Quote:
Originally Posted by latetotheparty
you have a good point .... i guess that where i was coming from was back in the day, more often, pets were more often just that .... a pet .... and not so much a member of the family as many are these days....
i don't know ... i could be totally bass-ackwards....
oh, and i am a 1960 model....
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I am from 1959...
I guess we are both right. The dogs my grandparents had when I was a young child (and living with them) were both "rescues", one was always chained up at a pub until my grandmother asked if they could have him, and the other one they found wandering in the woods, checked with the forester and so forth, and kept her. Both were already very old when I was born, and since this was Germany and not the U.S., we are talking right after WWII, a time when the average person probably had other things on their mind than "acquiring" a pet to take care of.
I think I just inherited my grandmother's nuttiness for all critters, my cats are not "pets" or working animals, I consider them my companions who were born feral in the backyard and I take care of them, yeah, we're family
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I guess there were always animal people and not so animal folks.
And back then, in the day, cats and dogs were just "around", I don't think there were pet stores, nobody spayed or neutered, but the population was kept somewhat at bay because the pet industry was not a money making business, and dogs and cats were exposed more to their natural predators.
Nowadays cats and dogs are often considered a fashion item (I hear the shelters in CA have a huge problem with Chihuahuas...) , or otherwise material thing.
And just like the worn out couch or washing machine they end up on Craigslist...