No I’m not a fascist (at least I hope not…)
I’m trying to understand why we’ve normalised the idea of eugenics in dogs (e.g. golden retrievers are friendly and smart, chihuahas are aggressive, etc.)¹ but find the idea of racial classification in humans abhorrent.
I can sort of see it from the idea that Nurture (culture and upbringing) would have a greater effect on a human’s characteristics than Nature would.
At the same time, my family tree has many twins and I’ve noticed that the identical ones have similar outcomes in life, whereas the fraternal ones (even the ones that look very similar) don’t really (N=3).
Maybe dog culture is not a thing, and that’s why people are happy to make these sweeping generalizations on dog characterics?
I’m lost a little
1: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/df/74/f7/df74f716c3a70f59aeb468152e4be927.png
I’m a pet owner who loves my cat dearly, but I think pet ownership is a moral inconsistency on most people’s parts. As a pet owner trying to be responsible, I:
had my cat’s reproductive organs removed
don’t let my cat leave the house (busy traffic area and she doesn’t think wearing a harness is worth being outside for)
leave my cat alone for several hours (max 8, normally more like 5) most days
feed my cat the same food every day, in quantities she finds lacking, while preventing her from getting additional food for herself.
occasionally stick her in a box and bring her awful places: mostly to a place where strangers hold her down and put things into her body while I watch.
I would not enjoy living like that, nor would very many people, yet those are very common behaviors from pet owners who will tell you they love their pet and consider them part of the family.
To be clear, I do all of the above because I think it’s the best way to be a cat owner and I do those things for my cat (even leaving her alone is so that I can earn money to support her), but these are things that would be considered abuse if done to children. I’ve considered whether I should set my cat free, so as not to essentially hold her prisoner, but I do think she would have a worse life in the wild. After all, we did breed them to love us (albeit to a lesser degree than in dogs), and my cat does love me. Plus, I saved her life a few years ago, so I can’t be too negative an influence for her.
It really is a complex dynamic. I guess, would you like to live in a human zoo, if you had every need taken care of?
Some part of me revolts at the idea, whilst another might shrug at it and wait eagerly for my daily human treat.
I was financially comfortable during the pandemic and worked from home, so I ended up completely alone in my home for about 10 months. I think based on my experience with that, I’d probably choose the human zoo regardless of the fact that it would be psychologically detrimental.
I mean, we do all of that for children, too and nobody questions if a parent who won’t let their kid play in the street loves them.
Being kind to something else NEVER has to include doing only what they want. That’s how you end up a people-pleaser with shitty “friends” that abuse you.
I am not suggesting that people don’t love their pets. I love my cat to bits and pieces, but I don’t know if pet ownership as a concept is beneficial for the pets, if that makes more sense.
We do some of that for children, but I intentionally tried to choose examples I thought would apply less (locking my cat alone in my house for hours and sterilizing her being big ones I hope people don’t do to children), because we don’t treat animals exactly the way we do children. There are a lot of ways in which we’re really archaic about human rights, but we do generally look out for people’s psychological health in that regard. During covid, when people were cooped up in their houses, there were hundreds of articles about the effect of isolation on children’s (and adults’) mental health, but pet owners regularly leave pets alone (sometimes even in a crate, because otherwise they act out!) without worrying about their mental health.
A case could be made for prisoners and/or people with severe handicaps being treated the same way, but at the very least, we consider sterilizing them a crime. Again, I sterilized my cat, because I do think it’s the best for the greater good, but I don’t know if it’s best for her. I also don’t think it’s really possible to know, given the communication difficulties, so all we as pet owners can do is try our best and hope.
I think a lot like you do in this regard, this is a complex topic.
At first I treated my cats like roommates almost. I gave my first kitties freedom and they paid with their lives. Now I don’t let my kitties out at all.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the “sin” was in domesticating and distributing the species in the first place. Now that the domesticated species exists and is some combination of unfit for the environment and invasive, it’s our responsibility to care for them and restrict them when necessary, including their numbers. The alternative for my cats would be a cage.
I’m an anarchist and don’t feel I have any entitlement to control any another regardless of species so this was a difficult conclusion and not necessarily consistent but I don’t like dead kitties.
That’s how I feel as well. We’ve bred multiple species that are capable of loving us and unsuitable for release (cats are killing machines, so unless you live near the Sahara, you’re condemning local wildlife by releasing a cat, and dogs will either not survive, form packs that dangerous for innocent people, or find a new owner as far as I’ve experienced wild dogs, but that might not always be the case).
I think the best way to go forward for me is to keep my current cat and try to be the best owner possible, I just don’t think it’s a choice without harm.