Oh, I KNOW I'm gonna step on toes...
I don't like the way people treat their pets. It really, really, REALLY bothers me.
You are all on board, aren't you? Because everyone loves the little poochie-poos and kitty-pies.
I do too. For true, I love animals.
BUT. And it's a big ol' but.
I am not my cat's Mommy.
He is not my "sweet baby boy". He is a cat. A big, wild, tom cat.
He roams the countryside at night, and sometimes disappears for days.
I feed him and hug him and sneeze all over him. He sleeps on my bed and I hate it.
He doesn't have a blankie, or a dish with him's name on it. No litterbox.
He adores me, kisses me, bites me, and snuggles. I will cry when he dies.
But he is NOT a child.
(If I hear the term "Pet Parents" one more time.....!)
In our town, there used to be Angel Trees for the Humane Society. You know, take a card off the tree and supply whatever it said.
Yonks ago I was encouraged by a local store owner to take a card or three. I declined. She was forceful. It was my duty.
I tried to cut a deal. I would buy dog food and deliver it to the Humane Society, and she would donate to the crisis pregnancy center.

BABIES!!!!!!
She invited me out of her store.
(Real Angel Tree)
Now, she was an unbeliever and I give her some slack. But I do not apply that slack to Christians.
In the book of Genesis, we are instructed to subdue the earth, till it, care for it and all that lives in it.
There are a few references of animal care in the scriptures. A few. Some.
There are 66* books of reference to the care of God's special creation: Man.

The reason I didn't donate to the animal shelter was this; if I have 'extra' dough in my pocket that I want to donate, it needs to be for something really important. Like a women's shelter. An adoption case. A family going through medical crisis. A veteran in rehab. New parents with little income.
If I have the time, energy and money to throw out on a dog, I should consider fostering a lonely child.
It's okay to have pets, in moderation. It's okay to enjoy them.
I said in moderation.
I said in...oh, forget it.
Are you making them something they are not? Are they just a tiny idol?
Oh, by the way! You BUY a cat. You ADOPT a child.
Howz yer toes?

What REAL adoption looks like. And this is not the whole family.
For information on what you can do, contact
International Voice of the Orphan,
3655 W. Anthem Way
Suite A-109, #305
Phoenix, AZ 85086
or go to their website at
www.ivo.global
or read this Mom's blog at
www.linnysaunders.com
(Place Called Simplicity)
* okay, okay! PLUS the Apocrypha!