I saw this prompt and thought that it was a good opportunity to talk about the word ‘pet’ within the vegan and animal rights movement. This is something that I have noticed change over the last few years and I find the whole situation quite fascinating.
For starters, the word ‘pet’ suggests a degree of ownership. There is the implication that one of the parties is the owner and the other party is the property. It is why to be called someone’s ‘pet’ as an insult is such an insult, because it whittles you down to nothing more than another person’s property.
But I also think that the whole meaning of the word when it comes to companion animals to be very much untrue these days. So often I see people online refer to their companion animals as their ‘fur-babies’, and in many cases those of us who do have a companion animal within our home know full well that we, the humans, are at the absolute behest to our animals. Anyone else have a jug of filtered water that is solely for their animal? Because said animal decoded one day that the tap water was no longer good enough for them? Or how many of us are splashing out on the super expensive but far more nutritionally dense versions of food so that our animals are getting the best level of care that they possibly can? And because said animal will no longer accept the run-of-the-mill food because they prefer the fancy stuff? I for one would do anything and everything in my power to make my animals happy, and to ensure that they are able to live their happiest and healthiest life, even if that means that I can’t go on holidays as often and cannot buy myself treats because their needs come first. So for me, not only is the word ‘pet’ not really the connotation I want to go with, it simply isn’t true. If anything, I think in my current situation at least, I am simply not the one in charge – I’d like to think I’m more like a very attentive butler though.
But I also see the issue that ‘pet’ is far easier to say all the time than ‘companion animal’, which is the current preferred way to refer to the animals which we have in our lives. And even I admit that I will catch myself automatically using the word ‘pet’, even though as I’ve discussed above, I don’t really agree with it. But I guess that is the interesting thing about language – it can change so quickly and words can take on new meanings, and we then have to almost retrain our brains to work with this new lexicon and way of thinking.
Taylor Talks Vegan 
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