“Are We Loving Our Pets….?”

This is food for thought: https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/family/2024/08/05/are-we-loving-our-pets-to-death

The title of the article is “Are we loving our pets to death?” but I didn’t think it was appropriate.

Here are some excerpts:

In our efforts to love them (as our children), have we gone too far? Have we taken away their freedom to express themselves and live their lives as dogs and cats?

Now some animal welfare ethicists and veterinary scientists are wondering if, in our efforts to humanise our pets, we’ve gone too far. The more we treat pets like people, they argue, the more constrained and dependent on us our pets’ lives have become, and the more health and behavioural issues our pets develop.

“We now view pets not only as family members but as equivalent to children,” said James Serpell, an emeritus professor of ethics and animal welfare at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. “The problem is, dogs and cats are not children, and owners have become increasingly protective and restrictive. So animals are not able to express their own doggy and catty natures as freely as they might.”

Do our pets get to make choices?

She drew a contrast with free-ranging dogs, a category to which most of the world’s estimated 900 million dogs belong. Free-roaming canines lead shorter lives and have no guarantee of food, Horowitz noted, but they do get to make all their own choices.

“That is an interesting model for us to look at – thinking about how to make a dog’s life more rich with choices so they are not just captive to our caprices all the time, while not endangering society at large,” she said.

Would our pet rather be free roaming or pampered indoors?

A few years ago, Herzog vacationed on the island of Tobago, and spent much of the time watching the stray dogs that roamed the landscape. “I asked myself: ‘Would I rather live in Manhattan as a pampered dog, or would I rather be a dog in Tobago hanging out with my friends?’” Herzog said. He concluded: “I’d rather be a dog in Tobago.”

That’s not a practical option for most people, or necessarily good for the Tobagos of the world. Instead, for the modern pet owner, Serpell offered this advice: “By all means, enjoy your dog’s companionship. But dogs are not people. Get to know the animal from its own perspective instead of forcing them to comply with yours. It enables you to vicariously experience the life of another being.” – The New York Times/Linda Baker

This brings us back to the whole concept of CNRM (Care-Neuter-Return-Manage) where in an ideal world, all we should do is to care for them in their natural habitat, get them neutered, return them to their familiar surroundings and manage them from there. Less interference of their natural way of life, if possible. In this way, they still get to make choices and live their lives as dogs and cats, which they are meant and entitled to.

Unfortunately, this ideal world does not exist because it would require all humans to be compassionate and tolerant of their existence.

So, we adapt, play it by ear and do the best we can.

We try to give them some outdoors within the confines of safety.

Samantha has adapted well to staying indoors.

What about you, Gerald?

We’d just have to play it by ear with this one.

The post “Are we loving our pets….?” appeared first on AnimalCare.

Source: https://animalcare.my/2024/08/11/are-we-loving-our-pets/

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AnimalCare is a registered society that promotes caregiving to street animals and helps in their neutering and medical needs. AnimalCare has a Medical Fund, Food Fund and Education Fund.

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