Tag Archive

Disposable Pets

AKIE BERMISS: I’m a first-time pet-owner. I’ve had my two cats for just about 4 years now and I can not conceive of a situation in which I would give them up — for anything. I mean it would have to be a very grave situation one where either I can’t take care of them any longer or they need to go somewhere else for health or quality-of-life issues. I didn’t ever have pets growing up. I think my sister had a pet for a while, but otherwise there were no animals in the house. I had three siblings so we didn’t really need more bodies running around the house. In adulthood, though, I decided it was a good idea to have a pet (or two) and to make a life with them. And that’s what it is: a (pet’s) lifetime of commitment.

MOLLY SCHOEMANN: While I have loved dogs since I could focus my eyes, I grew up in an apartment, so I had goldfish. It was not until several years ago when I began dating a dog owner that I became regularly exposed to an actual dog. I realize now that I was not technically a real ‘dog person’ before that point, because while I loved dogs, I had little idea of what having a dog actually entailed.

ZOË RICE For thirteen years now, I have been a fiercely devoted pet owner. I love my current one, Dash, with absolute devotion. He knows it; I make sure of that. But life is not a set of absolutes. Contexts change, situations change, and whom one spends one’s life with changes. And in rare cases, I can imagine how even a beloved pet might have to find a new home.