Current Events > When you think about it, owning pets is pretty fucked up.

(+) Yeah! (+)

You are creating and enslaving a life for your own amusement.

nope
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Cats and dogs live longer as pets than in the wild. Wild wolves only live around 3 years

My kitty purrs everyday and is happy. The outside world terrifies him. But in my home he is cared for and calm and content

Amazing. Every word you just said was wrong.
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Christian RULES posted...

Amazing. Every word you just said was wrong.

Ah, the "I don't like what you said, so I will stick my head in the sand" response.

Zikten posted...

The outside world terrifies him.

No shit. It was bred in captivity.

ITT: weird cat guys
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Zikten posted...

Cats and dogs live longer as pets than in the wild. Wild wolves only live around 3 years

My kitty purrs everyday and is happy. The outside world terrifies him. But in my home he is cared for and calm and content

I don't agree with OP, but I would like to point out the second half of this response would not seem at all out of place coming from a slave owner.
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My parrots get pissed off if I don't put them to bed in their cages by a certain hour. They seem pretty cool with the arrangement.
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Even if the animals are content, it doesn't change the fact that you are playing god, and animals were not meant to be kept trapped and dependent for their entire life.

Sonicblack35 posted...

Zikten posted...

Cats and dogs live longer as pets than in the wild. Wild wolves only live around 3 years

My kitty purrs everyday and is happy. The outside world terrifies him. But in my home he is cared for and calm and content

I don't agree with OP, but I would like to point out the second half of this response would not seem at all out of place coming from a slave owner.

Lol there is truth to this thread but there are huge tradeoffs for the animal, if it's well taken care of it will live a privelaged life.

CiIantro posted...

Even if the animals are content, it doesn't change the fact that you are playing god, and animals were not meant to be kept trapped and dependent for their entire life.

Dude my cat is blind, how would he survive without me? And he enjoys going out in my back yard when I BBQ or on my lap as I drive him to the vet when he needs it, what do you have to say about that?
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lincoln002 posted...

Lol there is truth to this thread but there are huge tradeoffs for the animal, if it's well taken care of it will live a privelaged life.

What constitutes privileged though? Always having a dish with food, but living an unnatural life as another being's toy? Always being safe, but having limited (if any) interaction with your own species, and never being free to live life as nature intended? Should we really be creating life and making these decisions for another sentient being?

joe_stalin518 posted...

CiIantro posted...

Even if the animals are content, it doesn't change the fact that you are playing god, and animals were not meant to be kept trapped and dependent for their entire life.

Dude my cat is blind, how would he survive without me? And he enjoys going out in my back yard when I BBQ or on my lap as I drive him to the vet when he needs it, what do you have to say about that?

I am not saying that your cat should be released into the wild (that is stupid). What I am saying is that people should really examine the trade-offs involved in breeding an animal into captivity. I don't know that it is particularly ethical to force an animal into a captive environment simply for our entertainment, and I am not sure that any amount of love and care from a human can rival the contentment from living a natural life as nature intended.

When you think too far into it you get things that aren't true

I can leave my doors wide open and my dogs never run away. Animals only care about the essentials in life; so long as they're fed, have water, feel safe and sheltered, and exercised, they don't care about much else. Plus, dogs are bred and live to be loyal to humans.

You can probably make that case about more "wilder" animals, though, like reptiles or bunnies or turtles or whatever, but they still usually live longer and safer lives in captivity.

I dont see what your argument or point is. Pets like cats and dogs have undergone domestication for thousands of years. Its a mutual partnership - they provide companionship and possibly some useful skills and we provide shelter and food. Jeez, what a bad deal for them.
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RoboLaserGandhi posted...

When you think too far into it you get things that aren't true

This attitude is responsible for innumerable problems in society.

PesticideDream posted...

I can leave my doors wide open and my dogs never run away. Animals only care about the essentials in life; so long as they're fed, have water, feel safe and sheltered, and exercised, they don't care about much else. Plus, dogs are bred and live to be loyal to humans.

You can probably make that case about more "wilder" animals, though, like reptiles or bunnies or turtles or whatever, but they still usually live longer and safer lives in captivity.

Your dogs don't leave because they know no other world. They are fully dependent on you and conditioned. If you put feral dogs in your house, they would do anything to get away. I am sure you treat them well, but is living a life as someone else's pet really better than living a life in the wild? I don't think so.

I agree TC - these foul beasts belong in the wild
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masticatingman posted...

I dont see what your argument or point is. Pets like cats and dogs have undergone domestication for thousands of years. Its a mutual partnership - they provide companionship and possibly some useful skills and we provide shelter and food. Jeez, what a bad deal for them.

#1. It is a "partnership" that one party is unilaterally forced into. Pretty sure that is the antonym of the world.
#2. If the roles were reversed, would you be happy giving up 100% of your freedom to entertain your owner?

I took my cat for a walk
https://imgur.com/SOzwdEo
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Yeah, symbiotic relationships are dumb
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CiIantro posted...

lincoln002 posted...

Lol there is truth to this thread but there are huge tradeoffs for the animal, if it's well taken care of it will live a privelaged life.

What constitutes privileged though? Always having a dish with food, but living an unnatural life as another being's toy? Always being safe, but having limited (if any) interaction with your own species, and never being free to live life as nature intended? Should we really be creating life and making these decisions for another sentient being?

I feel you man, there definitely needs to be more regulations in the pet trade to make them rarer, right now anyone can get a pet and a lot of them get mistreated. You wouldn't even care if they got treated well though, you might even be jealous. The life of a dog for instance is that of a God in the US, hence dog = God in English backwards, there's some funky regulators and administration's for this. Like, let's say your cousin breaks his leg playing with a rooster, who do you blame if your cousin is like 6 years old? That rooster kind of crossed the line.

CiIantro posted...

and animals were not meant to be kept trapped and dependent for their entire life.

Why not? I mean that's factually incorrect as most pets and livestock were in fact bred to be trapped and dependent for their entire life.
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CiIantro posted...

This attitude is responsible for innumerable problems in society.

I would say the exact thing about yours.

I'd actually love to be some superior alien's pet. as long as they let me have access to comic books, tv shows, movies and video games, and food, I'd be happy.

Warned
User Since: Mar 2014
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Wow all of your responses are pretty horrible. "I feed them and they're happy" is basically agreeing with him that they're slaves, but happy and relatively safe slaves. You guys might want to like...put forth a better argument
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What's the basis for calling them slaves?

Wow at people tossing the slave word around for an animal companion. I also would like to know the basis for that.

Theres nothing in this world like having a dog. The fact that TC doesnt understand the history behind how dogs came to be our companions goes to show he just wants clicks and attention. The TC isnt going to change anyones mind who loves animals and he knows it. He just wants to be all edgy and say stuff like they are slaves to us.

Some hippy told me free your pets, so I let them all go free. It didnt take no time at all before they came running back to me
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CiIantro posted...

masticatingman posted...

I dont see what your argument or point is. Pets like cats and dogs have undergone domestication for thousands of years. Its a mutual partnership - they provide companionship and possibly some useful skills and we provide shelter and food. Jeez, what a bad deal for them.

#1. It is a "partnership" that one party is unilaterally forced into. Pretty sure that is the antonym of the world.
#2. If the roles were reversed, would you be happy giving up 100% of your freedom to entertain your owner?

Weve had cats that chose to live with us.
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implying pets care about freedom

they care about food first and foremost
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uwnim posted...

CiIantro posted...

masticatingman posted...

I dont see what your argument or point is. Pets like cats and dogs have undergone domestication for thousands of years. Its a mutual partnership - they provide companionship and possibly some useful skills and we provide shelter and food. Jeez, what a bad deal for them.

#1. It is a "partnership" that one party is unilaterally forced into. Pretty sure that is the antonym of the world.
#2. If the roles were reversed, would you be happy giving up 100% of your freedom to entertain your owner?

Weve had cats that chose to live with us.

For food. If you weren't feeding them, they wouldn't come back.

Zikten posted...

Cats and dogs live longer as pets than in the wild. Wild wolves only live around 3 years

Pet dogs live about fifteen years.
Pet cats live about thirty years.
Pet parrots live about fifty years.
Pet turtles live about a hundred and fifty years.

Uhhh .... things you create are called children.