"Only man's ego puts man at the top of the Darwanistic evolutionary bullshit chain" This was top brother :)

This is a really beautiful way to frame the loss of a pet Bob. Listening to you speak about this brought back memories of losing my childhood dog Ranger and watching my grandparents dog Jack be put down. Especially with the later experience I have never seen such emotion come from both of my grandparents. I will never forget walking up to my grandfather after we got back from the vet and saying to him I'm so sorry you lost your little friend and him embracing me like a little child and weeping like I had never seen before.

We develop such incredible bonds with these creatures and I love how you put it that we have so much to gain from them and really they aren't get much in return. Who ever says altruism does not exist in the nature world hasn't felt this bond I think.