This generation has a special connection with animals; ‘there’s no doubt about it. Some people even are opting to have pets instead of kids, and ‘that’s fine. But a few of these people also treat them as if they were their children.
For a lot of reasons, having a pet is good for our mental and physical health, even a lot of therapies use animals to help the diseased. But treat them like humans it can be bad for the animals and even us owners.
Recent studies verify that humanizing pets it can be a new mental disorder, people really love animals, and ‘it’s normal that we want to take care of them, yet it has become more and more common to see pets in strollers instead of taking walks, or with hats and shoes. Some pets may need the strollers or even the shoes, but not all of them. That is something you have to discuss it with your vet, if your dog or cat should be using these kinds of accessories, they are simply living beings.
People, on the other hand, are more complicated, because although animals have emotions and consciousness, humans act with selfishness. We as a species take over everything the planet can give, nature, environment and yes, animals. Living beings in our power, years of using the animals, and other existing things; Mother Nature might have come with an act of revenge. But though it sounds catastrophic, it may be not that bad.
All kinds of diseases and mental disorders appears and starts almost every year, and if you see the glass half full, you can think that loving animals too much that you ‘don’t want to reproduce, it ‘doesn’t sound that evil; but this behavior could counterproductive because it can produce psychological and physical issues to the pets — psychological such as depression and anxiety; and physical like eating disorders and others.
‘That’s why all people that have a pet take the advice of the specialists and veterinarians, so their companion animal can live as natural as possible, like free animals, and not like humanized, with the purpose to live their life to the fullest.
Animals are adorable, and we should all take care of them, but with our pets, it’s is a little different from how we should treat them. They have needs and desires like every living being, but pets also need supervision, yet not that much as a baby does. Generations like Millennials and Gen X see pets as an alternative option from having children, and they have some valid reasons like they can be cheaper, or they simply may not be ready in starting a family.
But ‘it’s true that this is a situation happening all over the globe, and even that is not a severe problem, we should analyze what it can grow bigger and ‘it’s not healthy for the pets nor the owners. Even the greatest dog trainer Cesar Millán has talked about this. Humanize pets ‘it’s not good for anyone, and in an interview, he said: “People is not taking care of the necessities that an animal can have, they only focus on themselves“
For this and many other reasons, is totally necessary to raise awareness in current generations and those to come, so they can learn how to treat pets like they should be treated, and that way the animals can grow naturally and without the psychological and physical issues the humans already have created on them.
An excellent way to dehumanize them is to implement specific activities and different diets, according to the pet they have. For instance with dogs, taking walks and running, it’s a good direction; with cats, having climbers so they can feel like total tigers in the wild; if you have another type of pet, you should directly talk to your vet to see what you can do to make your furry friend (or maybe not furry) the happiest.
Because we all know that our pets are part of the family, but we need to take care of them like they should be treated, and all they do is loving us, so the least we should do is love them back.
