I am thrilled that I writing this post. In our family, we do not have the habit of keeping pets. But as my brother and sister-in-law got one for them, Mario, a Golden Retriever, it did not took a lot of time to accept the new life around us.

National Geographic explains the concept of domestication beautifully. We usually keep pets for no economic benefits yet the reason remains the same – for human use. The reasons below are from my personal experiences and hence they may/may not be same for everyone who keep a pet.

Reasons to have a pet:

1. Unconditional love towards the owners: Pets love you back as our parents do. Whether you shout at them, ignore them, they will still show the same love the next morning. I often wonder if they don’t have any egos that we as humans persist. Sometimes, I feel we must learn how to love our beloved ones, like them.
2. They will fill the void in our lives. If not completely, majorly. Of course, we keep pets for that companionship.
3. They will care for you. There will be enormous number of videos about pets saving/reacting when their owners are in danger. Leave that extreme action, they will at least (nose) nudge you and seek your attention. While this behavior is to express about them, in my case, I felt they ask me to take a break from work. They are the ones who will wait for you to open the door coming from office everyday. period.

Reasons not to have a pet:

1. They are attention seekers just like kids. This mean that you have to give a considerable amount of time to walk them, play and to keep them engaged. I feel, we are limiting their life to stay home. It will be joy too see them running, jumping, but we have to give that time and attention for their well-being too.
2. Pet care is both time-and-cost intensive. We can easily tend to ignore taking care of them with our busy lives. No or irregular cleaning can result in pets developing infections. Kids love pets, but they cannot take care of them on their own and hence it became the third reason for parents to say no to pets. Apart from regular maintenance costs, additional costs from medicines, treatments, grooming will become a burden. They are also prone to critical illnesses like diabetes, cancer when we feed them what we eat. I am not talking about curd rice or chapati.
3. You cannot take a break. We as humans grow and eventually become independent in doing our daily chores. Pets can’t and they don’t even talk. So, we will have to take care of them throughout their life. You cannot leave them at home and go for a vacation. Of course, kennels are there. But refer to point 2. They are costly. Or, you know this famous hutch telecom ad, right!

There are other valid reasons – limited lifespan, home hygiene, living arrangements for not having pets. The joy of having one can outweigh reasons not to have, provided we have enough emotional & financial resources with time.