Well, let me get this firestorm disagreeing with me started , I've had it up to here with the pathetic people who say they value their pets over most humans, First off it's an animal you own it and usually the only reason you " love " it so much is because it's too stupid to judge you , it gives you unconditional love because you feed it and you are the alpha in its life, it doesn't have a life except what you decree, you are able to neglect /abuse , chain it in the back yard , let it bark and annoy your neighbors and feed it when you feel like it, The other end of the spectrum are the Fifi lovers or if you're macho " killer " lovers who pamper their pets like most of us pamper our children, what a waste of human emotion, nothing more pathetic to me than seeing some macho guy holding a tiny dog while he's eating a ham steak or bacon, the meat on your plate came from an animal that's vastly smarter than the dog you are holding, animals have a purpose, they hunt,work,guard , provide companionship and if it's a cat it catches mice, other than that they are no different than the animals we kill and eat everyday but somehow, partially putting Walt Disney to blame we give them names and they become part of our lives to the exclusion of normal human response to other humans, we spend huge amounts of money at the vet, money that we wouldn't think of donating to wounded warriors /Shriners or the needy family down the street, we had a simple solution to pet problems on the farm, if they were badly injured or deathly sick we put a .22 behind its ear and dug a hole, then went out and Bought another one, why is your pet any different than the animals we kill? I can only imagine what a great world it would be if we shared as much emotion and money to help people who are truly struggling and trying to survive instead of on our "pets" .Don't get me started on the difference between what we pay sports figures and politicos compared to what we pay our military/ police/ firemen and teachers, paying a guy 100+ million to carry a football down a field yet put our military at poverty level to give their lives for us! maybe we should start shooting at athletes as they run down the field and see how many want to continue! O.K. Give me he'll boy's