Is it just me, or has the world gone barking mad?
I see what you did there.
I feel that, only humans can be citizens of any nation because citizenship and laws are a strictly human concept. It follows then that laws and regulations regarding the treatment of other, lesser species, which have no concept of such things, must then not be for their welfare but for our own sake, to deter
us from mistreating animals, as opposed to protecting
them from our mistreatment. I believe the basic foundation of laws is to demonstrate to us humans how much we can err, that we need someone to write it down for us lest we forget. I love my dog, but as far as I know, she is incapable of understanding that she can make mistakes. She does what she does based on an instinctual risk-reward basis, not because she knows right from wrong. To be a citizen requires a higher authority be in place to dispense citizenship, meaning laws must be written so that the authority is recognized as such and that society can be managed. Dogs and cats have no seeming capacity of, or interest in, any of that.
Additionally, that we have domesticated animals is a reflection on us, not the animals. A human gets a pet for companionship and/or protection, things which a human can provide. That a human is with a pet as opposed to another human means that the first person cannot or will not have other humans fill the certain roles the pet takes on. It follows then that to improve the lives of animals, the lives of humans must first be improved.