'an owl OR a cat OR a toad' - oh why?

A comment that junediamanti made on straussmonster's (friendlocked) LJ started me wondering about the purpose of the students' animals.

I've always had a simmering confusion about why it doesn't matter which animal a student brought. Does it mean they are just pets - companion animals with no educational/magical purpose? It strikes me as an odd thing for the school to encourage: there's no indication in canon that the students have to do all the care for the animals themselves (otherwise we'd be seeing Harry having to go to owlery a lot more regularly than he does, which would surely impact on some of the Trio's extra-curricular activities), but if the responsibility falls to the school - well, that's a lot of animals to take on, even if it is all done by house-elves.

Also, owls and cats and toads are animals generally associated with magic - surely it can't be an accident that JKR uses those instead of canaries, dogs or mice? Or is she just giving it a 'witchy' feel without following it through?

And yet we see no sign in canon of the students learning any animal based magic. So are the animals kept for their useful properties - owls to carry the mail, phoenixes to heal and provide magical tail feathers - but the students don't seem to learn about the properties of domestic animals in 'Care of Magical Creatures', and as yet we have no indication of the use of cats (as opposed to Kneazles) or toads (except as potion ingredients). Why would someone want to take a toad to Hogwarts? Did cats and toads once have purposes that have since fallen out of use, making that list Hogwarts issues a relic of tradition, or is there more information still to come? (I think JKR hinted once that there is a significance to all the cats?)

And finally - why was Percy allowed to take an animal not on the list?



( Cat weight woes )