Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

I don't want to get a family pet due to ethics

253 replies

Markinsomerset · 26/08/2015 19:01

Hi,

My wife really wants a pet and thinks it is very valuable for the children. However ethically I don't agree as cats are responsible for distroying lots of species. Dogs I think its very unfair for as each day I'm sure they feel like they are being abandoned each time they are left alone. Can't guarantee that the suppliers are ethical.

If everyone got rid of their pets then no one would go hungry in the world. They just seem like a selfish interest IMO.

Who is right?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
21
Gunpowderplot · 27/08/2015 14:38

I've read what was in the paper about the Australian research. The OP deserves a considered response, not lots of biscuits by people who have never even thought about the issue.

acatcalledjohn · 27/08/2015 15:10

The OP deserves a considered response?

Referring to cats as the cause for driving other species to extinction, when us humans are the the ones who pollute this planet, get rid of natural habitat by knocking down trees and building on the land, etc etc...

For fuck's sake, WE are the ones who kill more species than any other (and we don't kill for survival, may I add), yet it is unethical that Tiddles catches and kills a robin? Unethical? We kill a fucking elephant for the Ivory, FFS!

If the OP had posted a considered OP the responses would have been considered. Instead the OP is a complete hypocrite.

You can have a bloody Biscuit too.

PacificDogwood · 27/08/2015 16:46

Oh, I am more than happy to have lively discussions about the weirdness of one species keeping another species as a pet, and about the psychology of having companion animals, and about the difference between an inanimate 'toy' and a sentient being to form an attachment to - I love that kind of shit and could talk about it all day.

But that's on a kinda philosophical/theoretical level, not on a practical one.
Although these consideration may have had something to do with the fact that I would always chose a rescue over a 'bred for purpose' animal tbh.

I think the way the OP was worded, he got what he was looking for

QuietTiger · 27/08/2015 17:08

That's me responsible for famine around the world then. 15 cats, 5 dogs, and pile of other "pet" animals.

Here OP, have my first ever Biscuit, wash it down with Wine and stop talking crap. If you don't want a pet, that's fine, but don't blame world famine on cute little minions of darkness such as this one.

I don't want to get a family pet due to ethics
Fluffycloudland77 · 27/08/2015 17:11

Isn't that the cat you kept for the baby Quiet?

QuietTiger · 27/08/2015 17:20

It is indeed. He's currently supervising DD, absolutely loves her and spends most of his time next to her. Grin

Lolimax · 27/08/2015 17:30

Im about to walk my unethically kept dogs around the local lake. I will, like I always do, clean up their shit (and for small dogs they produce TONS of the stuff) but that could be because they aren't fed on a vegan diet. Shame on me. Then they will proceed to chase every unsuspecting duck into said pond. This is also highly unethical. We have spoken about it and have discussed that it is very unfair that the ducks never let the dogs get close enough to be caught. And that they even fly away. It also doesn't help that neither dog can actually swim or will go further than a paddle. Both are now giving me that sad eyed look so I've obviously been very cruel writing on here. Unethical to the end.

SonceyD0g · 27/08/2015 17:58

Just had a word with the dog and apparently pets are preparing to take over the world.
They are just fine honing their hunting skills on small animals before moving on to us.
Pets are at the end of their tether with the totally unethical way humans are treating the planet and have decided enough is enough!

CaptainKit · 27/08/2015 18:04

I've just looked down at the dog by my side and told him he'll have to go in order to end world hunger...

He doesn't seem worried.

pigsDOfly · 27/08/2015 18:45

My dog's pretty small. You might get a light lunch from her for a small family. But ending world hunger? Nah.

kali110 · 27/08/2015 20:24

Maybe because the op is wrong?
The main reason small animals are dying, is because of us!
We kill everything and we destroy everything's environment.

molly quiet your pets are beautiful!!!

john so sorry about your loss. My little hedgehog just died this week so i feel your loss x

orangeyellowgreen · 27/08/2015 20:41

Some cats hunt some of the time. They do not all spend their lives killing rodents and birds, although people don't like rats or pigeons so their objections to cats are selective.
Dogs are members of our families and the op's family would be happier with one to love.

SolidGoldBrass · 27/08/2015 20:52

It's OK not to want a pet. We don't have any pets (partly because of living in a rented house where the lease forbids it) and I don't want any, because I'm allergic to everything with fur.
But I do hope, for the sake of OP's wife and kids, that he isn't this prissy and self-righteous about other aspects of family life.

MyCatIsABiggerBastardThanYours · 27/08/2015 21:42

Topseyt thanks for nice comment on my name. Not changed it for thread though, used it for years on here with the odd Christmas etc name change.

Gunpowderplot · 28/08/2015 12:22

Cats do kill at lot of rodents and birds. The fact that humans do far more damage doesn't mean that cats don't do any and that the OP is wrong to raise the issue.
And pets do eat a lot of food. They have on occasion been banned in 3rd world countries, to ensure that scarce food is kept for human consumption.
Mumsnetters love their pets (I remember the huge fuss when an OP's neighbours left their guinea pigs on their own for a few days), hence the highly unreasonable aggressive responses to this OP.

acatcalledjohn · 28/08/2015 12:42

At least cats act on instinct rather than the human 'want'. Big difference. It's the sheer hypocrisy of calling it unethical. It's like saying 'cheating is unethical' and taking it to heart when it happens to you, but at the same time you go around happily cheating on your own partner without a second thought.

Gunpowderplot · 28/08/2015 12:46

The OP isn't saying that cats are unethical (I don't think it's possible for cats to be unethical, as they don't have that level of brainpower). He's saying that it may be unethical for humans to keep cats. It's worth debating. We only have so many cats because humans want to keep them. And they do eat a lot of food and kill a lot of wildlife.
Saying that it is ridiculous for him to mention this because 1) we like our cats and 2) he has not yet killed himself or his children, who do more environmental damage, is unhelpful.

squishee · 28/08/2015 12:57

This is one for Classics surely?

SilverNightFairy · 28/08/2015 13:12

I have five used cats. Human's decided their lives had no value and tossed them out of a moving car, left one to suffer with a fish hook caught in the mouth, left one to freeze in the snow and abused one so cruelly she is partially deaf. Fuck off with your unethical comments. My cat's think human's have a shit ton to answer to before they get called out for their hunting behaviour.

Gunpowderplot · 28/08/2015 13:59

Why don't you read the post? The OP has not said that cats are unethical; he has said that humans may be unethical in keeping cats.
Cats are, basically, bred to be kept by pet-owners. If people decided, over time, to stop keeping cats as pets, far fewer cats would be born. This is what the OP is suggesting. It's a perfectly reasonable suggestion that he has put up for discussion.
It's basically the same argument as eating less beef because cows are very bad (far worse than say chickens) environmentally than other types of food. No-one blames the cows for being unethical.

SilverNightFairy · 28/08/2015 14:02

Dude, why don't you read the post? Do you have any idea the number of animal species eradicated by man? Or do you just enjoy talking out your arse?

acatcalledjohn · 28/08/2015 14:13

If people decided, over time, to stop keeping cats as pets, far fewer cats would be born.

Gunpowder, what planet are you on? Massive stray cat and dog problems in countries where it is not as customary to have a pet. And none of them get neutered, so they just keep on breeding. Just look at southern Spain, Greece, Italy, various countries in South East Asia and the Far East.

I will give my two second hand cats some extra love. The presence of animals works wonders for the human mind. My widowed nan got rather lonely, we got her a rescue kitten, and mentally she is in a much better place. Someone to care for, talk to, and cuddle.

Nowt fucking unethical about keeping a cat in that scenario, FFS.

Gunpowderplot · 28/08/2015 14:13

I get very fed up with the constant Mumsnet retort - A is bad too so why are you suggesting that people do B when you haven't done A?
Eg driving is bad so why are you suggesting that people fly less when you still drive?

Yes, giving up driving would be good, but giving up flying is worth doing too, even if you do still drive! If we don't allow anyone to suggest doing anything, because there are other problems in the world that they haven't yet addressed, that means that everyone just has to shut up and say nothing about anything.
Yes, humans destroy lots of animals in lots of different ways. One of those ways is by keeping several million pet cats (in this country alone) that kill myriad birds and rodents.
And I have read, and understood the post. The suggestion is that keeping a cat is unethical, not that the cat itself is morally to blame for anything.

Gunpowderplot · 28/08/2015 14:15

I was talking about the UK - you know, the country that almost all of us live in. The OP is suggesting that we change our own behaviour, not the behaviour of people in the Far East.
There are arguments for and against, and the OP doesn't deserve to be scorned.

acatcalledjohn · 28/08/2015 14:21

I get you were talking about the UK. I was simply trying to illustrate (although clearly in some random Far East language no one understands Hmm) that not keeping cats (and dogs) as pets would NOT result in a declining population. They wouldn't get neutered, so unless we start going round and hunting these strays, their population will just keep on growing.

Swipe left for the next trending thread