I suppose it is all relative to how you look at it. To me, pets serve a vitally important function to those who take them into their heart and home. Besides making us happier and healthier, they are our companions. The role of companion is different for each situation. A pet can help that depressed person come out of themselves with their gentle love and acceptance. A pet can help someone get motivated to get out and walk and do things. Some pets help guard the home and their people from harm. Many pets of different species have helped alert their people to trouble. I have seen testimonies of a parrot that woke his family when the house was on fire, and a cat waking her people when someone was trying to break in their home. Of course there are hundreds of stories of dogs that have helped keep their people from harm.

Unconditional love is very addictive. Once you have experienced it, it is like experiencing a bit of heaven. It is a high or utopia far better than anything a drug can make you feel.

Simply put, they enrich our lives in many, many ways. Too many ways to even try to list them all. Maybe to some people, that does not seem like a real "function." As for me, I wouldn't want to try to function myself in this world without them by my side.