Is it cruel to keep pets?

[J-E-N-O-V-A]

Most dogs would be running across continents and looking after their own litters, not running around gardens and fields looking after their plastic toys. Don't you think it's cruel to confine animals to such small living environments?

We're essentially kidnapping them (and often castrating/spaying them) and abusing their natural instinct to seek security in the creature that feeds them, which should (in nature) be their mother or the pack.

How would we feel if an alien race came down, killed all of the humans they deemed threatening, took the weak ones and bred them for their own needs, then much later using their existences as emotional crutches and denying them the freedom to choose outside of an environment they can't comprehend?

[malspa]

Maybe so. But it seems like my freeloading cat is living better than she would be living out in the wild...

[J-E-N-O-V-A]

Maybe so. But it seems like my freeloading cat is living better than she would be living out in the wild...

So do you think your cat would enjoy freeloading off you eating processed food more than taking care of its own healthy litter in the wild whilst eating tastey raw flesh? I don't. There's risk involved, but the rewards are much better imo. We should release them all into a wild environment in which we are not allowed to enter imo, but instead we maintain it, build heavy and humane security for our farms and ensure it's a purely wild environment that spans continents.

[Grenage]

Ultimately yes, of course it is; how cruel is another matter. Cruel is probably the wrong word to use, and I'd opt for selfish

P.S: I have a pet.

[ibjsb4]

Jenova, have you considered therapy?

[TheSqueak]

Most dogs would be running across continents and looking after their own litters

Wolves maybe, but we've domesticated dogs and they like living with humans.

[forrestcupp]

What makes you think they would rather fend for themselves in the wild?

So do you think your cat would enjoy freeloading off you eating processed food more than taking care of its own healthy litter in the wild whilst eating tastey raw flesh? I don't. There's risk involved, but the rewards are much better imo. We should release them all into a wild environment in which we are not allowed to enter imo, but instead we maintain it, build heavy and humane security for our farms and ensure it's a purely wild environment that spans continents.

I can tell you from a lot of experience that a cat would rather be taken care of. We have a ton of stray cats in our neighborhood that are free to live wild. Guess what they do. They hang around the people that feed them and adopt them as their family. They have the choice of living in the wild, yet they choose to freeload off of people who feed them and love them.

Also, there is the whole fact that cats and dogs will follow you if you move. My parents have had plenty of dogs and cats in the country that lived outside and were free to roam. They always came back to the house.

I'm no dog or cat lover, but this argument is ridiculous. I do have issues with forcing wild animals to become pets. But to take a domesticated animal and force it to live in the wild is way crueler than lovingly taking care of the animals that have never learned to live in the wild.

Jenova, have you considered therapy?

Lol.

[Paqman]

Not necessarily, life in the wild is hardly party funtimes for animals. Having a roof over your head and guaranteed meals is nothing to be sniffed at. Humans living in pre-civilisation days would have had huge ranges as well, but we gave up that freedom in exchange for the security and safety that civlisation brings. We're just giving animals the same thing we gave ourselves. In the wild animals may have room, but they also have disease, hunger, and predation.

Having said that, there is a minimum amount of room that an animal should have, which will depend on the species. I don't mind people in apartment buildings having cats or reptiles, but I don't agree with them having dogs. Even if you get them out for a walk twice a day it's not right to keep them cooped up the rest of the time. If you want a dog you should have a garden for it to run around in, minimum.

[malspa]

Having said that, there is a minimum amount of room that an animal should have, which will depend on the species. I don't mind people in apartment buildings having cats or reptiles, but I don't agree with them having dogs. Even if you get them out for a walk twice a day it's not right to keep them cooped up the rest of the time. If you want a dog you should have a garden for it to run around in, minimum.

I live in an apartment, and I feel the same way. I wouldn't have a dog here. Not enough room for the dog, too much work for me to keep a dog exercised. I even have mixed feelings about having a cat in an apartment, even though I have one.

[wojox]

an alien race came down, killed all of the humans they deemed threatening, took the weak ones and bred them for their own needs

How weak? Sounds interesting.