The idea of people cortical-stacking their pets raises some fun ethical questions. Before I get to those, though, I can tell you that anyone who has owned and cared for a pet would find it horrible to perpetually lose them. Now, the fun part is the discussion of cortical-stacking animals and the question of an ethical obligation. Every animal is still a living being, and transhumanity has the power to grant them immortality as surely as anything else. If letting a human die is a terrible sin, surely so is letting an animal die. However, at the same time, does transhumanity have an ethical obligation to save the brain-state of every sparrow? Every insect? Where do we draw the line on those we save and those we condemn to oblivion? This is surely something that someone, somewhere, is debating in the solar system (likely among the Reclaimers, at the very least). This also raises the point of digital pets, both of the AI variety and the digitized consciousness of actual animals. What could be more loving to digitize your animal's consciousness when it dies and let it run in an ecto? When your smart-dog dies, you put its mind in a VR of a forest full of all the squirrels it can chase and an unlimited supply of tastey treats. Let your animal have its little slice of Heaven for as long as you choose, or at least just keep their back-up in case you choose to do so in future.