Good help
Ever since man learned to walk on two feet he have had some good help in animals. At first he looked at them entirely as food, but over the years he learned that domesticated animals could do a lot of hard work and really help the farmer out. Nowadays pets are mostly used as company, either at home or in hunting.

Life has changed
The ox was used to draw the plough over the field. Yes, it was hard work, but he was strong and got a lot of fresh air. He’s now situated in a cowshed - bonded. After his death he’s eaten, and his only purpose in life is to have sex with a plastic-cow!

Not to mansion the horse. He was also used to draw ploughs and to riding. His life has changed drastically; machines have taken over his work and the only wagons he now draws are small, have two wheels, one passenger - and people drive to win money!

Even cats and dogs are bought for earning money. They don’t walk out in the free anymore - they’re bathed, groomed, cut and perfumed to look and smell their best before they go to another exhibition.

Society now - and then
Man and his pets were working- companions. In a society based on farming for survival, man was dependent of his animals. They helped him with the hard work, they kept predators away and they help the shepherds protecting the sheeps from the wolves.
Their society was based on mutual respect and help. The animals weren’t kept for fun - they were kept to keep the families alive.
Both animals and spouses were kept because of the work they could do.

There are no animals doing hard work at the fields anymore. There are no animals being kept for our society to survive.
Today - in our society - both animals and spouses are kept for the love they give to their "owners". Our lives are no longer based on work, but of emotions.

But among the angels there are always some devils dressed in white. They don’t acquire animals for love - but for earning money!
This shows that our society has changed from being a hard-working honest society to a materialistic society where - for somebody - money are more valuable than love.

Why has it changed?
The answer of why society has changed from our grandparents were young and till now are not easy to find. I don’t think there are only one, but several answers to the question:

The animals got superfluous when the machines arrived, so man had to come up with something else to let them do - and the result we already know…
Another reason can be that we all have more money between our hands, and as we know, a lot wants more…
After machines taking over the agriculture, people have more time for love and fun.

Attached to pets
People are more attached to their pets on the emotional level now than they used to before.
My theory is that it’s because people spend more quality time with their pets, so they learn to know them in a whole different way. We can again compare this to a marriage: Now we get married because of love, but earlier they got married because of the work the spouses could do. It was more like a practical than an emotional marriage.

Just like the relationship to pets and domestic animals were practical, but has turned emotional - a symbol on our own society…