According to Gary Bauer, Americans love pets more than children.
…care for pets is exceeding normal affection and treading into the realm of exaltation. We’re treating animals as humans, and in some cases preferring pets to people. But an excess of affection per se isn’t the problem – it’s the lopsided moral framework that it reveals.
Now, I admit to be a nuerotic dog lover. Coco, the beloved Border Collie, is a frequent topic on GFTS. However, society’s devotion to our four-legged friends is starting to seem a little absurd.
In the United States, 63 percent of households include a pet (up 7 percent since 1988), and pet lovers spent $38.5 billion on their pets in 2006 (up from $21 billion a decade earlier). Americans now spend several billion dollars more on dog and cat food than they do on baby food. And the pet healthcare industry is booming.
Not only is this true with people opting to have pets instead of children, but there are more empty nesters enjoying longer life-spans. The parents from the South are a prime example. Since I moved away, the attention and love lavished on Coco has grown exponentially. Last week, McGuyver Dad came down with strep throat. Was he worried that Maven Mom would catch it or an outbreak would happen at work? No. He was concerned that Coco, who’s quite old in dog years, would catch it since dogs can apparently get strep.
Naturally, we have nesting instincts, and dogs and cats fulfill those needs without sacrificing our careers and pocketbooks. Walk around Dupont Circle or Wisconsin Avenue and see all the high-end stores geared towards pet owners. There are now pet strollers, day cares, spas and gourmet pet food.
It’s normal to love our pets. God gave us animals to care for and nurture. However, are we doing this at the cost of our children? American pets have a much better standard of living than most people in the world. Most dog houses are nicer than any slum in a developing nation. Every family pet has access to food, clean water and medicine. What percentage of humans in the world have those?
Furthermore, it’s really sickening that we now have pet insurance when our schools are failing. We give pets chemo and physical therapy, yet most students graduating from high schools aren’t equipped to enter college. There’s a problem with that.
Bauer has a point.
we’ve thought about a dog lately. we’re holding out to see how much longer the fish lives.
Soo… I saw a piece on the news this morning where a dog specialist was talking about the proper way to treat a pet, and he said something to the effect of, “Well, need to treat them with respect and not impose our moral systems on them [the pets].”
What are your thoughts on that one? Who are we to impose our moral codes on animals?
That’s pretty ridiculous. Animals have moral codes? In the wild they operate by pack mentality or aren’t social. The expression “dog eats dog world” had to originate from somehwere.
[...] Pets as a children replacement. girl from the south wonders whether Americans love pets more than children. [...]
[...] Obsessing Over Our Pets? According to Gary Bauer, Americans love pets more than children. …care for pets is exceeding normal affection and […] [...]
I remember as a kid up in British Columbia that we had a cat who would produce a litter of kittens about once a year. Then she’d take them out hunting in the woods, and when she returned several days later, one would be missing. Repeat until all the kittens are gone. We just kind of accepted that that’s how things were. Since animals are kinda viewed as replacement people nowadays, I’m hoping I won’t be arrested for neglect.
Also, the neighbor’s dog was killed by a cougar.
Interesting articple but some of the comparisons are not apples to apples. “Furthermore, it’s really sickening that we now have pet insurance when our schools are failing. We give pets chemo and physical therapy, yet most students graduating from high schools aren’t equipped to enter college. There’s a problem with that.”
Last time I checked with the exception of organizations such as Animal Control, pets are not government-subsidized. Comparing pet care to failing schools makes no sense. I agree worldwide poverty is a problem, but individuals make a *choice* to spend money on their pets, to provide health care and such.
“Furthermore, it’s really sickening that we now have pet insurance when our schools are failing.” How are failing schools in any way related to a private citizen making a choice to purchase pet insurance? If people are worried about schools failing, they need to examine how the goverment is spending money and where money that should be gonig to schools is actually going (war in Iraq, tax breaks) not how pet owners are spending their money.
Very few pet-related organzations are government-funded. And frankly, I dote on my dogs and cats because I prefer the company of my pets to the vast majority of rude, nasty, war-mongering, materialistic humans that seem to be filling up our country.
My last point is perhaps the most important to me. Not every pet has access to clean water, adequte food and so forth. I volunteer for a dig rescue organization and 9 times out of 10 the familes who neglect their children also neglect their pets. The best pet owners I know who have children take divine care of their kids.
[...] 8th, 2007 by Adrienne A while back, I wrote about how spoiled America’s pets are. Last night Maven Mom relayed an interesting story that astounded [...]