I decided to explore this topic because when it came to picking a topic I remembered from my exchange in Argentina the different views of the roles household pets played as well as the views of animals in general and how they differed quite differently from my own culture. With that curiosity sparked I decided to examine the role of them here through a number of different methods including my own personal experiences within my host family life, observations around the city, volunteering at an animal shelter, and finally asking some of my friends on the role their household pets play within their family. Today we will go over the findings from each of the sources, compare and contrast them with the U.S. views of companion animals, and then hopefully be able to come with a conclusion on the role of companion animals in the Lithuanian household and how that differs from that of the U.S. point of view.
First off, one thing to remember is that my findings are just what I have explored and may not fully represent every single persons view. Everyone views topics differently so this does not represent everyone, it is just what I have found and or experienced. I am no way an expert but I found this as well as my findings interesting and I hope you do too. With that said let's first explore the U.S. point of view of companion animals and their role in the household and society.
The point of view in U.S. does differ dramatically as I am sure it does everywhere else including Lithuania but the mass majority point of view that I have found (excluding my agricultural based side) is that companion animals are part of the family. Their purpose is to be intergrated into the household and basically become one with the family. Now what this means to each household ranges a lot going from the pet having few privileges such as being able to sleep inside and being aloud on the couch to being almost like their owners child meaning that they may have their own clothes, set treat times, given tons of toys, and or are allowed anything they want/may be allowed to get with away with anything (personally I feel as though this is more of the majority than earlier). However, their overall purpose is normally not to serve the family by guarding the house or rather anything useful but to instead serve the family by providing them with joy and something to take care of. Many of the arguments children have when asking to get a pet is that it will teach them responsibility and or that they are cute and that they really want one. Overall, animals are basically family members and it could be considered that they are treated like the owners own child.
The point of view of household animals in Lithuania, as I have observed in my host family is that the animal is part of the family but perhaps not as much as the I described in the U.S. point of view. My host family has a cat and the cat is well cared for. He is given food and water everyday (in which from what I observed are always at least partially filled) and is allowed to go outside to hunt. He is only fed his cat food but occasionally gets catnip as a treat (as I have been told). Other than that his job is to hunt the moles and other small pests around the neighborhood (well mostly in our yard but he goes around the neighborhood a lot). He is allowed inside and in basically any room. He is allowed on the beds, couches, and chairs but not allowed on tables or anywhere food is prepared or kept. He is given tick resistant medicine and if he ever had a health problem I'm sure my host family would take him in to the vet (I did not observe this in my time here but knowing my host family and their relationship with their cat I'm pretty sure they would). When the cat comes around my host family generally talks to him and will go to pet him. They allow him to sit on their laps (when he wants to obviously) and seem to really like him. They let him in and out of the house whenever he wants and if they go away on vacation they always either arrange someone to come and care for him or leave him plenty of food and water until they return (quite similar to U.S., however, we may take them to the vet to stay or some sort of pet hotel). Overall, he is still part of the family but to a lesser extent to that as I've observed in the U.S..
Around the city I have seen more and more people with animals out. In fact, my first thought when it started to get warm out again was that there were so many dogs in the city and that it originally surprised me. But thinking back to winter, it probably could be considered cruel (especially by American standards) to take the animal outside for an extended period of time in the 0 F or -20 C degree weather. Another thing that I noticed is that around the apartments (not really so in the Old Town) there green spaces and even gated areas with obstacle course for the dogs to run around on. This helps indicate that animal needs are seen by apartment complex owners as well as the city enough that they are accounted for and that there is a mutual relationship between the owner in and pet in the aspect that the owner is provided, and from what oven seen from the large number of animals out and about, provides the animals and makes sure their basic needs are met.
As another medium to explore this topic, I volunteered at an animal shelter in Vilnius. The shelter I volunteered for was called Lesė Gyvūnų Prieglauda and is one of the biggest in Vilnius. It is completely ran on donations and volunteers. The shelter itself is generally nice and kept well. Though any shelters condition could be considered sad the volunteers there really do everything in their power to make the animals feel comfortable and that they are well cared for. Each animals is fed and watered at twice a day (unless stated others on their chart for health reasons). The dogs are taken on walks at least once day and are let out to go to the bathroom at least twice. The dogs live in cages but that is make sure that the chances of fights are low and that each dog has an equal chance of getting adopted. The cats are kept in rooms together where there are plenty of toys, climbing areas, and scratch toys provided for them as well as plenty of litter boxes. If they are stressed, have health issues or are aggressive then the cat are kept in cages which are mostly in quarantine rooms. This is to avoid the spread of diseases and for the overall health of all of the cats. Emails are constantly sent out to all the volunteers (mostly in Lithuanian but there is also a email strand for the English speakers) in order to make sure that all the volunteers are informed all of the operations of the shelter and that each animal is properly cared for to the best of everyone's ability. This shows that the volunteers really do care for the animals and make sure that their basic needs are met so that they may be adopted to a more suitable home and live a happier life.
On the final form of investigation on the topic of pets and role in the household, I asked a couple of my Lithuanian friends their point of views on the topic and if it matched their households point of view. My first friend informed me that he believed that owners should fulfill all of the animals needs so that the animal may be able to do thae same in return. This was also his families point of view. I believe that is quite silimar to host families point of view as they fulfill all the cats needs in return for the cat to hunt and somewhat love them. My other friend stated that he believed that the animal should be more part of the family. That it should be cared for completely, aloud to go outside, and should be played with or given attention. However, his household didn't completely share the same view as him and believed that the animal should serve more of a purpose (e.g. the cats purpose is to hunt mice around the house). I believe that his point of view fits a little bit more into the US point of view but a little bit to a lesser extent. However, his households point of view seemed to fit a bit with that of my host family and other friend. This directly shows that in every culture there are different point of views and that the extent of everyone's views are different.
One last thing I wanted to explore before we go into my conclusion on the difference was if the role of service animals was something that is used here (e.g. Seeing eye dogs/dogs used to guide blind people, animals allowed places of the person has high anxiety, wtc...). This I had to ask a couple people about because I had not seen a single service animal out and about in the city nor had heard of any laws regarding it. Unfortunately, neither had any of the people I asked so it is not safe to consider this role of companion animals in my conclusion. This is something I wish I could have explored more of and hope to in the future.
In conclusion, the point of view of companion animals in the household of Lithuania differs slightly from that of the U.S.. The animal still seems to be part of the family but a bit less than perhaps in the U.S.. The animals basic needs are to met and the animal should still be given plenty of care but it is not exactly spoiled like those in the U.S.. Affection is still given to the pet. However, the animal still serves a purpose (more so the cats in this case) such as to hunt. Therefore, though the point of views differ in some ways such as that the pet could serve more of purpose there are also similarities such as the animal should be fully cared for and happy.
