Writing - Why pets?

 I have a cat. Humans like animals. Two basic truths. 

Ginny 

While a pet is generally kept for the pleasure that it can give to its owner, often, especially with horses, dogs, and cats, as well as with some other domesticated animals, this pleasure appears to be mutual. Thus, pet keeping can be described as a symbiotic relationship, one that benefits both animals and human beings. As the keeping of pets has been practiced from prehistoric times to the present and as pets are found in nearly every culture and society, pet keeping apparently satisfies a deep, universal human need. 

That is the general principle and is the reason why when examples of cruelty to animals arise, there is a storm of outrage. There is some evidence that humans have kept dogs as pets for over 30000 years. The relationship seems to be symbiotic as both creatures derive benefit. I have a cat. 

The relationships between cats and humans are less clear-cut than with dogs. I refer to the old saying - 

Dogs have owners cats have staff. 

Of course, there are lots of more exotic pets from stick insects to tigers although relationships in those cases are somewhat in the range of manufactured to risky. 

One simple message from me is that cruelty to any of the natural world belittles humans. In other words, cruelty sets us below normal human behaviour. 

God Bless