For the vast majority of #millennials, animals have replaced children. Instead of going through the time, effort, and expense of reproducing, we outsourced the whole thing to cats and dogs, who now reside in our homes in record numbers.

This can potentially lead to problems if you decide to “grow up” and “get married” – a.k.a. “give into pressure from mom and dad” and “enter into a legal and spiritual union with a 50% success rate.” If the marriage ends up falling apart, figuring out where Fido and Fluffy are going to live can be difficult, taxing, and contentious. One survey of divorce lawyers found that 27% have noticed a notable increase in the number of couples who fight over custody of their pets, with the theory being that some couples are taking advantage of the emotional nature of pet ownership to use pets as bargaining chips in their divorce proceedings.