God loves all the creatures He made--including you! And I think God knew how comforting our “furry friends” would be, especially on days when other relationships in our lives are disappointing. There’s something about the low rumble of our kitty’s purring or the cold, wet nuzzle of our doggy’s nose that whispers to us of the love of God.

Ellen White had some important things to say about animals. She loved animals—especially baby animals—and advocated caring responsibly for all God’s creatures. Once, she even scolded a man for making his horse pull an
outrageously heavy load.

Though there is no written record of indoor pets in Ellen White’s home, she did mention a watch dog named Tiglath-Pileser that she owned while living in Australia.

Ellen White felt that God directed in her selection of Charlie, a faithful horse given to the White family to draw a donated carriage. She enjoyed freeing Charlie’s harness so he could pick and eat apples off the trees they passed when he was pulling their buggy. Ellen White bought milk cows in Australia, but she refused to use the customary confinements for milking. The neighbors couldn’t believe their eyes when she treated her cows gently, and taught them to be “docile.” —Letter 42, 1895, pp. 1, 2. (To Dr. J. H. Kellogg, Aug. 28, 1905.)

Grace Jacques, Ellen White’s granddaughter, remembered a canary kept in the kitchen of Ellen White’s Elmshaven home. Alma McKibben also recalled seeing Ellen White sitting in her Elmshaven garden with newly hatched chicks in her lap. Ellen White owned livestock at her northern California home, and enjoyed going out to see the new calves.

Ellen White wrote several times of her discomfort in seeing animals mistreated. She also said that many animals form strong attachments for their “people” and may experience great suffering when they are separated from their owners.

“Animals are often transported long distances and subjected to great suffering in reaching a market. Taken from the green pastures and traveling for weary miles over the hot, dusty roads, or crowded into filthy cars, feverish and exhausted, often for many hours deprived of food and water, the poor creatures are driven to their death, that human beings may feast on the carcasses.” — Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 385

“The intelligence displayed by many dumb animals approaches so closely to human intelligence that it is a mystery. The animals see and hear and love and fear and suffer. They use their organs far more faithfully than many human beings use theirs. They manifest sympathy and tenderness toward their companions in suffering. Many animals show an affection for those who have charge of them, far superior to the affection shown by some of the human race. They form attachments for man which are not broken without great suffering to them. —Ministry of Healing, p. 315, 316.

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Sources:
Video: Elmshaven Memories; Alma McKibben oral history interview

Arthur White’s biography, The Australian Years