Read and think about the following statement. Pets should be treated like family members. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Give reasons to support your opinion

Nowadays, in our society, a lot of people associate their beloved animals with family members considering them as their children, for example. I totally agree with this idea. I think that treating pets as a family is something that should be seen as normal. I feel this way for two reasons which I will examine in this essay. First of all, pets are well known to reduce stress and anxiety being used even in medical research. Obviously, people who own animals like dogs can use them as a tool to improve their mental health and in this process, they can attract these animals. In other words, pets are used as a treatment by improving their owner's health and because of that people started to treat them as part of the family. This is best demonstrated by my personal experience. When I was a child I developed anxiety, my parents started to take me to doctors as a way to treat it and my doctor suggested buying a dog as part of my treatment. Consequently, They bought me a dog that I named Lucky. Lucky helped me in dark moments and he was always there to support me when I was not feeling good. This relationship was genuine and I loved Lucky as a brother. If my parents had not bought lucky, I would not have recovered so well from my mental illness. Second, people have different feelings and can deal in different ways with their problems so we not should judge them because they got to attach to an animal. A person could be too shy to develop a great relationship with another person, but with an animal, this would not be a problem. In other words, someone can develop a better relationship with a pet and this should not be judged by anyone. For instance, after Lucky died a got two other dogs and I love them as I loved lucky, I feel way more comfortable being around my dogs them talking to another person, my dogs don't judge me and they are always there to give me support, so I am a perfect example of someone that has a better relationship with a pet. In conclusion, I believe that a person can treat an animal as a family member since they can help improve our mental health. Also, I believe that people are different and someone should not be judged just because he deals better with animals them humans.