Ok... first off, GREAT post there Joanna! I totally agree...people anthropomorphise their pets WAY too often and then get all worked up when you try to keep the natural order.
I have kept rats as pets before and adore them...but have no compunction feeding them off to my beloved snakes. Why? Because it's nature. I talk to my animals on a regular basis, but not stupid baby talk...I do it to soothe and calm them, since it's the TONE not the words that count. Yes, even with snakes, but then it's the vibration.
People are nuts. They either feel the need to destroy and dominate all creatures because 'humans are superior' OR they have to turn the animals into tiny humans to justify their love for them! Mega sigh! Why the heck can't people just accept the other life forms of this world and get on with it?? Sorry...personal peeve of mine.

Connie - those little ones are SWEET! I love that little blue on the brown fabric, and the cream hooded and Himalayan dumbo are adorable!

Isis - that Halloween story is Precious! I love freaking out the parents probably more than the kids. I'll have to try something like that one year...