My only anecdata is that I have only noticed it in the past few years, and it makes my skin crawl. Don&#x27;t know how to get good data on the extent or prevalence of this practice, sounds like a lot of work.<p>I&#x27;m describing an extreme, but I reckon it&#x27;s the case that in American society there has been a significant increase in the use of animals for emotional work. As in treating domestic animals as pets and members of the family rather than work animals (for deterring vermin, hunting, guide work, &amp;c.). Referring to pets by familial terms is a linguistic reflection of that.