Americans Love Their Pets

Half of American pet owners treat their pets like children.

SUMMARY: An Associated Press-Petside.com poll based on interviews with 1,110 pet owners has found that half of them consider their pets just as much part of the family as any person in the household, while another 36 percent consider the animals as part of the family but not a full member.

Most pet owners feed their pets human food; nearly half give their animals human names; and a third allow the pets to sleep in human beds. Nineteen percent of the owners have purchased outfits for their pets.

Single persons were more likely than married people to consider pets full members of the family by 66 percent to 46 percent. Women were more likely than men to have this feeling. For some single women pets become surrogate children. For instance, Debbie Jablonski of Wilmington, N.C. allows her cat, Milkshake, to sleep at the foot of her bed and then wake her up at 4:30 a.m. to be fed by pawing her and touching her with his cold nose. Jablonski celebrates her cats' birthdays, includes their photos on holiday cards, and watches home movies of them playing.

Forty-two percent of pet owners have taken their pets on vacation, with dogs more likely than cats to go along, and dog owners were also more likely to take their pets to work or to other places they weren't really allowed to be.

To read the entire article click on this MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL A.P. link.

COMMENT: Granted this isn't the most important topic ever discussed on this blog, but maybe after talking recently about dinosaur fossils, depression, and people who don't go to church, it is time for some lighter fare.

As a cat owner, I would say one of a pet's most redeeming qualities, which many a person would be advised to copy, is its ability to quickly forgive and forget. When I accidentally step on my tabby's tail or paw, she may cry out and run off for a few minutes, but before long she is back showing she holds no grudge. I'm sure most other cat owners and dog owners would agree with this assessment of the forgiving nature of pets.

Of course, pets aren't perfect. Dogs may bark too much or even bite. Cats may scratch the furniture and chase birds. However, they offer lots of positives including providing needed companionship, especially to the sick and elderly. Dogs and cats have been known to wake up their owners in the middle of the night when a fire has broken out in the house.

We should avoid abusing them, of course, and really ought to be including our pets and other animals in our prayers of thanksgiving. On the other hand, we shouldn't be treating them as equals. Also, we have no biblical support for any notion that we will see them in heaven. Only humans have eternal souls, and we have been sent to preach the Gospel only to our fellow human beings. Whether or not there will be animals in heaven the Bible doesn't say, but we do know that when we are there, we will be completely happy with or without these wonderful creatures God has given us.

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QUESTION OF THE DAY

Does the entire earth spin at the same rate?

The solid inner core, which has a mass comparable to the size of the moon, spins slightly faster. A study done in 1996 suggests that every 400 years the inner core will have made an extra complete rotation compared to the rest of the planet.

Source: www.livescience.com