Animals in TV series can speak, make gourmet meals, and even perform detective investigations. We adore them for being cute and smart, and after watching an animal-featured movie, we immediately have the urge to buy a pet. But once we find one, we soon realize they can’t cook like the rat from Ratatouille, nor do they have a wonderful sense of humor like the guinea pig from G-Force. The veil of charm falls down, causing people to abandon their pets — and unfortunately, this happens often and is a cruel statistic nowadays.

We at Bright Side couldn’t help but share some stories about how important it is to think realistically when getting a pet after watching a pet-featured film. There’s a bonus at the end of the article proving not only movies influence people’s decisions.

1. Game of Thrones fans started buying huskies like crazy and then abandoned them with the same enthusiasm.

2. The Harry Potter books and movies made people want owls as domestic pets.

5. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) gave birth to the cruelest abandonment of turtles.

6. 101 Dalmatians (1961 and 1996) caused people to buy Dalmatians and then leave them because they were “inconvenient.”

7. Ratatouille (2007), the charismatic rat, inspired people to buy rats as pets.

8. Pixar’s Finding Nemo and Finding Dory pushed the species of clownfish to a threatening place.

9. The Men In Black movie sparked the purchasing of pugs.

Bonus: The “Dulux” paint advertisement inspired the immense sales of Old English Sheepdogs.

We buy pets because of “trends” that are driven by popular culture rather than their “functional traits.” In other words, no matter how big it may grow, how much it slobbers, or how much of your belongings it may eat, if it looks attractive in a movie, we want it regardless of the repercussions. But we need to remember that any living creature has its own right to live a happy life and doesn’t deserve to be someone’s temporary toy.

Have you ever felt the urge to buy a pet after watching a pet show or movie? What pet was it and did you eventually buy one?