It's actual brainrot. It's possible that domesticating wolves helped our socialization as a species, and we're so damn good at civilization that we (sort of) won over cats, creatures that are still aloof and skittish even today when feral, but some lib uses the word "furbaby" and now pets are degenerate, or something. It's a good thing the vast majority of us don't need horses for labor anymore, or half this site would be getting gored trying to figure out oxen just to spite horse girls.