Pets Deserve More

There is a new trend in the pet-loving population of Japan these days. And it should revolutionize the way pet owners and the pet themselves think.

Japan is known as an island country of innovators of horse-like workmanship and Samurai-inspired dedication to perfection and quality. Consider its biggest contributions to the world – Astroboy, Sony Playstation and Toyota – these all made life easier and funnier for all of us. Thanks to our dear friends from the land of the rising sun.

Our Japanese friends brought solutions and quirky inventions for everything and anything under the sun. For pet lovers, they brought the electronic animal Tamagotchi and even Asimo the robot. Lately, the envelope has been pushed even further. Welcome Japan’s newest invention. The next big thing. Animal washing machine aptly named Joyful Honda.

It is convenient and easy to use; it looks like an oven and works like a washing machine. All press buttons and electronic digital displays, just like and Japan-made wonder. It is accessible and efficient (and affordable); money is slotted into a slit, and it operates all by itself. It is clean; owners just have to stand back and watch, or even read Pet Owner’s Magazine.

It is also wickedly barbaric and traumatic for an animal. Imagine being stuck in a glass cage that turns from light to dark to light again, dry to wet, cold to hot, humid to windy in just seconds. You run, you bark, you scratch, you whine. You see your loving pet owner making sure you are clean while she listens to her iPod and reading gossip magazines. Then you wish the owner should be there inside the cage.
Remember when I said it will revolutionize how pets think? This gadget will. It will turn your pets crazy. For pet owners, this gadget will distance them further from the responsibility and commitment they should have had when they first took an animal under their care. The gadget will make them care less. That will be revolutionary indeed.

PETA thinks this hideous contraption belongs in a litter box, where every cat we know would gladly cover it up with sand. Cats and dogs need our companionship inside our homes: a window seat, lots of food and plenty of love - not to be shoved into a terrifying and claustrophobic water-soaked machine devised by some cat-loathing, profit-hungry jerks, according to Lisa Lange, senior vice president of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

She could not have said it better.

Pets have a history of bonding with humans. Over fifty percent of homes in the United States and the United Kingdom have at least one pet (dog, cat, bird, or other small animal) underlining the role of pets in modern human society. Most of these households have pets for at least one member of the family. Pets provide companionship, comfort and entertainment. In many instances, pets even risked their lives to rescue their masters.

Pets and humans share a bond. It is based on affection and not based on a mechanical parasitic relationship. If a person wants a pet, she should be ready for the responsibility that goes with it. If she has no time to wash her pet or at least bring it to a pet groomer, she will not have time to give the pet the proper nutrition, the proper health care and the proper attention. She is just wasting her time and money (read: pet food) and more importantly, she is endangering the life of the animal, which frankly deserves a far better life.