This may seem like a stupid question, but I accidentally came across this article online, and of course one article led to a whole plethora of articles. There were even Reddits. And what really got to me was that most people who replied were like "oh yeah, it's cruel and manipulative, how would you like being kept enslaved by a dictator?" and no real replies in equally strong defense of owning pets.
I've never not had a pet in all my almost-29 years (birthday later this month, yikes >.<) on this planet. Never once have we treated them as anything less than family members (I do feel that owning pets and treating them like objects is unethical- they are living virtues with feelings and so, so much love to give to us unlike other human beings. There's no quicker way to tick me off than to treat pets like things to just satisfy your need for companionship and then throw away after they've given you so much love ((coughcough pandemic pets cough cough)). All of our pets have seemed very happy and we take care of them extremely well. I'm talking a sum of more than 10,000 dollars for one of our cats (fatty liver, then hypothyroidism, then a torn ligament thing that's only supposed to happen to dogs because of course). We feed them good food and searched for the best vet we could find. They love being around us, most of them prefer to be near one of us in some capacity most times.
But I just can't get those accusations out of my mind. Like, they can't TELL you if they want to live with you. It's impossible to get 'consent' as we define it from animals.
Please understand, I have severe anxiety issues, and when a thought like this takes root in my brain, it just won't leave me alone, and I get this awful heaviness in my chest and head and I'm just incapable of reassuring myself because I keep thinking 'well they can't tell me how they feel so what if they're unhappy?" As I was having an existential crisis over this, our little calico came up and was purring and rubbing against me and doing this cute little half jump she does to reach my hand with her head (think dolphin jumping out of the water) and all I could think was 'is she doing this because she's been manipulated by us?'
Anyway. That's all basically my context. I'm posting this because once I get like this, when I can't be absolutely reassured (because again, they can't talk), I start to panic about 'what if'. So I'd really appreciate any input- just please, whatever your opinion, be kind.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/r6lsdc/is_it_unethical_to_own_pets/
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