[Narz]

Do you have pets? If you don't, do you plan to get any?

I imagine peak oil will usher in a new paradigm in the way humans see their animals (if they choose to have them) and the reasons they choose them.

What are you thoughts on the matter?

I have two cats by the way, here they are, eating snapper fish. I hope they can live 'till their late twenties, I take very good care of 'em. They make kills almost daily but I wonder if they could live exclusively off them.

[Narz]

By the way, to answer one of my own questions - in the future I'd like to get a dog (big lovable pitbull or pit-lab mix) because I like dogs and for security and goats (for milking).

[NEOPO]

Security - companionship - warmth on cold winter nights and food once you have ran out of people meat

[Tanada]

I have been thinking about this topic for quite a while. In an energy constrained world we will all have to pull our own weight as the saying goes. The animals most of us regard as Pets or Companions (animal family) like cats and dogs became closely associated with humans because they add measurably to our quality of life. In low tech situations they provide a lot of help for a little expense, they guard us, hunt our vermin, help us in hundreds of ways and even keep us company when we are lonely.

Other pets like birds, snakes and mongoose do the same things to a lesser extent, which is why they were tamed in the first place.

The most recent pets I have wished to add to my life are a little bit exotic and too expensive for me at this time in my life, both are excellent tree climbers and would provide the opportunity to get squirrels or birds without using weapons or traps to do so. Specifically I am talking about the Savannah breed of cat and the Domesticated Fox from Siberia. The Savannah is a cross with a wild cat originally bred to produce a spotted pelt, but it turns out the Savannah has the greatest leaping ability of any domestic cat. They can go from a crouch to an eight foot high leap to catch small birds in flight. The domestic Fox on the other hand is an excellent tree climber, they can go up and get the squirrels out of the tree where a standard hunting companion dog can only stand on the ground and keep them up in the tree.

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/18/148758624 ... est-friend
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2 ... ated-foxes
http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/ca ... vannah.htm