How does the domestic pet fit into the grand scheme of things ??

For me, the purpose of having pets is:

*Unconditional Love

*To bring joy into my life

*Having friends around when everyone else is busy

*Having something to love and care for and get love in return.

*etc., etc.

They just bring so much joy in our lives. The purpose? Well everything has a purpose, and I believe the main purpose of having pets is having someone to love and care for. Its human nature to love *something*, and us folks have chosen to love our pets. :p Of course we love many human beings too...........our families, etc., but pets have such a special place in our hearts and bring us such joy that we would never be willing to give up. :p

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Originally posted by RICHARD
Wait a second!


Does unconditional love make up for my cat lying around, eating and pooping at will, making me clean out his box, getting cat hair off my clothes and generally being a pain??????




Yep.:)

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:D :D :D I bet there are some cats that wonder if our love is worth it also.

"makes me get off the kitchen table, counter etc."
"wont let me go outside"
"takes me to that mean vet"
"won't let me poop/pee in the corner"
"and why can't I have those chicken bones mom"
"And what do you mean I have to be nice to the others"
"don't you know we are God's and we should rule you"

I hope thier answer is yep, also. ;)

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Originally posted by lizbud
Does he include himself in this statement ? Has he ever asked
himself what his purpose is in the grand scheme of life?

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I will ask him that. :D

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Originally posted by Fox-Gal
I will ask him that. :D

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I see that he doesn't have the emotional connection with his 'pets'. I was a little surprised to see that he keeps animals but doesn't see their value beyond taking care of the grass, insects, etc.......

He sees them as objects, not as entities capable of more than insect control, lawn mowers....

there is hope for him!:)

Pets serve no real purpose, art serves no real purpose, sports cars serve no real purpose, nice underwear serves no real purpose - they don't have to! We have these things around us because we love and admire them - because we can! :D

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Originally posted by Miss Meow
nice underwear serves no real purpose - :D

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But, it helps on a date!;)

My husband, the 6th grade geogrpahy teacher just finished the chapter on hunting and gathering and the agricultural revolution... this spoke of how we went from being dependant on the wild animals to taming and herding animals. This led to what we call civilization.... so, all I can telll you is this:
Without pets, we would be very uncivilized!:) the text book says so!

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Originally posted by Miss Meow
art serves no real purpose, sports cars serve no real purpose, nice underwear serves no real purpose - they don't have to! We have these things around us because we love and admire them - because we can! :D

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Those things aren't living, breathing creatures, either. They won't care if we don't love them anymore and get rid of them.

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Pets serve no real purpose, art serves no real purpose, sports cars serve no real purpose, nice underwear serves no real purpose - they don't have to! We have these things around us because we love and admire them - because we can!

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I agree. It is one of the marks of an advanced society to have the leisure time to devote to something besides finding food. We don't NEED 99.9% of the things we have. All we really NEED is simple food, water and some rudimentary shelter from the elements. Obviously, we want far, far more than that. Pets being one of the things we want - for companionship, replacing human ties that are lacking, etc.


And as an aside, I frankly don't think someone is somehow a lesser person because they choose not to have pets. Some people are simply not "into" pets. It doesn't make them less kind or less smart or less nice.

Many, many people who grew up on farms or ranches, or in harder times (like the Great Depression) or less affluent countries cannot comprehend the bond some of us have with pets. It doesn't make them "bad", it just means the have a different outlook on things. My parents, for example, and the kindest people you could ever meet. Everyone loves my parents. They are the salt of the earth. Both of them grew up on farms and ranches, where animals had a purpose. They had pets for us kids when we were growing up, but now that all of us have moved out, they don't have any more pets. It's just not their thing. And that's ok.

I don't happen to want a bunch a kids, nor do I gush all over someone's baby at the store. I'm not into kids. My mom is. She LOVES babies, and can't understand why I don't like them. I tell her, "Hey, I love puppies, Mom. I could never walk by a puppy without petting it. You could care less. That's how I feel about babies." One is not right, and one wrong. Some people are "animal people" and some people are "people people". It's all good.

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Originally posted by Twisterdog


I don't happen to want a bunch a kids, nor do I gush all over someone's baby at the store. I'm not into kids. My mom is. She LOVES babies, and can't understand why I don't like them. I tell her, "Hey, I love puppies, Mom. I could never walk by a puppy without petting it. You could care less. That's how I feel about babies." One is not right, and one wrong. Some people are "animal people" and some people are "people people". It's all good.

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Well, I'm in deep doo doo then, because I do love both.:D
There is a daycare in our building at work and when the babies
are out & about for their exersize periods I'm always late getting
back from breaks. Looking at those sweet innocent little faces
just makes my day.:)

Now, if there were a doggie daycare in the building, I'd never
come back to work from breaks.:D :D

Good post Twisterdog, and true. The only time I really have a problem with "non-pet" type people is when they criticize or make judgements about me because of my bond with them. I like watching kids from afar, I especially enjoy them when they are well behaved children, but I am not interested in having kids myself, and I also don't "gush" over any baby I run across. I guess I do probably gush more over dogs/puppies/cats/kittens etc etc more.

One of my husband's friends used to mock and bash people who took their dogs everywhere with them or talked to them like "kids" and he would do this right in front of me even though he knew I was "one of those people." That's just disrespectful and inconsiderate.

On a final note though, I usually relate and get along best with other pet people. I suppose that's only natural. I'm just a lot more interested in people who have pets, but I won't judge someone or deliberately shun them if they don't :)

Well said Twisterdog - very well said.

My pets have two major purposes in my life.

1. They help reduce the stress of a very stressful job.

2. They help me appreciate the simple joys in life and not take myself too seriously.

I really enjoyed reading everyone response and plan on pass a few of them on to him.

Who knows maybe he see the error of his way. :D Hopefull, like Richard said, theres hope for him.

But no matter how he see things, I will respect him as the good man he is, as Twisterdog said it makes him no lesser of a person because he sees things different then us. He at least knows to give the best care to his aminals, although he says it is in fear of what I might do do him if he doesn't.

Thank you for your responses.

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Originally posted by dukedogsmom
Those things aren't living, breathing creatures, either. They won't care if we don't love them anymore and get rid of them.

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I never said anything about disposing of things :confused: My point was that we might have these things in our lives because we can, and they enrich our lives.

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Originally posted by Miss Meow
I never said anything about disposing of things :confused: My point was that we might have these things in our lives because we can, and they enrich our lives.

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I can't tell you what an impact nice underwear has had on me..........not on my pets, of course.;)