PEA Animal Care and pets

Paul and I were discussing the Animal Care aspect of PEA and cats and dogs came up.  On a farm or homestead, a dog can have a farm-related purpose like livestock guarding or herding or rat terrorizing.  Cats can keep rodents under control and prevent sunbeams from drying out the soil.  Can they provide services like that in an apartment?  

Certainly they can be service animals, emotional support, companionship and a reason to go for a walk.  They just aren't "producing" much in a permaculture homesteading sense.  

So for those reasons, we're thinking cats and dogs and other "pets" aren't a part of the Animal Care aspect.  If Fido or Fuzzy Beans catches mice or rats in your apartment, there is a BB to claim that.  But caring for them doesn't earn you any points.

The badge is focused on things you can do to care for wild animals, address pests, cycle fertility and raise food inside your apartment.

Hmmmm, what about "pets with benefits." Worms that help compost, bunnies that make poop/fertilizer, even using the poop from your pet bird, fish that you keep that you use the water for watering your plants (or grow plants aquatically from the tank). Maybe angora rabbits--or even dog fur--that you use for spinning or stuffing.

Maybe there could be a BBs for:

- water your plants with the poopy water you sucked up from your fish tank

- harvest and utilize bunny or bird droppings

- harvest fur from your bunny/dog/cat (this might fit better into textiles)

- grow plants in your aquarium (here's a thread on growing food in a tiny aquarium for cheep, and what fish to use, etc https://permies.com/t/84041/grow-herbs-fish-cheap-Easy)

Oh yeah, there are BBs for taking care of bunnies (presumption being that they're for fiber or meat), vermicompost, silk worms, vermicomposting manure from your other animal systems and lots of other ones.

Growing plants in water would probably be in Gardening but I'm not sure it's in there.  Harvesting fiber from a bunny would probably be for a higher badge level (Straw?).

When I did the original list, I left cats and dogs off by intention. My experiences are that very few house cats catch live mice. They're just too well fed most of the time to do more than play with mice. Dog and especially cat fecal matter shouldn't be used for anything due to the risks to human health that can pass from animal to human. (2 year composting of it in an apartment seems out of the question) I was thinking of fiber harvest, but since I figured to put textile fur harvest in Straw, I left it out of the Sand level entirely.

Part of me wants to say leave them off of Sand level entirely. If they're on there at all, maybe showing proof that a pet has killed a household pest, but that is more up to chance than any skill on the part of the person earning the badge. Those were my original thoughts on the matter. I'm willing to be convinced otherwise however.