Pope Francis and the Idolatry of Spending on Pets

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TK421 said:
What is your profession, if you don’t mind me asking?

Unless you read up on this stuff out of personal interest.
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Mom 😉… I read about the diapering because my SIL was aghast that I planned to potty train at 18 months—my mom potty trained all of us between 18-26 months–my cousins were potty trained by 2.5 so I had no concept why I wouldn’t. So I researched. And ok, ok, I may have done a project during my Masters about advertising and how it shaped our habits with babies. Before Gerber, most parents had no concept of “baby food”. And in developing nations babies are simply fed mashed up or pre-masticated adult food. Americans, for instance, are shocked that Indian babies get spicy curry at 4 or 5 months–but it’s the norm there.

…and I actually learned much from a nutritionist after my appendix was removed as an adult. I had many gut issues. Plus, what I learn from the pedi when I visit…like the information about the pouches.
 
I decided to go straight to the source – The Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2418 It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.
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“Idolatry” may be a strong word, and perhaps an incorrect one in this context.

I do think, however, that some people do spend money on animals that should rather go to other places.

I had a friend who went into debt and spent a couple thousand dollars over the course of a month or two on an ill pet.

I’ve had several friends who spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars every month because their pet had diabetes and needed insulin daily for the rest of the pets’ lives.

I’ve known many, many people who spend more money than I can imagine kenneling their pets while they go out of town for the holidays, etc.

The standards pet owners are expected to live up to these days in ridiculous. Vet bills are outrageous even for basic care. And some people think I’m heartless and unethical because if one of my pets develops cancer or diabetes, I’ll have them put down. And no, I won’t be spending $75 a month for pet insurance for our three pets, thanks.

The pet insurance company sent me an email story about a dog who had fought cancer and won – and that their insurance covered over $40,000 in vet bills. 😱

This is getting to be the expectation for pet owners these days.

When we adopted each animal from the shelter or rescue group, we knew we were taking on certain responsibilities to feed and shelter them, and to care for basic health needs. But these are pets, not people.

And there are absolutely people who can’t give money to their parish or Catholic Charities, or a homeless shelter, or an oversees mission group because they “have” to pay for pet insurance, or vet bills, or grooming, or kenneling, and so on.
 
I have never spent a dime on my pets, and they are still going strong!

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I had a couple of those when I was about 12. I started off with one, but my school friend introduced it to a female one she found on the playground and then of course they had to get married so us kids had a big wedding for them in the school parking lot. I think about half my class attended the “ceremony”. My friend who introduced them was the “minister”.

My mother objected to this whole thing fearing that next we would be making them “have a family”, but we did not take the joke that far.
 
Living on a farmlet, we could anthropomorphize everything and anything. Ducks, turkeys (yes, turkeys), cats, cows, chickens, and a dog.

What I haven’t had experience with are goats, which is unfortunate. I am told they are highly intelligent - on a similar level with dogs - and just as affectionate if you treat them like one. You don’t need to take them on walks, they eat foliage, and don’t even get me started on goat milk and goat cheese 😍
 
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I had a friend who I recently ended my friendship with (in part because I was sick of seeing her radical feminist, anti-white racist, pro-honosexual rants on FB) who spent an obscene amount of money on her cat. She really did idolize that cat and often posted about the insanely expensive things she would buy for it, while at the same time she didn’t even have the courtesy to reply to a request of mine to borrow a small sum of money while I was living in China under dire circumstances and was facing the prospect of having to seek to stay in a Chinese homeless shelter in a 2nd tier city. She wouldn’t even have thought twice on spending the cash on an overpriced plushie (which she has likely spent thousands on already) or some outrageously expensive “gift” for her cat, but couldn’t find it in her heart to even REPLY to her human friend’s desperate plea for money. (I had to be in order to ask her to begin with)

So yeah, some people do in fact idolize their pets and to the exclusion of having compassion for humans. This woman certainly had no compassion for the unborn, or anyone else that her radical views didn’t deem worthy of it (homosexuals, nonewhite criminals, and etc).

As for cosmetics, I’ll admit that I like buying and using things for my skin and hair, and that if I had a lot of money, I would spend a lot of it on my appearance in order to improve it and my self esteem, but I’ve always had issues with both. I’m poor but even so don’t neglect those more poor than I am, including needy children, so I feel no need to guilt trip myself over it…especially considering that there are a lot of wealthy men living in the Vatican City who live, I know, a lot more luxuriously than I ever have.

Edit: sorry I didn’t mean to reply to you, I scrolled anf clicked the wrong way! This was a reply to the OP.
 
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Haha yeah I love goats, I have a friend that used to have one and we petted her (the goat) like a dog and it pretty much acted like one, but it was a young female. Billygoats, especially during certain times, are best left unpetted, but I have petted them and had no problems even when it turns out they were best left alone. If you live on a small farm, a goat or two is a great addition.

I love petting anything except reptiles, even ducks, when they can be caught. Duck is also delicious.
 
Groceries’ pet-food sections are usually for dogs, cats, and (occasionally) birds–double or triple the number of species as human babies. It’s not a slight against the latter if pet-food aisles include somewhat more items for that reason.
 
60 percent of the junk in the cat food and cat litter aisle is “new” stuff to try to get people to spend more money. The cats hate most of it and are happy with the same old cheaper stuff they have been getting for years.
 
Mollymultiple160 said:
She really did idolize that cat and often posted about the insanely expensive things she would buy for it,
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My cats are thrilled to pieces with cardboard boxes that I get for free. They also have some 5 dollar carpet remnants for those who love to rip carpet, and they adore playing with McDonald’s straws and the plastic rings off milk bottles. Another great cat toy is a 35 cent Tootsie Pop that they bat around.
The only expensive things I buy for them are very large crafted all-wooden scratching posts because the ones in stores are often partly made of cardboard, do not stand up to 10 cats using them, and the cats need something made of wood they are allowed to destroy or else they will ruin the woodwork and furniture because I do not declaw.

I occasionally buy a bag of catnip or treats for a couple bucks, but honestly cats dont need expensive stuff. The biggest costs are vet bills (although I would never put an animal through something extreme like cancer treatment as that is not humane) and litter.
 
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I was just thinking about this a few minutes ago as I was shoveling the cat food that I buy at Wal Mart to save six cents a can into bowls for everyone’s breakfast.

The Pope criticizes excessive spending on technology, such as iPads, according to a priest who preached a homily I heard last week on the day when the gospel talked about giving up your father, mother, possessions, etc. to follow Jesus. I am sure Popes have criticized materialism and excessive spending on many other things as well.

It’s quite easy for anyone to criticize another person’s spending on something they themselves don’t find interesting or valuable or otherwise just would not spend upon. I myself have been guilty of this as well. It’s much harder to look at what we actually do spend on in our own lives and think about what we truly need and what we can cut out. It’s easier to point to the neighbor who spent “too much” on his Mercedes, vacation, or dog than fix our own lives and habits.

Also, the reality is that if we cut back on our spending on something, we don’t usually give what we “saved” to the poor. it’s not like if I don’t take that $2000 vacation, I write a check for 2 grand to Catholic Charities tomorrow. We just spend the money elsewhere on ourselves or put it in the bank and congratulate ourselves on our frugality.

The Pope is calling us to look at our overall values and lifestyle, not point fingers at the neighbors’ pet or even get rid of our own pet if we’re generally being responsible and realistic about its care.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately, as a fairly well off person in the USA.
 
I think you’re very right.

People make their own priorities and the point is not the $ amount but where one’s heart is. I am saving money for a trip to see my brother in 2019. It involves an 8 hour car ride and a 10 hour train ride because I don’t want to fly with toddlers.

Could I forgo the trip to my brother’s and give that money? Sure. but it would be against charity. Relationships are important and we cannot simply forgo family, friends and even pets if we want to reasonably serve God.
 
I think a lot of people are missing the point…and this is coming from an owner of three spoiled fur babies, who I too see as members of my family.

The message I took away from the Pope’s thought was not that we should not care for animals, but we should have as much concern for our fellow man, who even though may not share our home, are just as much a part of our family.

I pray God reminds me that I can provide love and compassion to all his creatures.
 
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My guess is this is another case of Pope Francis bring taken out of context,
 
What is most shocking to me is these aren’t animals with any value outside of companionship. These aren’t work animals. Spending money on a well trained work dog makes sense. But most people don’t train their dog to even do basic things like come when called , not bark, or not jump on people. Cats are completely replaceable.

The shocking difference in value of animal life versus human can be seen in a simple thought experiment. If most people were driving down a road and a squirrel was trying to cross the road what would they do? They’d slow down and maybe even stop. If a person were doing the same? They’d speed up, honk and probably flip the person off if they dared step out ‘in front of them’.
 
exnihilo said:
What is most shocking to me is these aren’t animals with any value outside of companionship. These aren’t work animals. Spending money on a well trained work dog makes sense. But most people don’t train their dog to even do basic things like come when called , not bark, or not jump on people. Cats are completely replaceable.
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This is an excellent example of someone imposing their own judgment of value on a situation, where someone else’s perception of the “value” of a companion animal may be quite different.

Animal caregivers (those who care for rehabbed wild animals as well as domestic companion animals) run into this view all the time, and it is one reason they are defensive, because those who do not share their values not only question the expenditure of money, time, resources, but also go beyond that and often make fun of them, propagate hurtful stereotypes (e.g. the idea that a woman might have cats or a dog as a substitute for a husband or children) or do other things lacking in Christian compassion.

As for people all stopping for a squirrel, plenty of people don’t stop, which is why we see a lot of squashed squirrels. People also honk and swerve around squirrels and may even run them over. You seem to be making some weird generalization that everybody who stops for a squirrel would not also stop for a person; I would say that those who are so careful they don’t even want to hit a squirrel would also be the ones being careful of a person crossing the road, and those who don’t bother to brake for the squirrel would also be less likely to brake for a fellow human.
 
I’m not a pet person. I’ve had to deal with too much fecal waste in my yard from cats and dogs. I’ve also stepped in more “bombs” than I can count outside my yard. I also have a next door neighbor who has two large dogs that hate everyone. They’re far too large and noisy to have in the city. There’s no room for them to roam! That being said, if I lived in the country, I would own an Akita Inu. I would pay for the very best!!(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
This is an excellent example of someone imposing their own judgment of value on a situation, where someone else’s perception of the “value” of a companion animal may be quite different.

Animal caregivers (those who care for rehabbed wild animals as well as domestic companion animals) run into this view all the time, and it is one reason they are defensive, because those who do not share their values not only question the expenditure of money, time, resources, but also go beyond that and often make fun of them, propagate hurtful stereotypes (e.g. the idea that a woman might have cats or a dog as a substitute for a husband or children) or do other things lacking in Christian compassion.
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I don’t deny the value of an animal for companionship. I deny the value in spending a lot of money on a particular companion animal when they are easily replaceable. All dogs will ‘go crazy’ (especially if you encourage this, and you shouldn’t) when you get home. You don’t need to spend money on keeping alive a particular animal if this is what you want.
Tis_Bearself said:
As for people all stopping for a squirrel, plenty of people don’t stop, which is why we see a lot of squashed squirrels. People also honk and swerve around squirrels and may even run them over. You seem to be making some weird generalization that everybody who stops for a squirrel would not also stop for a person; I would say that those who are so careful they don’t even want to hit a squirrel would also be the ones being careful of a person crossing the road, and those who don’t bother to brake for the squirrel would also be less likely to brake for a fellow human.
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No, I’ve walked, run, and biked enough on the roads to know how people treat their fellow man.
 
@exnihilo

A fascinating feature of cats is that they’re an animal who weren’t domesticated by people. They are self-domesticated. They started spending more and more time around human cities in Egypt and became habituated & comfortable around people. Wealthier Egyptians then adopted them as full-time pets.

This might be why to the present day, cats are noticeably so independent compared to other domesticated animals, because they have never actually been domesticated in the true sense, lol.
 
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I see animal companionship as both doing a lot of good but also potentially doing harm.

The nice thing about animals is that animals are incapable of betraying or judging. Dogs and cats can do a lot of good for people who are isolated or have had lots of negative experiences with people. It gives them a living creature to care for and interact with, and that creature can give them comfort in a safe environment. Dogs are frequently assigned to veterans suffering from PTSD as a form of therapy.

But this can also grow into a sort of dependency, where the person never actually gets beyond their training wheels, so to speak. Instead of expanding the boundaries of their comfort zone and learning to be a part of the world through hobbies, fellowship groups, volunteering, ministry, etc., they end up just staying home with their dogs/cats instead, and can develop more empathy for their pets than for their fellow man. They stop growing and maybe even revert to a less mature state: spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically. From a Catholic perspective, I don’t see how this can possibly be a good thing. It is harmful to the spiritual life.

This is definitely a thing in Western society. There are a lot of people who are isolated from the world around them.
 
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