the.com/pets
Animals we feed, name, and apologize to for leaving the house.
means Domesticated animals kept for companionship and affection rather than labor or food.
from From a 16th-century Scots and northern English word for a hand-reared lamb or indulged child — basically, the spoiled favorite. The meaning stretched to any cherished animal, and the verb to pet (to fondle, to coddle) followed the same soft logic.
Tax historyDogs once carried license fees like vehicles.
Brain effectPetting them lowers human cortisol measurably.
Mutual conCats may have domesticated us first.