Yeah that's how my family saw our dog when I was a kid. And I'm sad to say the dog suffered as a result. Not out of malice but out of objectification. We would get so angry whenever she whined at night, or wanted to get out of her crate, or howled because she was unhappy. As if "how dare she inconvenience us". Looking back on that I want to say "I'm so sorry Coke, you didn't deserve that, we should have treated you like a member of the family and we didn't, and you suffered because of it".

My husband taught me to appreciate the unique personalities of all animals. And now that I have Sagan, when he meows and is loud and annoying, it just endears me to him because it's a sign of his bright little consciousness - that he, an aware sentient being, is communicating to me, another aware sentient being. In the most effective way he knows. How can I be mad at that?

I still think I could be a better cat mum. But I am leagues better at relating to animals than I was as a child.

They are not objects, they are beings with inner lives and subjective experiences and needs and emotions.