Pets and Their Humans

I lost one of my cats yesterday. He was sick for a while, and it was just time to let him go. Tigger was a good cat, and certainly didn’t deserve the pain he was in. This whole thing has really made me think about the treatment of pets and animals by humans, the whole idea of the soul and what it means, and then how everything fits together into the cosmic whatever.

I did a lot of reading on this, how to deal with the grief I knew I would feel, and what to do about my other cat who would certainly miss his friend (with whom he grew up). And of course, I talked to a lot of people about it all. The comment that struck me the most was that, well, it’s only an animal, it’s just a pet, so in a way, I shouldn’t grieve so much, and I shouldn’t do everything possible (within reason) to save him. This attitude really struck me, that animals are not worth saving because they are only pets who don’t live a long time anyway. I have started to wonder about our idea of humane treatment. That putting an animal down is the right thing to do to save money and time and, oh yeah, to spare him pain. We are willing to spend thousands and thousands of dollars to fight cancer in humans, but people look askance at those who would do the same for a pet. I would say the only justification for this is that a pet, who has suffered so much, would not understand why we are putting them through chemotherapy and radiation and surgery, and that it only makes them feel worse. And I even wonder about that excuse. My cat, unfortunately, was not healthy for a long time, and I don’t think he would have survived any treatments that would have come with fighting oral cancer.

Here’s the thing though. When you bring a pet into a home, you are making them a part of the family. They should be on equal ground as you and other family members. Why? Because they have emotions, feelings, and personalities. They are more loyal to you than most people, and they will love you no matter what. I live by myself, I do not have people to greet me when I come home, but every day when I walked through my door, Tigger would come running to greet me. Tigger and Charlie sit by me and keep me company when I am writing. They are my family who live with me and now it is just Charlie and me. And sometimes I look somewhere in my apartment and just expect him to be there. It’s incredibly depressing.

I know what Catholicism teaches about the soul. But I wonder about souls in animals, and I don’t agree that animals do not have souls. Is it because they do not have reason, or the ability to talk or write or whatever that we, as humans, are able to say that they do not have any kind of a soul? Is it solely our ability to reason which separates us from other animals? When we look at the small space of human existence, are we really proud of how we treat animals, pets, the environment, etc? Is this how we are able to justify the mistreatment of beings who depend solely on us for existence?

I don’t pretend to have the answers on this one, but I will say that I believe that animals have something which survives after death. Maybe those who believe in reincarnation have it kind of correct. Maybe animals, across the evolutionary chain, develop a soul, and it is reincarnated as develops. Like evolution for the spiritual realm.

No matter what, I think it unfair for people to dismiss animals so easily. In the end, a pet may just be an animal, but really, aren’t humans animals, too?

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