Ingrid Newkirk, the president of PETA, said calling them pets is derogatory and suggests they are merely a 'commodity' or 'decoration'

Cats and dogs seem perfectly happy to be fed, watered and cuddled by doting owners.

But whatever you do, don't call them pets, says the head of an animal rights organisation.

Ingrid Newkirk, the president of PETA, said this is derogatory and suggests they are merely a 'commodity' or 'decoration'.

The group – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – has long called for owners to be renamed 'human carers' or guardians.

Yesterday, the animal rights activist, 70, from Surrey, compared calling animals pets to the treatment of women before feminism, when they were not allowed to own property or were patronisingly called 'sweetie' or 'honey' to make them seem 'less of a person'.

Miss Newkirk said: 'Animals are not pets – they are not your cheap burglar alarm, or something which allows you to go out for a walk. They are not ours as decorations or toys, they are living beings.

'A dog is a feeling, whole individual, with emotions and interests, not something you 'have'.'

It is estimated almost 45 per cent of UK households have a pet – about 51million animals – mainly dogs.

Miss Newkirk, who once set fire to a car at a motor show and has stripped naked numerous times to publicise PETA's high-profile 'I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur' campaign, said the language used around animals is important.

She wants people to describe the animals they look after as 'companions', adding: 'How we say things governs how we think about them, so a tweak in our language when we talk about the animals in our homes is needed.

'A pet is a commodity but animals should not be things on shelves or in boxes, where people say, 'I like the look of that one, it matches my curtains or my sense of myself.'

The group – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – has long called for owners to be renamed 'human carers' or guardians. A golden retriever pet dog is pictured above [File photo]

'Hopefully the time is passing for that kind of attitude.'

Some ethicists have argued that people should not keep pets at all. Last year, Dr Corey Wrenn, from the University of Kent, said: 'Through this forced dependency and domestication, the lives of companion animals are almost completely controlled by humans. They can be terminated at any time for the most trivial of reasons, including behavioural 'problems'.'

Miss Newkirk, who has written a book, called Animalkind, about animals' abilities and the need to be compassionate towards them, also wants phrases such as 'flog a dead horse' to stop being used because they refer to animal cruelty.