This article explores the interconnections between animal and child victimization. Employing a symbolic interactionist perspective, I ask the following questions: What role do pets play in the lives of abused children? In what ways do children become entangled in the victimization of their pets? How do these children respond to the abuse of their pets? What do these covictimization experiences mean to the child? From a qualitative content analysis of selected personal and published accounts of abused children's experiences with their pets, I found that pets offer these children a lifeline in the form of emotional social support. However, these children become entangled in their pet's victimization in various ways by the perpetrator's perversion of this social support. Although children often resist this perversion, they ultimately face a challenge to their identity.
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