Are pets too pampered?

NEWS FACT: These days, many dogs and cats are getting the royal treatment. Devoted pet owners are indulging in everything from stress-relief treatments to luxury bath towels to fashionable sunglasses for their furry friends. And the clothes! In some shops, owners are spending hundreds of dollars on designed-for-pets tuxedos, mink-lined sweaters, and sequined handbags.

What's the limit on indulging your pet? Does Fluffy need the $8.95 fresh-ground bison, and a designer bowl to eat it from? Does Fido really require doggy braces, at $1,000 or more, to fix crooked teeth? Will going to a counselor make pets more content?

Many people think that such treatment is silly, or in bad taste. These pets get better treatment than many human beings, they say. But some pet owners defend such actions. In their opinion, pets are part of the family and deserve to be treated with love and kindness. No expense should be spared to ensure their pets' happiness.

What Do You Think?

Are pets too pampered?

YES "It is sad that some animals are living better than some humans," sags Marshall Williams, 13, a seventh-grader at Hillside Middle School in Northville, Michigan. Marshall believes in treating pets well--but enough is enough. "The only thing I do to pamper my dog is to give it a bath once in a while," he says.

Andy Boyd, 13, Marshall's classmate, agrees. "Yes, treating your pet to a nice toy is cool. But a spa? Do pets really need a massage?"

"We have starving people around the world, and we are more worried about how our pets' teeth look," says Andrew Poterala, 13, also a seventh-grader at Hillside. "If you ask me, that is just ridiculous."

Amanda Cruz, 13, is a dog owner who attends Iron Horse Middle School in San Ramon, California. She thinks that too much attention will make pets behave like spoiled children. "If the owner maybe forgets to feed them or something, they'll go all crazy and ruin furniture," she says. "It's not natural."

NO Chris Leja, 12, thinks that pets deserve better treatment than some humans. "For example, whom would you treat better?" asks the Hillside seventh-grader. "The school bully, or the dog or cat that is always there for you during the really tough times?"

Chris's classmate, Alyssa Moulds, 12, compares dogs to humans. "If humans aren't treated well as kids, they usually grow up to be troubled adults," she sags. The same is true of pets, she adds.

Priscilla Proenza is a veterinary technician working in Rutherford, New Jersey. "Pets deserve a lot because they can't communicate the way we can," she tells JS. "So we try to keep them comfortable in ways that we think make them happy."

Jonathan Pangilinan, 13, a student at Iron Horse Middle School, says that everyone gains by such kindness. "The owner gains respect from the pet, who knows that if it does something good then it gets something good in return."