IMHO it's pretty clear this was designed to be a gold sink.
That is, rich players will spend a lot of gold (say 40m if they keep it, or someone else 100m if they buy), and only earn one pet, which, even if it's amazing, won't help them become more rich, at least not more than Sammy and arcane ring already do.
So, please everyone, stop complaining that S&S are for rich players only. It was meant to be this way, from the very beginning.