Simple Simon wrote:

... However a pet is a different story. A pet is part of the family and a surrogate human ....

Can you not see the madness in that notion? Remember the farm? In my day
the cat went out to hunt rodents and the dog came in to bark intruders
come bed time. Come daylight their places reversed but their jobs stayed
the same. We loved these animals - hell I still love cattle - but we
never, ever thot of them as surrogate humans or part of the family any
more than I thot of a beloved car, bike or boat as a surrogate human.
That IS sick, and the only people I know who exhibit that illness are
demonstrably unbalanced - folks who cannot get the companionship they
seem to need naturally. A healthy man derives sufficient companionship
from friends at a pub, sports bar, et cetera, and from wife and family;
those who cannot get it thru an unnatural relationship with a pet. In
their demented minds the pet takes on the human characteristics they
yearn for until they begin to think like you. It's become so common in
our urban culture that many, divorced from nature, begin to think it
natural. It is not.