# Having a Pet is Cruel? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228 "2008-05-14T01:28:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/121 "2008-05-15T16:22:30Z")
[QUOTE=Chimera] “I’m sorry. I can’t date you. It’s wrong to imprison animals and you’re clearly a Loon. Fly free, Loon boy, fly free.” [/QUOTE] 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/122 "2008-05-15T18:42:32Z")
If having a pet is cruel then what is dressing up a pet, torture? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/123 "2008-05-15T18:51:40Z")
[QUOTE=Duhkecco] Okay, do animals have the right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”? No, those are human rights. [/QUOTE] Ya think? The notion of “rights” is a purely human concept; it doesn’t exist outside of our own minds. As far as the universe is concerned, animals have as much right to life as we do: none at all. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/124 "2008-05-15T18:57:01Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] I say go meet him. Wear a leather jacket and thigh-high leather boots. [/QUOTE] What are you thinking? If she’s going to wear that, she should be meeting _me_! RR ---
**Author:** ![Duhkecco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@Duhkecco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duhkecco)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/125 "2008-05-15T19:15:14Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Ya think? The notion of “rights” is a purely human concept; it doesn’t exist outside of our own minds. As far as the universe is concerned, animals have as much right to life as we do: none at all. [/QUOTE] Why the sarcasm? I was responding to this: > [@pbbth](#): > > Of course pets have rights, that is why we have the ASPCA and other organizations. Also, what is the relevance of identifying rights as “a purely human concept”? Seriously, what’s your point? ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/126 "2008-05-15T19:20:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **Kozmik** > > If having a pet is cruel then what is dressing up a pet, torture? Well, speaking for my own kitties only, that is something I would only attempt if I wished for death. They would claw out my eyes in the night if I tried to dress them up. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/127 "2008-05-15T19:30:32Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] I say go meet him. Wear a leather jacket and thigh-high leather boots. [/QUOTE] Wear that outfit, abandon him, then meet me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/128 "2008-05-15T19:33:27Z")
**Duhkecco** , if you are really interested in the rights of animals and the like I suggest you check here, not on the PETA website. [This](http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cruelty_crueltyglossary) is what the majority of people posting here mean when they talk about fair treatment of animals and animal rights. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/129 "2008-05-15T19:36:07Z")
The OP didn’t mention how she met this guy. Online or in real life. How long have they been chatting or how long have they known each other. She mentioned a first date so it can’t be long. If someone felt the need to express such strong feelings to me before a first date I would lose his/her number unless you just want to get laid. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/130 "2008-05-15T20:58:02Z")
[QUOTE=Rachael Rage] It is not out of line to argue that perhaps humans should choose not to eat meat or keep pets as a way of gradually setting the cycle back to animals living freely in the wild. [/QUOTE] Keep in mind that the surest way to survival as a non-human species is to get in tight with the human race–being useful in some way for food or fiber production or companionship. We as a species won’t waste one second worrying about eliminating a species that happens to be in our way, unless there’s something in it for us. There are no aurochs left on the planet, but there sure are a lot of cows. Most people, at least in the US, have completely lost touch with the facts of existence of any species not our own. Many burger-eaters have never even seen a live cow. If we no longer utilized animals for anything, and no longer had _any_ personal contact with species not our own… I think there’s a lot more than sources of food, fiber, or companionship lost when we don’t have animals around in our lives. ---
**Author:** ![Duhkecco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@Duhkecco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duhkecco)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/131 "2008-05-15T21:47:53Z")
[QUOTE=pbbth] **Duhkecco** , if you are really interested in the rights of animals and the like I suggest you check here, not on the PETA website. [This](http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=cruelty_crueltyglossary) is what the majority of people posting here mean when they talk about fair treatment of animals and animal rights. [/QUOTE] Those pages don’t mention “animal rights”. This ASCPA page, [Glossary](http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=missionorange_press_glossary), does: > [@](#): > > “Animal rights” refers to a philosophical and political position that animals are entitled to rights regarding their status and treatment without reference to human benefit or value. > > “Animal rights” activities seek to end the pain and suffering of animals not by improving their current conditions of treatment but rather by the elimination of any human exploitation of animals—even when that exploitation is currently allowed by law or a commonly accepted practice. Examples would include raising and killing of animals for [human] consumption and the use of animals as laboratory subjects. Anyway, you asked: > [@](#): > > Has anyone ever met someone who feels it is cruel to have pets? How did they explain the reasoning behind their opinion? ASPCA has no problem with animals as pets, but your new acquaintance does. So, if you’re looking for the reasoning behind the opinion, then ASPCA is not the place to look. Have you had a chance to read PETA’s official position on pet ownership, along with the quotes by Peter Singer in my posts #39 and #104? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/132 "2008-05-15T21:51:15Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Not to mention kitlers [/QUOTE] I can has Poland? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/133 "2008-05-15T21:56:17Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] I say go meet him. Wear a leather jacket and thigh-high leather boots. [/QUOTE] Good. Better. Meet him wearing an [orylag](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=467937) coat. Best. Still thinking about this one.. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/134 "2008-05-15T22:13:18Z")
My cats could easily flee through the cat door, but they do not. It must be a Stockholm Syndrome kind of thing. That, or they can’t open the bags of Science Diet without help. It’s true we mock them. “No thumbs! No thumbs!” But as described above, one day I will fall and they will eat me. ---
**Author:** ![akira5822](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@akira5822](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akira5822)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/135 "2008-05-15T23:16:03Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] I say go meet him. Wear a leather jacket and thigh-high leather boots. [/QUOTE] Be sure to post a pic !!! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/136 "2008-05-16T02:46:15Z")
The date was actually really interesting. He and I are VERY different people (in many more ways than the animal thing) so we probably won’t ever be romantically involved but he is someone I could become good friends with and hang out with regularly. He has the coolest accent and I could just listen to him talk for hours! He is also really funny. Spoiler alert! Kind of offensive but really funny joke ahead! He was asking about my neighborhood and what it is like to live here and I was explaining, among other things, how the ethnic demographic is primarily Dominican families and older Jewish couples and he looked at me and said, “We don’t have any Jews in Germany. You know, because of Hitler.” I stopped in my tracks, unsure of how to respond, when he laughed and said, “I make a joke, it’s okay!” He did explain that as far as the animal thing is concerned is that they never should have been domesticated in the first place but since they have been he knows they couldn’t be released into the wild or anything and are better off being house pets. He does think things would be better if we could move towards the end of domestication of animals though. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/137 "2008-05-16T02:49:15Z")
[QUOTE=pbbth] He does think things would be better if we could move towards the end of domestication of animals though. [/QUOTE] And yet he continues to utilize animal products and eat meat? It’s a pretty friggen’ hypocritical point of view. Or does he hold that domestication for agricultural purposes is okay, but not for companionship? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/138 "2008-05-16T03:11:24Z")
[QUOTE=pbbth] He was asking about my neighborhood and what it is like to live here and I was explaining, among other things, how the ethnic demographic is primarily Dominican families and older Jewish couples and he looked at me and said, “We don’t have any Jews in Germany. You know, because of Hitler.” I stopped in my tracks, unsure of how to respond, when he laughed and said, “I make a joke, it’s okay!” [/QUOTE] You respond to ask if it was better is Jews had never been domesticated in the first place. Now that they have, should we work towards eliminating that domestication? “I make better joke.” ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/139 "2008-05-16T04:58:54Z")
> [@](#): > > originally posted by **Shagnasty** : > > “I make better joke.” I can clearly hear this in the voice and accent of Arnold Schwartzenegger. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2008, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228/140 "2008-05-16T07:03:35Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] And yet he continues to utilize animal products and eat meat? It’s a pretty friggen’ hypocritical point of view. Or does he hold that domestication for agricultural purposes is okay, but not for companionship? [/QUOTE] OP said: [QUOTE=pbbth] … He said he is a vegetarian… [/QUOTE] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/having-a-pet-is-cruel/449228.md?page=8)