AIBU to say that no one should own a caged pet?

[Time2change2]

My parents loved animals and hated to see caged pets ie rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs etc. I did end up having one or two of these as a child but they always hated it really.
Now I have DC and they ask regularly for a rabbit, hamster etc. I just can’t agree. I think it’s so cruel. Hamsters gnaw on the bars all night to try in vain to get out.
Rabbits stuck in hutches or small runs all day.
Many people claim to love animals but how can they when they are caging animals? I can’t even stand to see fish in a tank!
Hate house cats too. Also think it’s cruel.

*as we don't live in

Agree totally. I have always thought this - what right do we have to imprison animals? The only exception apart from working animals maybe, I think, are cats who can come and go as they please. Hamsters, birds etc - cruel.

@user127819 sorry, but equally you have absolutely no idea if a snake (or indeed any other animal) would chose imprisonments in a cage over being allowed to free roam. That’s just laughable and beyond our Understanding I’m afraid. Many animals are content to stay put probably because they are institutionalised in their little homes, for an example, an indoor cat who’s owner says ‘well, I leave the door open but they just don’t want to go out’...it’s only because they are used to their indoor life. I honestly think most animals, including snakes, would chose to live a natural life in their natural habitat. The one they are adapted to live in. We make excuses about them ‘better better off’ and that they have longer life expectancies just to ease our consciences. Essentially keeping most animals is a bit odd, unless perhaps you keep them to eat and therefore survive.

@princesstwinkle well, that’s unusual as I work for a cats protection and that’s not our policy here.

@princesstwinkle Our local CP branch is the same.

@user127819 Good post. Cages make me uncomfortable, even as I realise rabbits like being enclosed – they live in warrens, after all – though they also need room to stretch and hop around. However, when you see a rabbit doing a binky or a bunny 500, or listen to one tooth purr after another as you pet one, or watch one flop, seemingly without a care in the world, it’s hard to interpret those things as anything other than pleasure.

We make excuses about them ‘better better off’ and that they have longer life expectancies just to ease our consciences.

You could make that argument; it’s certainly a common one for vegans tired of hearing things like “If we didn’t raise cattle, what would happen to them otherwise?” (I used to be a dietary vegan. Which kind of makes it sound like I ate vegans.)

Of course, we can’t know how an animal feels about anything. All we can do is make educated or emotive guesses. All I know is, by living with them, we enrich our lives.

I think all pet ownership is cruel. I used to have pets but I understand now that I shouldn't have the right to 'own' an animal, dictate their life for their lifetime just because I think it's nice for them and because it's not regulated enough so many animals are abused as a result.

I'll tell that to my cat, who's currently sunning himself in the garden waiting for the next pouch of food to be served before he comes in for the night to sleep on the recliner. He's never seemed particularly keen to leave. I can't think why.

@Chompsky While we do need to be wary of anthromorphising, I don't think it's unreasonable to use some behavioural indicators to gauge wellbeing, especially in mammals, that have a lot of brain structures in common with us. Stress behavious, for instance, are a clear indicator that things need to change. We also can be reasonably certain that dogs do love their owners. If you put a dog in a functional MRI scanner, and expose it to it's owner's scent, the pattern of brain activation that you see is the same as a human experiencing romantic love.

We used to have a hamster who seemed quite happy. Didn't chew on the bars or anything. Used to enjoy having a,risk around the sitting room during the day and had play things in the cage.
We have cats now instead but they're not indoor cats. For some reason (to me) it seems more cruel to keep a cat inside than a,smaller animal (like a hamster or rat). Not sure why though, I don't like rabbits in cages,either they always look too small.

I agree with you. This is one of the many reasons we don’t have pets. Some cats loathe the outdoors though.

Yes, I totally agree with you OP. I can't bear to see animals or birds, of any kind, in cages; honestly can't bear it. Some species of animals should never be, or have been, domesticated in the first place.

I have an indoor cat, whom I've trained to go outside with me. My house has cat exercise stuff in each room, including a car exercise wheel. Nope, don't feel guilty or weird for having an indoor cat. He's a quality pedigree Bengal and I wouldn't risk him being snatched. He has a great quality of life, so 🖕 to anyone who thinks that's cruel or weird.

I think all pet ownership is cruel. I used to have pets but I understand now that I shouldn't have the right to 'own' an animal

I don't consider that I do own my cats. I've chosen to have responsibility for them but they belong to themselves. Same as DS really - he's my son but I don't own him.

I had rabbits when I was a child. They slept in their hutch overnight but were out for most of the day, and were in and out of the house as well, pretty much as they chose. These days, of course, if we had rabbits they'd be house rabbits, but that wasn't a thing we'd heard of 35 years ago.