Housepets and elective surgeries

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

We know that docking tails is still a practice in Housepets universe, because both King and Kevin have docked tails (never mind that King never had a full tail to begin with). What other not strictly necessary surgeries are allowed, and at what point does it become abuse? We know from this strip that some animal actors in the past have been forced into abusive surgeries for jobs, and that, according to Grape, it "Still goes on," which is what she was happening when she found out Res wrote Pridelands.
So is tail docking required to have the dog's permission? Is it just considered normal?

[Amazee Dayzee]

Since pets in the universe weren't granted equal rights until pretty recently because of Marion's wish I will go with pets not having the choice to reject a surgery that their owner wants them to have for cosmetic or convenience reasons. I can see some owners having their cats declawed because they scratch everything and they wouldn't get a say at all. Though now that animals have been given equal rights, I think they are able to refuse something their owner wants them to do since they are now able to have autonomy over their bodies.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

It links back into that other topic about having your pets "fixed" in the Housepets universe. Would the pet have any say on it? It's never mentioned in the comic because that's not very PG.
But then again we don't see very many other dogs with docked tails that normally would have them. As far as I know, it's Kevin, King (who doesn't really count), and maybe Rex.
Not even Boris or Yeltsin, bull terriers who would normally have docked tails, have their tails docked.
This indicates that they MAY have a say in it, or it may be health-related and otherwise discouraged. Kevin's a Rottweiler, who can suffer injury from an undocked tail in the form of a bad back or having it catch in something during certain breed-specific activities.

[NHWestoN]

Well, the "fixing" issue is an intriguing one, Ginga, since the whole Housepets! culture struggles with the tension between animals that are humanized in so many ways and their being "pets". As with pets, the line between childlike dependency and objectified property is porous to say the least.

Also, In our society, we expect our pets to be spayed or neutered unless they are selected to produce offspring, and most of these offspring will be commodified and sold. We have one episode where Bailey gets extremely upset at the suggestion her puppies may be taken away. Yet, very early on, when King expresses indignation that Bailey has been handed around among her humans with no regard for her feelings, she brushes his concern off with "Well, we're dogs".

Intriguingly, wild animals can enter human society on a much more equal. Miles and his pack do have the Miltons as sponsors, but they branch out quickly into independent work. Gale goes into cut-throat financing with no apparent resistance.

But such incongruities are the seed-ground of great narratives ......

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

I think part of King's struggle in that matter is that a lot of the Housepets characters aren't as emotionally mature as adult humans would be, especially Sasha. Except for the K-9s, most of the "pet" characters cap out at the equivalent of a 9-13 year old human. I think this is because they aren't really expected to care for themselves longer than maybe a day or two and don't have many responsibilities or stresses, so they aren't forced to mature further. Then you throw in King, who was a fully self-sufficient adult human, and expect him to interact at that level, and he's going to end up frustrated that none of the other Housepets are emotionally matching up with him.

[Amazee Dayzee]

To be fair to King though, Fox and Bailey were both a bit more mature and could look after themselves and probably did understand that King was a bit more developed emotionally. He just couldn't get past how pets were sometimes treated in terms of being given away which is what caused some problems with him and Bailey.

[NHWestoN]

To be fair to King though, Fox and Bailey were both a bit more mature and could look after themselves and probably did understand that King was a bit more developed emotionally. He just couldn't get past how pets were sometimes treated in terms of being given away which is what caused some problems with him and Bailey.

Having spent quite a bit of time working with animal shelters, neither can I. "Dispensibility" remains one of the elements in Babylon Gardens where human assert their superiority and dominance over animals.

Random thought: Does employment change the status of "wild" animals like Miles, Gale, and the wolf pack so that they can no longer be hunted and "trophied"? (Okay, I just made up a word ... kinda neat one, though.)

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

The wolves took a test to certify themselves "tame" before they were able to move into Babylon Gardens and they technically have "pet" status for most of the comic, so they couldn't be "trophied" any more than any pet could.

[NHWestoN]

Wonder what their grades were?

[Amazee Dayzee]

Since they have been living in the neighborhood for the past few years and probably a little bit over a decade at this point honestly I am pretty sure they passed and are fine for the most part. That is good because Jack doesn't seem to be the type that will take a test more than once if he flunked it the first time.

[NHWestoN]

I don't envy the poor wretch who had to tell Gale she needed to take a "Tame-ness" test.
(Wonder whose "pet" she is ???)

[Amazee Dayzee]

I would imagine that Miles told Gale everything that she would have to do in order to become part of the ECP and move into the neighborhood so she wouldn't be blindsided by anything and could be ready. As for whose pet she is, I think she is whoever the Wolf Pack pet owners are which I assume is the ECP itself.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

According to Keene, it's him, but "not actually for 3 separate legal reasons." It might be Mr. Steward, as the estate's Steward, or Jeeves, since Keene doesn't really trust Steward. Either way, it is now moot as animals can file as citizens now.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I have to say after giving it some thought and debating the two choices I would say that most likely it was Jeeves that was put down as the owner because Keene is his boss. That way, whatever Keene needs to do for the pets in the program, he can get Jeeves to do it. He also probably didn't trust Steward back then at all and believed that if anyone would turn against him in the future it was less likely to be Jeeves.