Personal 'a'
In a recent thread I posted about my ferrets, territurtle asked
do animals take the "personal a" like humans when they are pets?
I thought this was a good question so, for a wider audience, does anyone know?
I know in English animals are usually referred to impersonally, but with pets people often refer to them in the way we do humans, ie we use 'who' instead of which or that and he or she rather than it.
I am not sure if it’s strictly correct grammatically but I know a lot of people wouldn't like it if I referred to their beloved pet as an 'it'. In fact on a ferret forum it would probably cause a major row to erupt.
5 Answers
Yes they do, and even sometimes just domestic animals do, such as 'a' los pollos - 'the chickens', not chickens generally but the ones in your henhouse 
Here's a couple of reference works that address the subject:
Yes, they do.
If it has a heartbeat, it needs the personal "a".
hmmm no estoy de acuerdo - not always - animals in general won't take the personal a and neither will people if you are not referring to anyone specific (except if you are using the pronouns nadie, alguién, quién etc).
For example:
Conozco a dos maestros, I know two teachers. referring to specific people
Necesito dos maestros, I need two teachers. unknown, non-specific (no personal a)
Thanks guys, I love this place, you get answers so quickly 
If it has a heartbeat, it needs the personal "a".
