Gatos fidalgos, cálculos renais e as humanidades dos animais de estimação

Abstract

The starting point of this work is the anthropomorfi zation of pets. The discussion usually brings about the idea that we extend to them what we consider culture. However, this paper tries to fi nd out, from the description of a clinical procedure for removing kidney stones from a fat cat, the equivalences that characterize continuities between humans and animals in urban contexts, and if it is also applied to what we value as nature. Moreover, in this sense, the goal of this research is to show that some recent changes in the relations between humans and animals, especially related to new forms of diagnosis and medical treatment, provide more than symbolic properties on animals taken as means to think about human societies. Nevertheless, they allow rethinking the place of animals in the composition of what we call social and their place in the contemporary anthropological debate.