On Living With Other Animals
I think it’s beautiful that we share ou homes with animals and plants.
Just speaking realistically, not everybody in history kept animals around just because there was a strategic advantage to it, even if it’s easy to look back at history and over-simplify it into terms like that. The deeper truth is, we just live in a world that’s so rich with symbiosis that it’s almost funny we even have a word for it. “Existing together?” Well, sure, but hasn’t that always been the name of the game here? Sure, cats with their hunting propensities may be able to cut down on other critters spoiling your food reserves for you, but also, cats are adorable and charming. They’re beautiful, playful, charming lil guys with hella personality. Getting to make friends with them is a lot like meeting the human neighbors, plus a Cinderella-like gift where wildlife is fond of you. Why wouldn’t you want to provide little gifts and kindnesses to them? Lend the kitty neighbor a metaphorical cup of sugar, until one thing leads to another and now they’re crashing on your couch (yesss!) and you’re showing off pictures of them to other humans (or, maybe showing off charcoal sketches that you made of the cat. Sonnets? I’m not sure. Whatever way there was back then.)
I’m so happy when I see a dog in a store. Like, a service animal accompanying their human, or just someone’s four-legged friend who they’re bringing in with them quick. A dog who has nothing to do with me. This dog does not do any tasks for me, but it just makes me happy to be present for this moment where the human and non-human worlds meld a little bit.
I think it’s maybe the saddest invention of our modern times, to so explicitly and legalistically banish animals from human spaces.
Or, to banish animals by default, unless we can say that they have a job.
To invent the idea that segregation like that should be thought of as normal.
When I’m catching a bite to eat outdoors, the pigeons, in my mind, are exactly as complete and interesting people as the other bipedal food-getters and pedestrians.
Recently some friends were on a road trip, and they showed me some pictures of going on a walk with some donkeys. It’s my understanding that their car was still working at this time, and that this was a case where they wanted donkey time for donkey time’s sake, rather than only being able to proceed on their trip by donkey travel.
I find it really nice to read a book while there’s another animal on the couch, bed, or chair with me. Is there an exploitative angle to that? I don’t think there is. The dog asleep on my leg isn’t making me any money. The cat basking in the sunlight isn’t helping me read any better, and may, if anything, be distracting me with her adorableness and aesthetic purrfection. And if I just wanted to siphon their warmth for myself, it would have saved someone a lot of vet bills to just put a blanket here instead. I just like to be with these other living beings. And, I think the feeling is mutual. I don’t think I’m the equivalent of a space heater to the dog. I think the cat narcissistically enjoys me being an audience to her sunlight basking, and I am providing her with familial, personal things that aren’t as measurable as food, water, or money.
I am simply one variant of Earthling that has grown out of this planet, just like each pigeon is, just like each cat and dog is, just like my neighbor’s potted plant is. We all grew up together in the same house: for billions of years, we have all shared the same ground for one bed and the same stars for one roof. I feel so cozy, so well, so surrounded by family, to sleep in a bedroom with flowers and dogs and humans and cats.
I love getting to give a dog food, take them out to explore and play, listen to their non-verbal and verbal words, and provide them with shelter from the elements, not because this dog is going to herd my sheep or guard my junkyard, but just because my desire to see others doing well includes them too. Have there been humans who just want a cheap shepherd or an attentive watchman? I’m sure. Am I the first human in history who just wanted a friend? I bet history, just like modern days, is packed with people very similar to me who just wanted to take care of animals out of love.
Sometimes the world can be harsh, barren, greedy, cruel, and I’m not saying every animal is a boneless plushie who wants to be my friend. Sharks eat. Wolves eat. Humans eat. Alligators eat. Bacteria and grasshoppers and lice eat. Tornadoes eat and the desert eats and the sea’s appetite is like that of a hungry god. And there are things many of us do to avoid being eaten. A bird will most likely fly away from my approach. I don’t walk around in a make-believe land. But, I just like to not ignore the ways that so many of us get along on fine terms. I think it’s really nice how we living beings, no matter the species, can take care of one another.
Article written by A Crow Indoors With Sunlight Shining In Through The Nearby Windows, Warming And Illuminating Her Beak And Her Feathers (January 2026)
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