Hook up with HoboStew and dump the dodo on his SO: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9799009#post9799009
It sure seems to me like we’ve gone off the deep end here.
A lot of people here seem CERTAIN this guy is from PETA, if not the terrorist wing.
Meanwhile, the OP says she’s confused because he mentioned in what sounded to me like an off hand comment that he doesn’t like keeping pets.
He might be a whackjob, or he might just be clueless. Lots of people didn’t have pets as kids, don’t have them now out of habit, & don’t have a well-thought out rationale for why they don’t. So when asked, they may not give a real sensible reason. Avoiding cruelty sounds like a nice fuzzy spur of the moment reason (read excuse) to me.
Me, I don’t have pets because I can’t imagine how the benefits to me could outweight the hassles to me.
Let’s at least have the OP give this guy a brief (but fair and balanced) trial before we hang the poor sap.
Oliver - He doesn’t believe in holding still so all of my pictures of him are blurry
Joey - He is very photogenic but for some reason this picture came out smaller than the others
I would post a picture of my date but I don’t think it would be right to post his picture without his permission. Trust me when I say that I was flabbergasted by the exteme amount of sexy he possesses. Now I know that is to make up for the nutty so it isn’t so impressive anymore.
That is not what we are doing. There is this sentence which, if true, is what we are responding to.
No, what he said was “Nobody should have pets.” That’s something completely different.
This is the tip of the iceberg. If you must, sportf*** him and get it out of your system, but this is a serious point of contention where he’ll eventually end up making you get rid of the cats or you can’t have him.
Before you turn the guy loose back in the wild I think it only proper to have him neutered (a request from my 2 cats, Calvin and Hobbs). Nothing worse than a neighborhood full of feral jackasses.
I think the key issue is whether or not he’s willing to be openminded and see that his opinion is born of ignorance. I can imagine a series of circumstances that might lead to a guy holding this wacked-out point of view, but for me that would only be a dealbreaker if he was inflexible on the issue.
These animals are truly suffering and beg your sympathy! Woe is them. Clearly.
For what it’s worth, I pretty much agree with Shagnasty. They’re nuts in a particularly insidious way.
Wow, creepy.
How did the new neighbors hear about this? did your trusted neighbors tell them, on account of their being vets?
If you would have asked Pintsize yesterday if he thought he was being wrongly imprisoned he would have said “Yes” most definitely.
Yesterday was bath day.
I’ll post pictures tomorrow.
And mink.
Did this guy consider that dogs have been bred for well over 10,000 years to be pets?
Another reason I prefer dogs - Josephine’s beloved dog nearly bit Napoleon’s pecker off on their wedding night. 
If the OP had one, the problem might have solved itself.
I agree. It may be simply that he has been exposed to the notion that people shouldn’t keep pets (from a genuine extremist), has somewhat uncritically accepted it, and has never been in a situation where it was put to the test. It’s unlikely, but it could happen.
You of course realize, pbbth, that having started this you are going to have to tell us all about the date.
I will be checking the boards hourly.
Meh, a guy who uncritically accepts any notion he comes into contact with is, IMO, less desirable than a guy who truly believes in PETA’s mission. I mean sure, he’ll be fun for a while, since you can easily convince him that rubbing your feet and fetching bonbons for you are his favorite things, but he certainly isn’t a suitable life partner.
He might make a nice pet, though.
…and be sure he sees [thread=467947] this thread[/thread]
The possible consequences dazzle me.
Except we don’t know if he does uncritically accept any notion, only that he appears to have accepted this one - and that might be the most casual kind of acceptance, if he’s simply never since been in a situation where he had to revisit the idea.
I mean, I agree that the statement is a big red flag, but sometimes, not all is as it seems. It could even be a case of him blurting out some fumbled nonsense that he’s now kicking himself over, thinking “Oh, fuck, that made me sound like a PETA loon”.
We don’t have enough information to know what the score is. Find out what, if anything, he means when he made the statement, then roast him, if it’s still appropriate. Ask questions first, then shoot.
Sounds like there’s an opportunity for an interesting debate with this guy:
FWIW, I’ve had two pets (a cat and a dog), and I would have a dog now, but my wife isn’t too keen on the idea, and it’s not really a big deal for me.
Also, I had steak for dinner last night.
I’ve sometimes wondered about the human/nonhuman distinction when it comes to “rights”. For example, I was going to say “I’ve owned two pets”, but what does it mean to own an animal? Can I own a person?
How about: Ask questions first, and then, if appropriate or necessary, leave.
No reason to roast or shoot anyone here.
The roasting and shooting is almost inevitable here. The best I dare hope for is that people would hang back at least until it’s justified (or they have justified it).