I don't know what it is about pets. Why do we have them? What Neanderthal thought up the idea of bringing the dog in the cave first? Or who thought of the idea first to bring the cat into the home or decided to have a bunny for a friend rather than Sunday dinner?
Pets get in the way almost always. They shed. They make pulls in your sweaters. They leave trails of water and food all over the place. You have to clean up after them in one way or another. Depending on the type, they either love you, tolerate you or cower from you except when you feed them. They almost always take up space, time and energy and when a person gets older none of these are things are easily given up. So why exactly do so many people have pets? When pets eventually get old, you have to decide their quality of life for them as they are unable to articulate this for themselves. And you end up feeling guilty and horrid if you have to put them to sleep because it's such a burden to take care of them anymore. They cost money, too. Veterinarian bills are not cheap. And if you don't register your pet, at least in our town, and the powers that be find out about it, you can be fined. And if their shots aren't up to date, you can be fined for that as well. I'm just not sure I understand why pets are so important.
Growing up in our house we always had a dog of some kind. I don't recall particularly caring for them much. I fed them once in a while. I played with them occasionally. But they were on the periphery of my life, not the center piece. We had cats, too. They were amusing, but again, not something I remember taking responsibility for very much.
When I grew up and married and moved away from home, my husband, a true lover of cats convinced me that having a cat was a good thing. And two cats would keep each other company. Until they got old. And someone had to take care of their messes and their bad health. And eventually someone (how did I get nominated?) had to take them to the vet to be put to sleep. I cried over them, but my husband was much more sad than I. And then, we got two more cats because we had kids and they needed to learn how to take care of pets, right? And now we are down to one cat. And she is old and making messes and you can see where this is going, can't you? Especially since the children are grown and living away from home. And it becomes hard to do this. And I don't really want to anymore.
And so, gazing out the window on the back yard at the old cat laying on the stone driveway, I wonder. Why do we have pets? And I still don't have an answer.
3 comments:
Coincidentally, my own post today includes a poem which suggests an answer: we have pets to satisfy our sense of touch. Even Eewwwwww!-type pets -- tarantulas, snakes, etc. -- even they provide their owners with tactile sensation. (I guess fish are the exceptions; maybe they make up for it with their enhanced visual beauty.)
That's true for me, anyhow. Growing up, I never knew how important touch could be. Now, I think, I would be heartbreakingly lonely with no pets, because (even though I might not realize it) it would be like going without the sense of touch.
That's my story and I'm stickin' with it.
I was going to post that maybe we have pets for practice for when it is time to "put down" our spouses. I decided that was a little harsh. And, since the males usually go first, somewhat depressing.
I thought we had dogs for their unconditional love (augmented and assured by an occasional biscuit) (as an aside, Chievious makes me laugh, much more then he makes Connie laugh).
I don't know why people have cats. Possibly as a vaccine against emotional hubris.
Well, to satisfy our sense of touch, I guess that could be. A vaccine against emotional hubris! Hmm, I'll have to think about that as well. I often think of the parade of pets at the old homestead, how we treated them, how they seemed to survive anyway. I find humor in them no matter how annoying they are, so I'm with you Merch--they do make the journey somewhat lighter. And John, somewhat warmer and fuzzier as well.
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