Do you love your pets like family? Ninety five percent of pet owners in America would say yes. And pet owners are willing to put their money where their mouth is- we’ll spend about $110 billion annually on our furry friends. But does all this love come at a cost? 

Today we are exploring the wild world of pets, looking at where all these critters come from, how happy pets really are in the human world, and what we might owe to the animals we have bred to be our daily companions. 

All this to answer the rude question, Does having pets make me a shitty person?

That’s what you're in for today, on Impolite Society.

Email us your impolite questions at [email protected] and visit our website for info about the show and your hosts Laura and Rachel.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/01/should-we-stop-keeping-pets-why-more-and-more-ethicists-say-yes
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/05/05/476853317/should-we-really-be-keeping-cats-and-dogs-and-geckos-as-pets
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/fox-dogs-wild-tame-genetics-study-news
https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/using/pets.shtml
https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/reports-statistics/us-pet-ownership-statistics
https://www.aspca.org/helping-people-pets/shelter-intake-and-surrender#:~:text=Of%20the%20approximately%206.5%20million,00%20dogs%20and%20860%2C000%20cats).
https://spots.com/puppy-mill-statistics/
https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2015/06/19/animal-rescue-workers-prone-depression-suicide/28968501/ 
https://breedingbusiness.com/dog-breeding-statistics/
https://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/5695-report---say-pets-are-part-of-the-family
https://scienceblogs.com/observations/2010

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