# Animals: As worthy as people?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-as-worthy-as-people/6999>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 12, 1999, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-as-worthy-as-people/6999 "1999-08-12T21:41:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 1999, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-as-worthy-as-people/6999/41 "1999-08-21T08:17:00Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> For example, dogs and cats I understand (to a point), but where do we draw the line? What about animals bred for food? Is a cow or a pig deserving of the same consideration? Will those of you who are teary eyed over Fido’s loss then sit down to a cheesburger?

No, I won’t, and I haven’t for over 13 years since the first time, at age 14, that it occurred to me that I had that choice.

> [@](#):
>
> Animals, when kept as pets seem to develop a personality over time and we tend to anthropomorphize them.

You obviously don’t understand animals. “seem” to develop a personality? What horseshit. You are probably the type who would raise a pet the way they take care of a knick knack on a shelf. Personal opinion: your kind of person should never have pets or children. Actually, I wish there were a way of screening society so that I wouldn’t have to come in contact with that sort of person ever, at all. People who can’t understand and relate to animals lack something in their personalities that I consider to be essential.

As for other comments: there is indeed health insurance for pets. If you think otherwise you’re just being ignorant.  
I would spend whatever it took to save my pets, if there were a chance that they would have a good life afterward. We recently spent over $2,000 on vet bills to save two of our cats from liver failure; our dog recently ate on of my son’s toys and we were faced with the possibility of a $1,000+ surgery which we would have paid without hesitation (fortunately he was able to throw it up while he was hospitalized).

You can carry on as much as you like, but I will never be swayed from the opinion that there is very little that separates humans from any other type of animal.

* * *

**\>^,^\<**  
“Cluemobile? You’ve got a pickup…”  
OpalCat’s site: [http://fathom.org/opalcat](http://fathom.org/opalcat)  
The Teeming Millions Homepage: [fathom.org/teemingmillions](http://fathom.org/teemingmillions)

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/animals-as-worthy-as-people/6999.md?page=2)