There is only one instance where God is specific.

Genesis 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

No where else are His creations given this "breath of life" which made them a "living soul".

So the answer is indeed No.

Catholic theology certainly doesn't assure us that our pets will be in heaven, but I can't say that I am convinced it firmly denies it, either.

Hmmm. My husband always held that cats would go to heaven. However, he also believed that it might be a good idea to leave milk out for the Fair Folk -- just in case.

As a christian, albeit a struggling one, when my dog Sundance was fatally injured on January 7th, I got busy in my grief, searching and researching scripture, scholars commentaries, concordance info, greek (new testament), hebrew (old testament)____I have written about this extensively on my blog, blog.foreversundance.org____Also, on my blog, I posted a statement by Pope John Paul II in 1990 to a public audience titled, 'Animals Do Posess A Soul"____I have conclude the following:____Animals need not be redeemed, man fell, not them, and we were given dominion over them, even to name them by "kind"__Romans Chapter 8 tells us the "whole creation" waits to be freed from the bondage to decay that was not it's own choosing, and waits to be brought into the "glory of the sons of GOD)__Psalms 104 tells us they are created when God sends his "spirit"__Nathan, when sent by GOD to confront King David, for his sin, used a parable of a pet relationship. Would GOD have allowed the use of a parable about the loss of a pet relationship if not significant?" find in 2 Samuel__

Seeing as animals including pets can not sin and that god saved them from the floods (Noah) and that god made every thing on earth so hed must have breathed life into them, and that he said that even the smallest bird would fall without his knowing of it. All animals have a right to be in heaven. I certainly hope so because life without animals is not a life. Birds singing an animals devotion and love for it carers.

I do not think that God would make pets that love and protect us to discard them without any recognition if they pass as if they do not deserve his blessings. Do you? They are his little creatures and I would not go against God, but he did NOT say they did not have a soul, he did not tell us all the mysteries of the bible because we will find out one day. He did not have to tell us everything such as how to make a rainbow.

It would seem that most of these opinions of Catholics that even the animals of higher sentience cease to exist at physical death come from the writings of Thomas Aquinas.

Aquinas held opinions in error and this is likely one of them. Although I agree with some of what he wrote I'm no Thomist. You might want to read this document by two Catholics who believe there will definitely be restored and resurrected animals from our present world in the New Creation.
http://www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com/print/Arti...

(These men follow the rule of St. Benedict, and while they are Sedevacantists their reasoning and facts are sound.)

St. Irenaeus of Lyon hinted at the resurrection of animals in his work Against Heresies, a text of the very earliest times (late 2nd Century).

St. Irenaeus of Lyon: Against Heresies: Book V, chapter 33, v. 4:

" ... nevertheless in the resurrection of the just [the words shall also apply] to those animals mentioned. For God is rich in all things. And it is right that when the creation is restored, all the animals should obey and be in subjection to man, and revert to the food originally given by God (for they had been originally subjected in obedience to Adam), that is, the productions of the earth."

Now for my opinion as an Orthodox Christian:

The Holy Orthodox Church has never dogmatized the ultimate fate of non-human creatures since they are guiltless before their Creator. She has rightly so been preoccupied with the salvation of human beings who will give account before God for every idle word they have spoken.

Since they have no guilt even though they commit acts that were never intended by God, they either pass out of existence OR they are resurrected and refashioned with a *new* body as befits their nature for existence in the New Creation.

ONLY GOD is immortal; every created being, man included, exists only by the energies and grace of the Most Holy Trinity (Acts: 17:28). None of us possess an intrinsically "immortal" soul.
And while the Church has rightly discerned the will of God that human beings created in His image will continue to exist after physical death, She has never stated dogmatically concerning the continuing existence of non-human creatures after their physical death.

If a sinner such as I can weep at the death of a faithful and loving dog, then surely from what we know of the character of Christ - He must love them even more. And since He never intended death for ANY part of His creation, and His Father notices even the death of every tiny bird, and both Scripture and Tradition clearly imply that there will be animals in the New Creation, why then would He not restore those guiltless creatures who never rebelled against Him, but suffer due to the self-willed rebellion of man?

There are many Orthodox priests and theologians who believe that most if not each and every one of the animals that have lived through the corruption and death they received due to the Fall of man will be restored in that great Day when Christ delivers up the Kingdom to His Father and God becomes "all in all".
http://oca.org/reflections/fr.-john-breck/poker-r...
http://www.ukrainian-orthodoxy.org/questions/2005...
http://www.ukrainian-orthodoxy.org/questions/2010...

And this from another Orthodox priest:

"A great saint by the name of St. Isaac the Syrian said that heaven is the presence and love of God. Heaven is not a place high above the earth, like a planet or a star. God is everywhere, and heaven is the enjoyment of the sunshine of his love.

Do animals survive beyond death and go to heaven? That's a hard question. In the lives of saints, we are told that many had animals as good friends. In Orthodox icons, St. Gerasimos is shown with a lion. The saint has just pulled a thorn from the lion's paw, which he holds tenderly. Both the man and the lion gaze happily toward Christ, who is in heaven. St. Seraphim of Sarov, who lived in a forest for many years, is shown peacefully feeding a huge grizzly bear. I have no doubt that these saints would rejoice in seeing their animal friends in heaven.

What does the Bible say about this? Not much explicitly. The Bible's focus is on people, the salvation of their souls, their resurrection at the end of time, and the fullness of life in God's eternal light.

However, the first and last books of the Bible tell us something hopeful about all creatures of the earth. The book of Genesis says that "God made the wild animals...and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:25)! In the book of Psalms we read: "Every wild animal of the forest is mine.... I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine" (Psalm 50:10). Would not a loving God want all things that he has made to live with Him forever?

A hint of this is in the book of Revelation, which teaches that evil and the power of death, which are a corruption of all that is good, will be completely defeated and a new world more glorious than ours will arise. God's promise is: "See, I make all things new" (Revelation 21:5).

Why should death finally win out and swallow up any of God's good creatures? Would not God then be defeated, and death prove stronger than God? Because God is the ruler of all creation, and loves everything in it with a love that never fails, I have hope that we will see our animal friends again somehow, just as St. Gerasimos will see his lion, and St. Seraphim his bear."

Father Theodore Stylianopoulos

(Fr. Stylianopoulos was on the theological staff of the Orthodox Study Bible.)

And He Who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." (Revelation 21:5 NKJ)

(You'll notice He DIDN'T say that He would make "all new things!)