ABSTRACT
Marginalised companion animals are kept to contribute something beneficial to humans’ daily lives, ranging from objectified ornaments to companions with developed subjectivities. While claiming a connection with the animals in our homes, little consideration is given to the natural histories or status as captive wild animals that render these creatures fundamentally different from domesticated pets. Misconceptions about the needs of these species are perpetuated by the pet industry, setting human-pet relationships up for failure and limiting the potentiality for deeper understandings of these animals. Breaking through impoverished human conceptions requires acknowledgement that animals have their own leisure needs to be considered. We must destabilise the power dynamic inherent in human-pet relationships, compromising to give animals as much freedom as possible to be themselves, in order to better understand the pets who share our homes.
