It's funny to think about your pets. In case you are reading this, and you don't actually own an animal, and never have, well, this may not apply. Check back tomorrow.
But now to explore. Pets come in many different varieties, we all know this. Currently my roommate has 3 little seahorses swimming around in our fish tank. Obviously, different pets provide you with different sets of pros and cons. This is not new stuff. If you hadn't noticed, this is a trend for me.
What I'm interested in is the long-term effect of a pet that holds a dear and exceedingly warm spot in your heart. A spot that, under circumstances, could never be replaced, or even compromised.
What is it about pets (and for the ease of this post, I will mainly be referring to the classic dogs and cats. sorry snake owners), but what is it that seems to hold something more powerful over us than our human counterparts? I have some theories.
Dependency: Our pets need us. Most of them will not survive without us. The owners. Obviously, we are not the only ones fit for the job, but that pet needs someone to put food in the bowl, the water in the bowl, and grab the poo out the box. Dogs get by on their own with that. So do we crave that dependency from an animal when we can't seem to find it from a human? I know firsthand what it feels like to never be a priority. To not be depended on. To your pet, this is never the case. Maybe that is enough.
Constant Companionship: There's no 'oh I hope she will be around today.' There's no guesswork. When you get home from work, it will be there. When you wake up hungover on a Saturday morning, it will be there. When you just got dumped, it will be there. When something happens that deserves to be on FML, it will still be there. This is a nice thing to have. And forgive me for calling all our pets "it"s, I really didn't feel like typing he or she everything, it would ruin my watery flow. Wait for that image to settle, aaaand, moving on.
Relentless Love: Maybe combining the first two, but your pet will love you no matter what. Your cat may resent you for moving away for a while, and be a little bitchy at first when you come home, but that cat still loves you. And thats not even *your* cat. That may just be the cat that kept you company during your childhood. But you could slap your cat, kick your dog, lock your pet outside overnight, forget to feed it for a few days, and it will still prefer your lap over anyone else. Obviously, I'm disregarding people who legitimately abuse their pets. They have no place in my post.
There seems to be a lot of evidence for why our pets deserve such a big piece of us. For why they hold a tighter grip on our lives than the people we come in contact with on a daily basis. Than the people we sleep with. Than the people we love. A pet, in many ways, sets the standard so high for other people that it makes it hard to find someone that works. This is a scary thought. I would tell you to blame your pet for this, but I can't, I love them too much.
I cannot wait to get one of my own.
PS How ridiculous is it when people carry on 'full' conversations with their pets?
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