This is a tough one. I don’t have any pets, but I did have them as a child. I think I’d prefer it if they could make me understand something – such as if they’re in need of a vet or if they’d like to go for a walk etc., but they do have ways of communicating.
I’d like to tell them how much I love them and appreciate them, but you can show them love, and I think that they do understand that you love them. Perhaps my tropical fish didn’t but they used to jump around the aquarium when I would approach them at feeding time 😀.
Anyway, I like to think of this passage from the Old Testament that suggests that animals will have a role in the New Heavens and New Earth:
Isaiah 11:6-9
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Wouldn’t it be nice to see all your old pets when you get to heaven? I just think of how joyful it would be – like that scene at the end of the Titanic where everyone comes back to life. But that’s just dreaming and speculation. I don’t build my beliefs on dreams, but that doesn’t stop me wishing or dreaming.
Yet what is impossible with men is possible with God, so I wouldn’t utterly rule it out. Animals don’t sin. You could argue that their suffering and death is related to human sin. And if everything is to be put right, why shouldn’t they live again – and forever? But we’ll see.
Matthew 10:29
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.
Here are a couple of happy hymns about animals and the future:
Hibernia Gospel 