People are replacing children with cats and dogs for good reason

You may remember that a couple of years ago the Pope said that it was selfish for families to have cats and dogs rather than children.

“Today,” he said, “we see a form of selfishness. We see that some people do not want to have a child. Sometimes they have one, and that’s it, but they have dogs and cats that take the place of children. This may make people laugh, but it is a reality.”

The Pope

Human population declines

The trend is not a laughing matter but deadly serious. He wanted to promote having children because Italy needs more people to drive the economy. In general, the European population is decreasing with respect to the indigenous population but in some countries the population is increasing because of immigration from Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East to the north.

Germany has a stagnant indigenous population or declining one but they have high immigration. It is estimated that the European bloc could see its population shrink by 6 per cent, or 27.3 million people, by 2100. Japan anticipates a 16.3 population decrease by 2015. This reflects a global trend.

Russia – albeit an extreme case – has a declining population. Putin has offered large financial rewards for those who want to have a big family. He is desperate for Russians to produce kids. He has created conditions which deter it.

Pet population increases

That’s the general background but the cat and dog population continues to rise. We don’t see reports of the cat and dog population declining or becoming stagnant.

This indicates to me that people are substituting children for cats and dogs or other companion animals. For good reason. The reasons are complex and I think you will find that the experts haven’t got a true handle on the root cause of the problem.

Root cause

But the root cause of the problem must be one overriding, umbrella reason: that humankind is not creating the conditions under which is favourable to have a family, to mate and create children. You can’t just tell people to have children. The Pope can’t tell people that it selfish not to have children. That’s ridiculous and he made a big mistake saying that. It indicates that he is out of touch.

Without being too negative, I would argue that the conditions for having children are receding faster than previously.

Global warming

You don’t have to look far to see the reasons, the greatest of which is global warming and a very uncertain future for a child born today. Would-be parents don’t want to bring kids into the world because they can foresee their child living through worsening climate change conditions in 50 years’ time.

War

Then we have the not unreasonable projection that the world is sliding into World War III. It won’t be a world war like we’ve seen in the past but it looks like it’s going to happen. And let’s be clear, wars like the one in Ukraine and the Middle East divert governments’ attention away from the pressing issue of dealing with climate change.

These wars not only divert attention but they divert money away from dealing with climate change which is going to be incredibly expensive for developed countries and the richer nations. They don’t want to face that expense. They keep putting it off to the detriment of future generations.

Expense

Adopting a cat or dog rather than having a child is a perfect response to this uncertain future and the current deterrent conditions. People can express their maternal and paternal desires perfectly adequately through their relationship with a cat or dog. They are much cheaper to look after than children. They have much shorter life spans and therefore the long-term financial commitment is shortened.

They say it costs about £250,000 to raise a child to adulthood whereas it costs about £15,000 to look after a cat for their entire life. Money has been tight in many families because of inflation and there are continual challenges for families to meet outgoings. The difference in expense as mentioned is significant and noted by millions of people.

Pet caregiving

I would expect to see indigenous people in developed countries having less and less children in the future while the cat and dog population will continue to grow. All the more reason, therefore, to ensure that humankind improves animal welfare and that starts home with high quality cat and dog caregiving.

There is an obesity epidemic in the cat and dog population in developed countries which must be dealt with because obesity brings many other illnesses. For the cat, obesity and the cat flea are the two biggest causes of diseases in my view.

Cat caregivers shouldn’t look for convenience in feeding the cat but for the best food. Convenience drives people to buy cheap dry cat food as the only source of food. This is wrong because it is too unnatural. It can contribute to obesity it is believed and obesity contributes to Type II diabetes which in turn leads to other illnesses. There’s lots to do to improve the welfare of domestic animals.

And in addition, there is a trend to keeping cats indoors more without the associated attempts or commitment to improve the indoor environment for domestic cats to entertain them to prevent boredom, to prevent therapy eating, to prevent obesity and the incumbent illnesses that flow from it.

RELATED: Human population growth effects on animals

P.S. There has to be a benefit to a declining human population in developed countries and that is an improvement for the wild species because there will be less pressure on the habitat of these species. It would seem that eventually humans will give the world back to the animals rather than being a disease on the planet which damages wildlife and the planet generally.