Why we need pets

[Joe_Kelley]

St. Julian of Norwich reportedly had a much-beloved cat, as did the Irish Benedictine monk who wrote “Pangur Ban.” www.fisheaters.com/pangurban.html

If pet-loving is good enough for the likes of those, it’s good enough for me! The only time I can see it being a problem is if it gets excessive, such as in the case of those mentally-ill people who hoard cats by the hundreds, or when it is out of balance with loving our fellow human beings.

On the other hand St Jerome had a pet lion. I think I will limit my imitation of saints.

 

[blessedtoo]

Yes!! Cuz if He did not, then he would not have created them so darn CUTE and LOVEABLE, with crazy antics and cuddly personalities!!

I think St. Francis would agree!

If God did not want us to focus on them so much, he would have made kittens to look like cockroaches and puppies to look like sow bugs. Then we wouldn’t love them so much!

Could not agree more! In fact, when I look into the faces of my kitties, I KNOW God has a sense of humor and a very deep love for us - after all, he created these critters for nothing other than the joy they bring to us! How awesome is that?

Don’t know if the OP was serious or if he/she is coming back but I can say that when my beloved 20 year old kitty died in February of this year, I didn’t think I would ever stop crying. I was surprised myself by the depths of grief I felt and the unbearable loneliness. We have our pets, sometimes for many years, and we don’t realize how our lives are impacted by their presence until they are gone. I couldn’t sleep for weeks because she was no longer there on the bed with me. I kept the closet door open (where her litter box was) because that is what I had done for 20 YEARS and the thought of closing it was bizarre. Coming home in the evening and NOT putting out a dish of food for her threw the whole evening off for me. Lying on the couch watching the news without her nestled beside me was almost painful.

They are a part of our lives and when they leave us, it is awful.

Postscript: Couldn’t stand the loneliness so I got another! Meet Lucy!
http://by128w.bay128.mail.live.com/mail/SafeRedirect.aspx?hm__tg=http://65.55.133.121/att/GetAttachment.aspx&hm__qs=file%3D59b921bc-c575-4bb0-bcaa-296ceade0ed7.jpg%26ct%3DaW1hZ2UvanBlZw_3d_3d%26name%3DUGhvdG8tMDE4NS5qcGc_3d%26inline%3D1%26rfc%3D0%26empty%3DFalse%26imgsrc%3Dcid%3a785&oneredir=1&ip=10.1.106.97&d=d490&mf=0

 

[Johndigger]

We have dogs to make us feel like gods when we are down; and cats to put us back in our place when we start to believe the dog.

lol!

JD

 

[aboverubies]

On the other hand St Jerome had a pet lion. I think I will limit my imitation of saints.

Oh ye of little faith!

 

[aboverubies]

Why “must” we answer your question? It doesn’t seem like it will matter if we do or don’t, as you’ve already made up your mind to think poorly of us and our motives. If you don’t feel the need to have a pet, then don’t. It’s not nice to come on here as a new poster and make unkind assumptions about people that you don’t even know.

Perhaps this is just a “lost in translation” issue. I’m guessing that english is not the OP’s first language so he or she probably did not realise how it would come across.

 

[redrosetea]

I had 3 wonderful pooches. They are all dead now, and each took a piece of my heart when they went

 

[samovila]

I think I “need” a pet to follow my toddler around and eat all the crumbs she drops on the floor. When I was growing up the dogs we had were great at this!

 

[Ghoti]

We have dogs to make us feel like gods when we are down; and cats to put us back in our place when we start to believe the dog.

 

[Kaninchen]

IN THE BEGINNING

A newly discovered chapter in the Book of Genesis has provided the answer to Where do pets come from? Adam and Eve said: Lord, when we were in the garden, you walked with us every day. Now we do not see you anymore. We are lonesome here and it is difficult for us to remember how much you love us.

And God said, No problem! I will create a companion for you that will be with you forever and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will love me even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish or childish or unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourselves.

And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam and Eve. And it was a good animal. And God was pleased. And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and Eve and he wagged his tail. And Adam said, Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and I cannot think of a name for this new animal.

And God said, No problem. Because I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG.

And Dog lived with Adam and Eve and was a companion to them and loved them. And they were comforted. And God was pleased. And Dog was content and wagged his tail.

After a while, it came to pass that an angel came to the Lord and said: Lord, Adam and Eve have become filled with pride. They strut and preen like peacocks and they believe they are worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught them that they are loved, but perhaps too well.

And God said, No problem! I will create for them a companion who will be with them forever and who will see them as they are. The companion will remind them of their limitations, so they will know that they are not always worthy of adoration. And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam and Eve.

And Cat would not obey them. And when Adam and Eve gazed into Cat’s eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings. And Adam and Eve learned humility. And they were greatly improved. And God was pleased. And Dog was happy. And Cat didn’t care one way or the other.

 

[Della]

And Cat would not obey them. And when Adam and Eve gazed into Cat’s eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings. And Adam and Eve learned humility. And they were greatly improved. And God was pleased. And Dog was happy. And Cat didn’t care one way or the other.

So true! My cats teach me humility each and every day, little Emperors of the Earth that they are.

 

[LaLucia]

I have a cute story to tell you all about my dog. I was walking her near my church when a priest asked me if my dog was Catholic.

Then he asked if she had any sins? I said… "she has never been blessed by a priest and her sins are that she loves butter and sweets. He said,"Me too.lol. So he blessed my small dog and walked away. I walked into the church to bless her with holy water and I heard a lady say, “That lady took her dog to church”.

A few weeks later… I noticed that the priest owned a Big Black Lab female dog. I thought she was soooo cute. She was big and fat from all the people feeding her food.

The priest was standing around outside in the court-yard talking to some people. I went up to him and asked him…“Is your dog Catholic?” “What are her sins”. He replied, She doesn’t have any sins because she is perfect in every way." I said, “Great”, and walked away. The people standing there were left with their mouths opened at the questions I had asked about the priest’s dog. I thought it was so funny and the priest just smiled at me as I walked away.

I am new to that church and I found out he is the main Pastor of the church. He always smiles at me when he sees me.
When the Priest goes away on a vacation all the other priests take turns taking care of his dog. They all love that dog. I always get happy when I see the dog too. When I look into her eyes I can see that she knows she is truly loved by everybody around her.

The Catholic church as been blessing all pet animals for years.

 

[Phemie]

One of our previous pastors had a dog, a beautiful Samoyed name Skipper. Skipper sometimes wandered into my office to say hello but most of the time he spend at Fr. Jack’s feet.

Skipper was deathly afraid of thunder. One Saturday, during the anticipated Mass, a storm blew through and thunder cracked repeatedly. The next think I heard was frantic scratching at the sacristy door. Knowing the damage Skip could inflict by scratching & chewing I promptly got up to let him into the church. He rushed in, terrified, looked around and spotted Jack. One reassuring pass close to his master and he contentedly went to curl up in front of the Tabernacle where he stayed until the Recessional when he proudly walked down the aisle with Jack.

 

[diosa25]

One of our previous pastors had a dog, a beautiful Samoyed name Skipper. Skipper sometimes wandered into my office to say hello but most of the time he spend at Fr. Jack’s feet.

Skipper was deathly afraid of thunder. One Saturday, during the anticipated Mass, a storm blew through and thunder cracked repeatedly. The next think I heard was frantic scratching at the sacristy door. Knowing the damage Skip could inflict by scratching & chewing I promptly got up to let him into the church. He rushed in, terrified, looked around and spotted Jack. One reassuring pass close to his master and he contentedly went to curl up in front of the Tabernacle where he stayed until the Recessional when he proudly walked down the aisle with Jack.

Awww, I like this story

 

[Nanny_PK]

One of our previous pastors had a dog, a beautiful Samoyed name Skipper. Skipper sometimes wandered into my office to say hello but most of the time he spend at Fr. Jack’s feet.

Skipper was deathly afraid of thunder. One Saturday, during the anticipated Mass, a storm blew through and thunder cracked repeatedly. The next think I heard was frantic scratching at the sacristy door. Knowing the damage Skip could inflict by scratching & chewing I promptly got up to let him into the church. He rushed in, terrified, looked around and spotted Jack. One reassuring pass close to his master and he contentedly went to curl up in front of the Tabernacle where he stayed until the Recessional when he proudly walked down the aisle with Jack.

That has to be one of the sweeted pet stories I’ve ever heard.

 

[Kaninchen]

I tend to think that some of us rather view pets as ‘permanent toddlers’, love and innocent mischief - something one rather misses as one’s children grow past that stage and become complex little and then bigger ‘people’.

 

[CarrieH]

This cat has been the perfect companion for me in a foreign country. She sleeps on my bed next to me at night.

Um, did it ever occur to you that you are the one sleeping in her bed, since the apartment was furnished with both bed and cat?

 

[LaLucia]

I also thought that Phemie’s dog story was so cute.

When my Pastor went away on a vacation recently we had a visiting Priest who used our Pastor’s dog to show us how dogs obey us and how people should do the same towards God.

It was really cute how the dog would do everything the Priest would ask the dog to do and then at the end the Priest said to the dog “You can go now” and the dog obeyed and walked away through the door he entered. It was soooo cute. Lucy

 

[Ghoti]

If we didn’t have cats, how would we know when it was time to replace our furniture?

 

[Della]

I tend to think that some of us rather view pets as ‘permanent toddlers’, love and innocent mischief - something one rather misses as one’s children grow past that stage and become complex little and then bigger ‘people’.

And you never have to pay for college or a wedding, or worry about them becoming axe murders or wrecking the family car. :dancing:

My dh and I cannot have children and we’ve always been too poor to adopt children, so we have 4 cats, 2 fire belly toads, 2 tetras, 1 algae eater, a host of water spiders and itsy-bitsy beetles (although the last 2 groups only show up in the spring), besides the birds that come to our birdfeeders in winter. They are plenty to keep us amused.

 

[mercygate]

My pets for the last 18 or so years have been rats. Nothing fancy or expensive about those and they certainly aren’t a status symbol. But they’re smart, friendly and love to cuddle and play. I have had them because they are just fun to have around.

I’m ratless at the moment and trying to decide whether I’m going to get a couple more. The problem is that they don’t live very long (our longest-lived were with us a little more than 2.5 years) and it’s difficult to get someone to look after them if you just want to go away for a weekend.

Rats are a very well kept secret and make great pets. But they are very intelligent, so you have to keep them entertained. Lots of climbing toys, tunnels, things to push around . . .

They delightful if bred and trained to handling.