Does your pet have 'a person'

[Queenofwistfulthinking]

I would love either a cat or dog but sadly my work schedule does not allow this just now and wouldn't be fair to them.

My favourite topics/threads on Mumsnet is either reading about the cats or dogs and all their different quirks and personalities.

One thing that always fascinates me is that most of them have a chosen person who they are devoted too.

Does your pet have a person, who is it and can you think why?

I like to think my dog loves me, but when my mum visits (her gran), my dog loses her godamn mind!

My DD is DPup's absolute favourite. She just gets SO excited to see her. At the weekend she is desperate to go into her room to say good morning.

I’m my dogs fave. He watches me at all times. He’s likes an awkward single guy that’s gone on a night out on his own - follows me & watches me but when I look at him, he looks away!

He also has a special talent, he can find me every time in a game of hide & seek🤣 He

I do give him a lot of love & attention & I think that’s why.

He’s also my favourite too.

@Brigante9 your springer looks very like my boy, who's currently snuggled up beside me.

I'm his person, even though I didn't intend to be. I've always considered myself a cat person. However, nobody explained this to DDog, and he attached himself to me even though it's nearly always DH who feeds and walks him.

Our late ginger cat bonded to youngest DS totally, just about tolerating everyone else if he had to. Our previous springer, now sadly gone, was eldest DS's girl, bonded to him instantly and really struggled after he grew up and left home.

My partner moved into my house with his cat and she swiftly became my cat, which he is most displeased about. She follows me around where ever I am, she comes to meet me on the doorstep whenever she hears the car pulling up and loves a cuddle, she purrs so much she dribbles. It's always my lap she sits on but that might be because I have a fatter lap than him and so I'm more comfy! I think he is just louder and likes to play with her whereas I'm quieter and calmer!

I'm my little dogs person, she will wiggle with delight and demand fuss from anyone, but I am her human, she'll only do certain things for me, i think because she was so tiny and young (mum sadly very poorly and the pups were quite young still) and I kept her in my t-shirt against my skin to keep her warm and settle her we bonded very young and she likes to be as close to me as possible. Her and DD grew up together and there's an almost 'rivalry' between them for my attention at times!

The spaniel is fickle between me & DD, it depends on who she's spent the most time with, she was incredibly nervous around new people and although better, DD was here when we got her, and the dog knew her before, she was away at uni for a month, came home and the dog hid behind me for about 10 minutes! She's the same if DD is in all day and I'm out, she'll greet me and make a fuss, then go back to DD.

My dog (8 months) is really disloyal. We joked with people he'd never met before, in a beer garden, that he could be a cat (no offence meant). He would have happily gone home with them. But tbh it's anyone who is home all day. He switches people like we change underwear. Daily.

Two cats and a dog we've had and they've all had a clear favourite person - me.

Probably a variety of reasons for this- I was the one that wanted them, the one who spent the most time caring for them when they were young. Interestingly after having kids/several bouts of depression I became much less tolerant of the pets and spent years pushing them away - but they never stopped preferring me to everyone else.

DDog was a daddy’s boy until I got pregnant, now he is OBSESSED with me 😂

We’re a weird household ddog will only do stuff for me but he is glued to dh. Dh spoils him with food treats constantly, I take him for walks and do all his care, he get very upset when I’m not around - put him between dh and I calling - he’ll come to me - on the sofa it’s dh everytime.

It's funny how the liver and whites look really similar. He's our second of this colour, he hugely resembles the first one of the original pair, one l/w, one b/w. The rest have all been b/w and have all looked very different. Previous pair, brothers but not at all similar in looks or temperament.

Our cat’s person is definitely DH. He was working from home a lot when we got her as a kitten and I think she imprinted on him as he was with her so much! She will go to him for cuddles in a way she never does with me or DD.

Our dog -me. I genuinely think it was like a duck imprinting. When we brought her home at 9 weeks, I sat in the back of the car with my hand stroking her inside her little puppy crate, and 5 years later she never leaves my side. If I have a bath, she waits at the side. On my work days, although she is with DS2 or my dog walker, she cries with happiness when I walk in. She loves us all but I'm the love of her life.
Our cat is a street rescue. Initially semi feral, he now loves me...only me. Demands my lap late at night. He's a total asshole, and still bites me when he feels like it.!

I hand reared our cat as a kitten. I spent absolute hours with her. I’m the one that feeds her, gives her treats, lets her in and out the door multiple times a day when she can’t be bothered with the cat flap.

DH is her favourite.

Her mother was the same. She was my cat and then as soon as we moved in with DH he was her person. Our neighbours cat loves him as well. MIL and I call him the cat whisperer and it’s highly amusing (to us) because he doesn’t like cats 😂

I’m our 2 cats main person, because it was me that tended their every whim as babies.
That said though they are warming very much to DD (almost 5) so I strongly suspect at least one will switch allegiance eventually.

They do love DH who is also a cat person but they rarely sit on him or go to his room but they are always on my lap/bed and will follow me anywhere.

@Brigante9 so you're another springer family We try to have two at once as well, though we've not had siblings. We've had three L/W and just one B/W, but DH grew up with many springers. Our B/W was called Jess, she was bonded to DH and was by far the best working springer we've ever had.

No more for us now after the current one. I can't bear the heartbreak when they leave us.

I am my cat’s person. DH does way more of the work tbh, but I am the one the cat comes to for snuggles and clappies, follows around etc.

It’s really down to the fact the cat doesn’t like being picked up, so I don’t do it unless it’s necessary (doing something dangerous or going in the carrier for the vet).

If I want to cuddle him, I know that there are a couple of spots and poses he adopts if he is open to cuddles and then I cuddle him without picking him up.

If he actively wants a cuddle he will run over to the coffee table, jump on it and stand on all four paws with his back arched and he’ll miaow for me. If DH tries to cuddle him then he runs away.

All my family's cats have loved DH. When we were first together and I was still living at home our 3 legged girl fell in love with him. That is how he realised his parents were lying to him and he isn't actually allergic to cats (they just hate them).
My sister lived with us for a while and when she moved out her cat had to stay because DH was her person.

I look after my Sister's dog a few times a week and she is utterly devoted to my Brother in Law. My Sister evens says 'your Master is home' when he gets home. Belle worships him and would follow him anywhere. Their other dog who passed away two years ago was devoted to my Sister, he was totally a Mummy's boy.

I would love to have my own animal for company and to care for but not able to at present. Looking after Belle gives me a purpose and I adore her (although I am only her third favourite human!).

Gorgeous 😍
We have 2 springers, the older girl is definitely mine! The younger boy pretends my husband is his favourite because he feels sorry for him but secretly he loves me the most haha!
We also have 2 cats, one of them is very affectionate with the whole family, the other one only likes my husband and will actively run away from me and the kids!

My Mum’s dog is mummy obsessed. But she does spoil him rotten 🤣 No <dog>, stop begging! Then puts something in his mouth 5 seconds later.

All ours do…

Boy cat - his daddy and DD
Girl cat - me and DS

Dog - DD and me

Chickens and ducks - me, but they’re all home bred/hatched so I ‘brought them up’ as chicks basically and I’m ‘mum’/ the keeper of food! 🐣

My dog adores me to the point that he would ejaculate when I came home from work-even after as little as an hour.
He is fond of my parents too. He is a dog of few brain cells and gullible.
I adore him and he's changed our lives for the better 💕

My cat's favorites are:

My dad, he lives 100+ miles away so she doesn't see him often but when he visits she sits on his knee until bedtime, when she goes to bed with him.

My carer.

Any other male, whether it is a delivery driver, someone working in the house, passing stranger.

Then me.

When I'm on my own she likes to be in the same room as me but I know I am her lowest priority.

She also likes to kill robins. She has occasionally killed another bird but they are definitely her preference.

She was a stray but looks like she might be part Bengal (and she also has the voice) I had a visitor who had two Bengal cross cats, and they also preferred robins.

My old cat, Charlie, was a tuxedo cat. I lived on a road that was used by school children to get to/from school. He would position himself outside so various children could adore him.

He had the loudest purr ever.

If he was outside when I left the house he stayed out (rental with no cat flap). When I came back he would be sitting outside the door looking like a mini cat bouncer.

He then had to be the first through the door. Sometimes I would just open the door a crack so he could only get a paw in.

He also sulked. You knew he was sulking because he would sit, with his back turned to the person he was sulking at. He once took a good 5 mins finding a place he could sulk at a room full of people.

He was once sulking at me so my carer picked him up and turned him facing me. He moved his head so he couldn't see me, carer (gently) moved his head to face me and he averted his eyes.

By the time he did it I was in hysterics, which meant he was even more mad at me.

When he came back from the vet's he would back out of his carrier so I knew he was sulking at me.

My eldest dog now 11 follows me everywhere. It’s madness he waits outside the bathroom pinning for me. His puppy who is now 6 has one focus the adult dog who is his daddy