The importance of pets

should not be underestimated.
There is a letter in this morning's paper from someone I know. He is moaning about the amount of shelf space given over to pet food in the supermarket. He goes on to complain about the nuisance value of cats and dogs kept as pets.
I doubt he and his wife have ever had a pet of any sort. 
When I was at university one of the staff had a dog wished upon the family. 
   "I hate walking the dog!" I was told.
Really? The entire family fell in love with the dog. It was a "mutt"  of indeterminate breed who followed them around devotedly. When one member of the family became very ill the dog stayed by his side until the man died. The person who told me she had hated walking the dog - and had obviously not cared much for it at all - said, "I am grateful to that animal."
We have had cats over the years, the last two some time ago now.  The Senior Cat had major surgery when they were alive. When he came home and was still spending most of the time on the bed they moved in during the day. These two cats seemed to "know" he needed them there, just as a previous cat had slept on the desk Middle Cat studied at. If she tried to pet him then he would flick his tail and growl - as if to say, "Get on with your work human. I am here to supervise not to be played with."
Since his spaniel died a man on my pedalling route has not been the same. He has no reason to get up in the morning. He admitted this to me recently.  It is obvious he needs a dog.
Not much further away there is a man with an assistance dog. He has PTSD - post traumatic stress - after serving in Afghanistan. He copes much  better with life now he has the dog.
In the next suburb a young boy with severe epilepsy is much safer now that his new dog can alert his parents to his seizures.
There is a cat who sits quietly with an elderly couple until someone arrives to help them in the mornings. There is another who seems to be asleep but is watching a woman who loves to garden but is prone to falls. She tells me the cat has gone to her husband more than once when it has been "worried".
These pets are valuable. They serve a purpose.
I know there will be pets given as Christmas presents. Some will be abandoned when people realise that, like humans,  work is required to care for them. That always deeply disturbs me. We don't know how animals "think" or "feel" but their reactions tell us they do. I am not interested in "rainbow bridges" or words about "forever homes". I simply want people to care. 
I don't want them to be like the man complaining about the space pet food takes up in the supermarket. That's space that should be filled the way it is filled. Other people's choice of pet might not  be mine but they are the reason some people have to get out of bed in the morning.  And that is important.