Pets in Heaven? Don’t bet on it.

‘Pets in heaven’ is a topic people seem to fret about.  Here at Catholic Stand there are three articles about pets and heaven in the archives.  (Now there’ll be four.)

But if you Google “Are there pets in heaven” you’ll get a whopping 26,800,000 results.   That kind of says that people really do fret about this.

People develop a real attachment to their pets.  In many homes pets are family members.  And for some people who are all alone, pets are companions in a very real sense, and a true source of comfort.

Most anyone who’s ever had a beloved pet die feels grief over the loss.  It may not be the same kind of grief one feels over the loss of a spouse, a parent, a child or any other family member or close human friend, but it is still grief.  Children especially are saddened when a pet dies or has to be “put to sleep.”

Pets are everywhere!

The American Pet Product Association (APPA) estimates that 67 percent of U.S. households own a pet.  Apparently all these household pets add up to  139.3 million freshwater fish; 94.2 million cats; 89.7 million dogs; 20.3 million birds; 18.8 million saltwater fish; 14 million small animals; 9.4 million reptiles; and 7.6 million horses.  That’s a lot of pets.

A lot of pet owners even take out insurance on their pets.  In 2019 the North American Pet Health Insurance Association reported the pet health insurance market surpassed $1.71 billion.  But that’s only a drop in the bucket.  The total money spent on pets in the U.S. in 2020 is estimated to be $99 billion.  That’s a lot of money.

All of these facts and figures just serve to show how important pets are to people.  And not only do people love their pets, they also don’t like it when people are cruel to animals.

According to CharityNavigator.org, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) took in over $241 million in donations in 2018.  The ASPCA also has over $282 million in assets. And ASPCA CEO Matthew Bershadker received about $770,000 in compensation in 2018.  That’s just plain ridiculous.

So animals are important to people.  But we still don’t care much for bugs even though God created them, too.  Except for crickets which some people also keep as pets.  Some people even keep tarantulas as pets.  Go figure.

Pets do have Souls!

Dogs, cats, and all other animals are creatures of this world, just like the plants and insects.  As Genesis 2:19 tells us: “So the LORD God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature was then its name.”

So man was given dominion over all living creatures.  And even though God created all the dogs and cats and animals, as well as plants and insects, they cannot know God.  They cannot sin.  They can only be what they are.  And much of what they are is instinctive.  They do not have rationale souls.  They have only material souls.

Man, however, was created in the image and likeness of God and only man has an immortal, rationale soul.  Only man can choose between being good and living God’s truths, or choosing evil.  Animals cannot.

Material Souls and Rationale Souls

A simple definition of the soul is that the soul is the principle or source of life in a living thing.  So humans have souls, and so do our pets, as well as all other animals and plants.

But According to both Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas there are three kinds of souls:

• Plant or vegetative souls that enable reproduction, growth, and nutrition;
• Animal or sensory souls that enable sense cognition, sense appetite, locomotion, reproduction, growth, and nutrition;
• Human or rationale souls that enable intellect, will, sense cognition, sense appetite, locomotion, reproduction, growth, and nutrition.

The first two kinds of souls are material souls.  They form the physical body they require for existence, but when the body dies the soul dies.

The human soul, however, is both immortal and rationale.  And unlike angels, which are pure spirit, the human soul is spirit in the form of a human body.  The rationale soul forms the human body, but when the physical body ceases to function, the soul separates from the body and continues to live on.

When pets die they’re dead

The long and the short of this is that when our human bodies die, our souls go to heaven, purgatory, or hell.  When our pets’ bodies die, just like when bugs die or flowers die, they cease to exist.

This only makes sense because animals and plants cannot know God.  They cannot choose between good and evil so they merit no eternal reward for being virtuous or eternal punishment for being bad.

To say this another way, if a dog can go to heaven, then it logically follows that a hyena can go to heaven.  Logically this means a dog or a hyena can also go to hell.  But why would God punish a dog for being a dog or a hyena for being a hyena?  Neither a dog nor a hyena has an intellect or a will and, therefore, no way of discerning virtuous behavior from evil behavior.

Animal consciousness and sense cognition (the process of acquiring limited knowledge through experience and the senses) does not equal will and intellect.  So, once again, they cannot know God or differentiate between good and evil.

In the Archives

Almost four years ago CS writer Nada Mazzei started the ‘pets in heaven’ ball rolling here saying, “In the end, we do not have a definitive answer about whether or not there will be animals in heaven. It has not been clearly revealed to us.”  But while this has not been clearly revealed, logic and rationale thinking tells us our pets do not go to heaven.

In May 2018, CS writer Edward Monti chimed in saying, “Sadly, many people in authority, such as priests, deacons, school teachers and parents, confidently state that only people go to heaven. This seems to me not only presumptuous but foolish. I believe all pets go to heaven. It is a logical expectation. God loves animals, for He loves all that He created.”

Monti may believe there are pets in heaven, but this does not make it so.  And it is anything but a “logical expectation.”  God’s love for everything and all the living creatures He created is undeniable, yet human souls still end up in hell even though God loves us.  His love for us is not a guarantee that we will end up in heaven.  Logically, then, it follows that His love for animals does not mean they will end up heaven.

The Most Recent Offering

Last year CS writer JP Nunez sided with Monti.  He said, “most Catholic websites are going to say that animals don’t go to heaven (or anywhere else) when they die.”  Then he said that we should disagree with this.

“While animals cannot think rationally, they are conscious and they have feelings, and I would suggest that those traits also transcend the limitations of mere matter. As a result, animals must have some spiritual component as well.”

But consciousness does not mean that a spiritual component is present.  And the instinctive sensory cognition to feel loss over a pup or loyalty to an owner who provides food and play also does not mean a spiritual component is present.  So this argument is also illogical.

And lest we forget, The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say about animals:

2418 It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.

An Analysis

I understand how people can get attached to their pets.  I and my family have had numerous pets.  Two of my dogs died and three other dogs had to be ‘put to sleep.’  There was always an immediate sense of loss, but as the old adage says, ‘time heals all wounds.’

It is perhaps only natural that when someone loses a beloved pet the person may hope he/she and the pet will be ’reunited’ in heaven.  But such thinking is emotional rather than logical thinking.  It is purely a way of coping with loss.

As Jesus told the Sadducees who were questioning Him about who a woman would be married to in heaven when she’d had seven husbands on earth:

“When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven” [Mark 12:25].

So if husbands and wives cannot expect to be reunited in heaven after they die, why would anyone expect to see a dead pet again?

The Messianic Age

One of the most often used set of verses to justify the belief that there will be pets in heaven is Isaiah 11:6-9.  Isaiah talks about leopards lying down with goats, cows and bears grazing together, and the baby playing by the viper’s den.

But Isaiah is describing the Messianic Age – after the Second Coming.  So it is conceivable that after the Second Coming God might bring our beloved pets back to life.  But I wouldn’t bet on that either.

Heaven is Unimaginable

Those souls who have made it to heaven experience, as St Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

One of my Faith Formation students came up to me after a class a couple years ago and asked “What’s heaven like?”  I replied that I really did not know because I haven’t been there.  Then I told him we know it’s going to be wonderful because God tells us so and He only tells us what it true.

“Think about the happiest moment in your life so far,” I said.

I gave him a few seconds and then asked, “Have you got it?  Well, heaven is a zillion times better than that.”

We won’t need our pets in heaven.  We will be with God.