Letters to the Editor
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you can make a good argument that dogs and cats have feelings, but it's difficult to make a case that they are fundamentally different from a pig
apart from the dogs or cats greater apparent capacity for social and emotional relationships as manifested in the relationship that we experience with them. With dogs at least I think you can make a reasonable case that the evidence shows that canine social relationships are of a qualitatively different nature than those of even other mammals. With cats the evidence seems less definitive. Yes all mammals bond with their mothers and most have some herd sensibility. There's a difference though between a general herd bond, yes I know they know they can distinguish individuals, and what a dog has with people which is a very strong emotional bond. Dogs have been domesticated a long time too, it may be that their relationship with humans now has evolved biologically.