Are we allowed to pray for our pets or is this sacrilegious ?

Rev Father, I wondered if I could ask you a question: are we allowed to pray for our pets or is this sacrilegious?
Some people pray or ask for prayers for their pets and I was wondering if this is an improper and unhallowed act?
I send you my regards and I thank you.
God bless You.
Cecilia

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Answer from the priest

Dear Cecilia,
1. it is allowed to pray for all animals’ well-being and prosperity.
God gifted animals to humans so they could be of help to us.
In fact, in the Roman Ritual we find prayers of blessing for the animals. There are prayers for their healing, in case of sickness.

2. Here is the formula of the blessing to pray for their healing to be found in the Roman Ritual: ‘“God, by the means of dumb animals You have given help to men in their labors. We humbly beg of You that these animals, without which our human wants cannot be supplied, be not lost to our use, through Christ our Lord. Amen”.

3. And again: “We humbly beg of You, Lord, in Your mercy, that in Your name and by the power of Your blessing, You cure these animals, afflicted with a serious disease. May all power of the devil that is in them be driven out. And that they be not any more afflicted by diseases, Lord, be for them a guard of their life and remedy producing health”.

4. On 17th January, on the feast of St. Anthony the Abbot, patron Saint of animals, it is customary in many places to have stables blessed, or to gather animals in front of churches to be blessed by the priest.
This is the blessing recited on this occasion: “May these animals, Lord, receive Your blessing. Keep them sound in body, and through the intercession of Saint Anthony […]  may they be freed from every evil, through Christ our Lord. Amen”.

5. Furthermore, there is also a blessing for the bees: “May they multiply and be fruitful and be preserved from all evils’’ and so that ‘’the product which comes from them (wax especially) be lit in church during the carrying out of the sacred office in which the most holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ thy Son is made present and is received; […] for thy praise and that of thy Son and the holy Spirit and of the most blessed Virgin Mary. Through Christ our Lord. Amen”.

6. There is a blessing for silkworms too, so that “through the beauty of the linens with which the altar cloths are made, the faithful have reason to glorify the Lord with all their heart’’(t./ed.)

7. On the other hand, Daniel’s canticle, which is recited in the Lauds oF the first Sunday of the month and oF all the feasts, mentions various animals as they give praise to their Creator with their life and with their presence.
The Lord himself invites us to bless him for the animals he created.
“Bless the Lord, whales, and everything that moves in the waters, praise and glorify him forever!’’. Here are the words with which to praise him.

‘’Bless the Lord, every kind of bird, praise and glorify him forever!

Bless the Lord, all animals wild and tame, praise and glorify him forever!’’.(https://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=34&bible_chapter=3)

8. The Italian Episcopal Conference Benedizionale is more succinct and offers a blessing applicable to all animals.

It does not refer to healings nor to possible infestations (even though that may well be the case) and it is enunciated as follows:
“O God, the author and giver of every gift, animals also are part of the way you provide help for our needs and labors. We pray (through the intercession of Saint N.) that you will make available for our use the things we need to maintain a decent human life. We ask this through Christ our Lord’’.
Or: “O God, you have done all things wisely; in your goodness you have made us in your image and given us care over other living things. Reach out with your right hand
and grant that these animals may serve our needs and that your bounty in the resources of this life may move us to seek more confidently the goal of eternal life.
We ask this through Christ our Lord’’.(https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=1187#:~:text=We%20therefore%20invoke%20the%20divine,walk%20always%20in%20his%20law) 

To sum this up, it is not wrong to pray for animals. Quite the opposite.

I bless you, I wish you all good things, and I remember you in my prayers.

Fr Angelo

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