I’m with you.

The animals in our lives don’t just benefit the individual, they benefit everyone. So, even if you aren’t behind the idea because we should take care of each other as a moral or ethical thing, it’s also a practical matter.

So, treat it like having green spaces in cities, national wilderness, public schools. We make sure that people can have animals in their lives without money being a factor. Remember, we’re talking an advanced world here, so scarcity is minimized, and people aren’t becoming vets with income as their underlying necessity to survive. They’ll have housing and food no matter what, so they can practice out of nothing but the desire to help critters.

But, even now, we ought to have a charity that helps with such things. That way emergencies and difficult to treat issues aren’t an automatic monetary decision, it can be about making the best choices for the animals. Even if it was limited to people that would otherwise be separated from animals, it would still be an improvement to the humans’ lives, the animals’ lives, and thus everyone’s lives.

Seriously, if you have never seen how much good comes from just the disabled having an animal companion, it wouldn’t even need thought. And, when an animal ends up being rehomed because of money issues, how much it effects the animal’s happiness and well being it stacks the benefits higher. I’ve taken in critters when my patients couldn’t afford them, including when they needed medical care as part of why it wasn’t affordable. The animals, at least the ones that tend to bond with humans, were miserable for months in some cases, longer in others.

But if there had been an organization to make sure the critters got to appointments, had the right foods, etc, I wouldn’t have needed to take them in, they could have stayed with their people and been happier as well as healthier.

We should do better by the animals in our lives as a culture, as a society. And not to do so while whining about the poor and elderly and disabled not deserving that experience because of money alone. Even if we can’t make it happen for everyone, making it happen for some is better than nothing.

A truly advanced society would function as a altruistic socialist society, where there would be no need for money, and thus for-profit insurances or healthcare systems. People, animals and per extension nature would be cared for, keeping the balance and living symbiotically. We would help each other without expecting anything in return because we know we, in our own turn, would be cared for.

I know… That would be the day huh

Universal healthcare for animals yes. A truly advanced civilisation would find the ownership of an animal by another (a pet) abhorrent. Animals are rational beings and have their own will, therefore we have a moral duty to care for them and not exploit them or keep them captive.