I appreciate where you are coming from — but this is silly.

People aren’t choosing between spending money on “pets” and “other people”. They are choosing between spending money on a specific creature, their beloved pet, as opposed to giving it to some organization or group that abstractly helps other people en masse.

This is just human nature, and there’s nothing wrong with it. And I can say this as someone who has two charming dogs, and spends more money on helping other people than on those dogs.

The reason we have government is to handle these large-scale issues that individuals can’t. We should be taking care of our children, our pets, and our friends, and our society should be dealing with the bigger issues.

I understand in America that this isn’t working, and yes, you should be spending money to mitigate the problem, but don’t feel guilty for spending money on your pets as well.