david_grimm

Great question. Honestly, I think it's a pretty even exchange. Pets get to be on permanent vacation and have their every whim and need catered to (at least the lucky ones), and we get companions that provide unconditional love. Pets may also provide us with health benefits like lower anxiety and blood pressure. I think we both make out like bandits!

I'm not a huge fan of breeding. I think we should appreciate dogs (and cats) for what they are, not for what we can turn them into. I'd also like to see more people adopting pets than buying them from breeders. More than 3 million unwanted cats and dogs are killed in U.S. shelters every year.

Ha! Well I'm a cat person, but I love dogs too. I think we get different things from each pet. Dogs are faithful companions who become like our children. Cats let us bring a bit of the wild into our homes--they allow us to caress the tiger, as someone once said--but they are also "love sponges", as Ernest Hemmingway called them. Why chose? Get both! :-)

Great question. There are millions of animals on earth, and dozens of domesticated animals. Yet we've largely singled out just two--cats and dogs--to be our family members. I think it may have something to do with the adaptability of cats and dogs, and the fact that they think a lot like we do. As a result, it's easier for us to form emotional bonds with them.

Good question. I do think there's some hypocrisy in giving other cultures a hard time for killing dogs and cats, when we kill chickens and cows. (and i'm saying this as someone who's not a vegetarian... although i'm trying).