No surprise, especially since you're part of the animal kingdom.
And your point is?
So at 5 years old, I was failing at my relationships & realized that I needed pets?
We all know there's no age limit on lameness or parental issues.
Or it could be part of something larger than your mind can comprehend. Whether you're a spiritual person or not makes no difference. I am not 'religious' per se, but will say I am spiritual. In my opinion being a part of the animal kingdom, it's our responsibility to embrace all animal life & respect it's existence. If not, there will be none to have & eventually the human animal will be gone to. Yes I stomp on spiders & sure, I used to hunt deer, rabbits, bird, etcc.. for food. It's a co-existence. Having a dog is not for the sake of it being dependent upon me. Having a dog is to bring something in my life that enriches what I already have. Any idiot can buy a car, have sex with prostitutes or have a baby like Octomom to fill voids. Not everyone who haves a pet does for the reason you think of. Otherwise, your kids that you have are a void to fill emotional holes....or....a product of irresponsible fucking. In another words, another great contribution to society.
People always give us the same crap about unconditional love coming from pets. I simply feel most are looking for is the unconditional lovability that can only be achieved through pseudo-relationships. Real relationships are a lot more work than caring for pets. Being with a person takes a level of sacrifice, communication, give, take, etc... There's nothing
wrong with substituting animal bonding for lasting, satisfying relationships. It's just silly, IMO, to compare a dog that can be left in a kennel all day and is happy with a little food, water, attention and the occasional walk to people who require so much more of us. Most of us can feed, water, walk and pet an animal but relationships take a whole lot more effort to 'work'. Pets are just a convenient way for for many folks to have someone that will always need them no matter what, sort of like children that never grow up.
I would never harm, injure or mistreat an animal so saying I hate them is probably not accurate. I just have no use for them but there isn't adequate language to explain the extent to which they and being dependent upon repulse me.
Besides... I said most people. Surely you can appreciate the difference between saying some people use pets to fill emotional voids because they can't form normal, healthy relationships and all pet owners being petwits.