others, responsible or not, suddenly ALL had their animals fixed and no other animals were bred no matter what....do you think the situation would change? Do you think all of a sudden all the unwanted pets at the shelters would suddenly be adopted because no one had another option? I don't think it would. For example we might have simply chosen not to take an animal at all rather than get one where we didn't know the history of it's parents and owners and where it spent it's previous time. So it's not as if, if we didn't have the dog we had now, a dog would have been rescued instead. We probably just would not have gotten one because we would have not had the time to drive to the very spread out and limited shelters in our area, mostly with older dogs with unknown or abusive histories. I think rescues are terrific but again, when do we put the responsibility in the hands of the people who mistreat their animals, who get pets and don't care for them, or give them up when they move or can't train them/don't want to train them/abuse them/can't afford them?
Many, if not most, people I know who have pets, have rescue pets. From hamsters and bunnies to ferrets, cats, and dogs. But the numbers just keep going up and up. Are people who breed 10 puppies over 4 years really to blame over the people who treat their pets like garbage, and then 6 months later go get yet another pet they can't take care of and surrender that one, too? Our neighbors couldn't feed their cats anymore, so let them out to live in a shed. Instead of getting help right away with getting them fixed, they did nothing (they could have had it done for free) and now we have upwards of 25 wild cats who have to survive winters of -40F, live just off a highway, are pray for eagles and owls, and so on. Yet, they were just approved to adopt another cat, even though their daughter called the shelter and told them not to give her parents another cat.
I understand what you are saying, honestly. But I'm not so sure it would solve the problem, either. Irresponsible pet owners will be irresponsible pet ownersr.
Also, can I just say, that some shelters have ridiculous requirements? I am completely in favor for references and other such things to assure as best as possible the animal will have a good, forever home. But some of them border on impossible to adopt from. When we moved, our kids were 12, 6 and 1 at the time. We actually tried to get a boxer from a rescue, and were denied in our application because we have too many children. They thought the dog wouldn't be cared for. My friend has been denied by 3 shelters because she has too many cats. She has 3 cats. And she provides them an AMAZING home and life and health care. Far far better than they will ever get in a shelter, but because she has 3 cats, she is not allowed to have more per several shelters. Thsi shelter, at the time, had 320 cats and kittens up for adoption. So these animals missed out on excellent homes. It works both ways. We searched for 7 months for a shelter dog before we went with a "breeder."
The dog father of our doggie daughter was recently found to have lymphoma. So, there's one less dog you have to worry about.
Humans (and I mean early humans) stored food. Stored food attracted pests, pests attracted small carnivores. These humans said, "Hey, they're eating the things that are eating our things. Let's not chase them off." Eventually, this changed into the numerous different levels of domestication of dogs and cats that exists today.
Humans and pets often have a symbiotic relationship similar to clownfish and sea anemone, or cows and the gut fauna in their stomachs, or sharks and the fish that clean them. That is to say, mutually beneficial situations do, in fact, exist in nature.
However, I understand what you are saying. Deliberately domesticating animals like turkeys for the sole purpose of eating them, or the (attempted) domestication of tigers for entertainment, or the selective and detrimental inbreeding of dogs and cats to create/maintain breeds are a completely different story. Things like that wouldn't exist in nature and are our responsibility.
With respect _/\_