The Real Benefit of Having a Pet
Drugs are amazing, but have you ever come home after a long ass day at work to a dog that is so fucking excited to see you they’re literally shaking?
This post is sponsored by the Dead Pets, the podcast about pet grief that celebrates the lives of the creatures that have changed ours. Click below to listen.
Drugs are amazing, but have you ever come home after a long ass day at work to a dog that is so fucking excited to see you they’re literally shaking? Has a cat that is uninterested in every single person on Earth ever sat on your lap and purred?
Pets are a goddamn bottomless pit of joy. Taking care of another being gives you purpose, structure, and worth. At the very least, if you have a dog, you have to go outside every single day. If you have a cat, they will sit on your fucking laptop and force you to unplug.
You could have a legendarily shitty day, and it will be made better by a cuddle with your pet. Bonding with an animal and keeping them fed, sheltered, and happy is not only deeply gratifying; it will also add years to your life and increase your chance of recovering from major health events like heart attack and stroke.
Researchers have long put forth the benefits of having pets. Pet owners have lower blood pressure, increased mobility, are less lonely and stressed, and have a higher self-image than weirdos who don’t have pets. But scientists haven’t quite figured out if pets make people happier and healthier, or if happy, healthy people tend to have pets. To that we say: who gives a fuck.
No one adopts a pet thinking, “This little guy is going to lower my blood pressure and increase my chances of surviving a stroke if I ever have one!” We adopt them because something in our hearts tells us it’s time. The real benefit of getting a pet is this: part of your life will be completely and utterly perfect.
Your bond with your pet will be a pocket of magic in your world. You will be shocked at your capacity to love more and more; and when you think it would be totally impossible for you to love any more, you just fucking do.
Pets are love unfiltered. They don’t have opinions about our life choices, our intelligence or lack of, how we dress, what we eat, our career choices, or our education level. All they require of us is us.
Well-mustached French poet and journalist Anatole France said it best: Until one has loved an animal, part of one’s soul remains unawakened.
Bodhisattvas
A wise man once told us that our pets are Bodhisattvas — beings in Buddhism who have achieved enlightenment but delay entering nirvana to help others reach their own enlightenment. Our pets are selfless guides who innately carry all that we lack: the ability to be present, to accept, draw boundaries, to love without limits or conditions, to surrender to boundless joy.
Amidst all of that is the inevitable: their lives are just a fraction of ours. Losing them is an ineffable agony. When they leave us, our souls ache in the face of their absence. With time, the ache will soften, and your heart will be wider and deeper, and you’ll marvel that you were ever so lucky to have had a thousand joyful moments with your very own Bodhisattva. And you will be better for it.