By: Claire Ouyang
Pets are becoming more popular than ever. Roughly two thirds of Americans have pets, which is up from 56 percent in 1998, according to the American Pet Products Association. Americans spent $136.8 billion on their pets in 2022, considerably more than in 2021.
It seems like pets are becoming too similar to humans. From pampering them with customized nutrition plans, dog hydrotherapy and stays in boutique cat hotels, we treat our pets like real human beings. All the Best is a store that sells CBD for dogs and cats. At All the Best, canine enrichment toys that are designed to stimulate them and bring happiness to animals are sold because dogs are constantly “lying around bored.”
Some welfare ethicists and veterinary scientists believe that our efforts to humanize pets have gone too far. The health and behavioral issues our pets develop are the result of how we treat pets like people. Our pets argue and become more constrained and dependent on us.
“We now view pets not only as family members but as equivalent to children,” said James Serpell, an emeritus professor of ethics and animal welfare at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. “The problem is, dogs and cats are not children, and owners have become increasingly protective and restrictive. So animals are not able to express their own doggy and catty natures as freely as they might.”
The pet confinement sector is one of the fastest growing market segments in the pet care industry. This segment includes various products such as crates, indoor fencing, head harnesses, and electronic collars. “The level of constraint that dogs face is profound,” Dr. Pierce said. Although dogs several decades ago were more likely to be hit by cars, she added, “those risks were outweighed by the freedom of experience and movement.”
“Owners don’t want dogs to act like dogs,” Dr. Serpell also says, describing the modern paradox in a nutshell.
Both the confinement and isolation we give our pets have had a significant negative impact on the animals, leading to increased animal separation anxiety and aggression, overweight and obesity, and higher rates of abandonment and euthanasia.
Harold Herzog, an emeritus psychology professor at Western Carolina University who studies animal-human relations, says, “The more we view dogs and cats as autonomous creatures, the less we can justify owning them as pets.”
A few years ago, Dr. Herzog vacationed on the island of Tobago, and spent much of the time observing the stray dogs that roamed the landscape. “I asked myself: ‘Would I rather live in Manhattan as a pampered dog, or would I rather be a dog in Tobago hanging out with my friends?’” Dr. Herzog wondered.
He concluded: “I’d rather be a dog in Tobago.”