Would you save your pet or a stranger's child?

[NotADailyMailJournalist]

Hello all

Slightly inspired by another thread where posters were surprised that people were more interested in someone's dog than their baby...

If you have a cat/dog and you could only save it or a stranger's child/baby, what would you choose?

For the purposes of this thread, no-one would ever find out you'd been given the choice, so you wouldn't face any consequences.

Thanks

I don’t accept the premise of the thread, as I feel sure I could find a way to save them both! However, if a dangerous situation had arisen, I’m fairly certain my cat would have long since scarpered to save himself (cats have a highly developed sense of self preservation!), so I would, of course, save the child.
I can fully understand people loving their pet so much that they couldn’t imagine not saving them in a hypothetical emergency, but I think if it came down to it, most people in real life would save the child, if that really were the only choice.

I guess I'd assume the baby was being saved by its own caregiver, while I would definitely focus on my animal. But would desperately hope to save both. Big horrible dilemma though?
I don't have children if that makes any difference. I feel it does but obviously I only know my own feelings.

Yeah I do, but what would my mum be like without the dog? She wouldn’t cope and she would 100% fall apart with bond she has with the dog? So that’s just like saying do u not know how the family feels loosing the dog that keeps my mum going everyday? I have no clue how it’s going to affect my mum when the dogs no longer here? So yes that’s my answer I Will save my Pet instead 😄 thanks and good night

@WreninaDarkNook I grew up in a least developed country. A tragic percentage of babies die before their first birthday due plain and simply to poverty.
At the same time, I see people in the UK spending a huge amount on luxury pet items, and sometimes thousands on their medical bills. Doggy ice creams and birthday cakes that make for adorable social media pictures rather than for instance meeting the dog's basic needs and sending the difference to a grassroots charity that cares for babies facing malnutrition.
People choose their pet over the stranger's child every day.
And then they call other people sociopathic for being more honest about it.

My dog. Yes, I have a child. And yes, I am a psychopath

Really? Wow

Ah, but would you save your dog over your own child, or just a stranger’s child?

Great post, you speak a lot of truth. Whilst I DO donate to charities I do also spend money on my dog that I don’t need to spend

People would seriously choose a animal over a child?

So i would like to know

IF someone else chose their animal over YOUR CHILD , Would you be ok with that?
Their dog is alive but ur child is dead?
Would you think, ‘Oh well, i understand’

My new thread: Why don't you give more to charity? | Mumsnet

🤣 for having a different opinion?!

I'd be fucking raging. Because humans are illogical like that and primarily driven by the self. But I'd understand it on one level too.

My pet

Or some people are more capable of thinking as a community rather than selfishly.

A dead child is traumatic for more people and has a far more reaching and long lasting impact than your, my, or anyone's, dead dog. Sorry.

Definitely my pets, possibly also other people’s pets, over a random child 😬😬 especially my almost dog who will (hopefully) be an assistance dog (he is very very expensive) so would very much come first over a random child. But also my other pets, who I realise are very much pets, are just tiny babies, and I would save them over myself.

but also on the other hand if someone’s pet was worrying livestock, I would very much be for shooting the pet, even in the (very unlikely) event that it was my pet.

In your opinion.

@LordPercyPercy That's exactly what I mean.
And that's without saying about any of the other unnecessary things a lot of us spend money on, even those of us who aren't especially wealthy.

I feel I should clarify, I don't do any of those things with my dog. I do however take her to the (dog friendly) pub and gym(again dog friendly and in a dodgy area) with me. For protection but also because I like her with me. I do put her above 'just a dog' as she's my companion as well as having a 'job' to do. But I don't buy her unnecessary things apart from the odd dog treat, bones and a few toys (most of her toys are second hand too).

Depends how it happened surely? If dog and child got into difficulty in a lake and the owner jumped in for their dog I wouldn’t think anything of it. I’d only be devastated that I hadn’t been able to save my child. They would be separate events to me. If someone ran my child over deliberately to save their dog of course I’d be devastated and raging. In this instance though it’s all in secret

Honestly? It would depend on the situation but on the spur of the moment I'd probably grab my dog.

It's not unheard of for people to put their own lives at risk to save their pets eg when they've fallen into water or have wandered onto ice. So they clearly love/value them. I'd probably have done the same for our dog, and DH definitely would have.

Would I risk my own life for a random person though? Probably not. But I would dial 999.

You choose a human over an animal...

I’d choose my dog. Because he’s mine. Couldn’t give a shit about other people.

What an asset to society you are.

Great post, you speak a lot of truth. Whilst I DO donate to charities I do also spend money on my dog that I don’t need to spend

I genuinely don't judge that btw. In reality, no-one does or should be expected to think about miserable things they have no control over all the time and of course people want to have fun spoiling their pets. I personally love seeing a happy cockerpoo in a birthday hat with a cake, who doesn't.
It's an interesting thought experiment though.