To not want you to compare having pets to raising children

[Imsosorryalan]

Ok, I know some people love their pets enormously but why do some insist that their dog/cat/hamster is JUST like having a small child? It's not, never will be.. End of

Example " little alan wouldn't sit still for a minute, I've barely eaten, cleaned (mnet) all day"
friend " oh yes, i hate it when hairy smelly rover doesn't let me get on either"
AIBU?

But to them they really believed it chocolate. You can only use what you have to relate.
The 'generic white baby' comment is very strange. Trying to imagine how that conversation went down.

LBY I know! Weirdness.....

They've since had a baby, but we've moved, and we don't really like them, so (though I would love to!) I can't ask them if they still feel their DS is 'on a par' with their dog.....

My sister does this about her cat and dog. To be fair, I think she really is just 'trying to relate', but on some level I still find it offensive that she seemingly believes I would lock my children out of the house if they were whining too much, or would have them rehomed if I moved to a rental property which didn't allow them.

It's not so much the competitve whinging that annoys me, it's the lack of acknowledgement of the seriousness of the task of ensuring the lasting psychological wellbeing of another human being that just doesn't compute.

My sister, with her lovely, well-trained pets simply does not understand that the way I feel about my children is absolutely not the same as the way she feels about her pets. I assume if she does end up having children of her own she will realise the difference

Mmm, but don't you think that the underlying problem might be that you're essentially saying that your life is more important than hers, because you have children and she doesn't? I can see that that might lead to some friction between you.

I had a weird day yesterday; my cat got in a fight with another cat (ok, she attacked him) & his owner came rushing out to comfort her ''poor baby''. I then felt i had to apologise for my cat behaving like... a cat.

(In her defence there have been tom cats coming into the garden to bother her for ages & it's scary for her as she's neutered... she was just getting her own back IMO).

I do love my cat (feel yucky for admitting it but it is true).

Do i sound like i'm talking about my cat like she's a child? I hope not... because she's a cat & i've read about cat behaviours - they are so different from humans & that's why i like them!

'YABU to get involved in any conversation that involves competitive caring of living beings. Those sort of conversations are only for those that need to assert misguided superiority of others'

THIS. I couldn't have put it better myself.

I love my cat. I don't have children. My friends with children always ask how my cat is, just like I ask how their children are. I'm obv lucky to have such nice friends. People might just be trying to relate to you. It can be hard for people without children to have to constantly listen to moaning parents about how hard it is to parent. Being a 'mother' (said in the style of bill bailey) doesn't make you more Superior, or your problems more important. Why is everyone so competitive these days? Don't you all get exhausted?

I am an animal lover. I have had rescue puppies, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs. I have been kept up all night by crying dogs and cats, have done regular feeds, toilet training, walks etc. And yes they are a commitment. But this stage does not last for long - unlike with children.

I now have a 4 week old and it does not compare to the physical effects - stitches, bleeding, sore boobs etc on top of the time taken for constant feeding, rocking, changing, washing and 2 hours max of sleep at a time etc.

I understand that to my dad his dogs do take up exactly the same amount of effort as he had with me. However, that's because he did very little!

My parents call their animals their babies and have only visited my sister and their dgc twice a year as the dogs can't be taken. They have also only visited me twice in a year because of the same reason. We are emigrating and they have said they wont visit much because of their 'babies' (they would be retired and could come for months at a time if they wanted). And that is their choice and their priorities (my sister and i have never challenged this because we understand to them how important they are, and it has been this way all our lives). What i do resent is they constantly bitch about how unreasonable we are tho, to not let their totally untrained dogs loose in our house (despite the fact that DP also has allergies and is ill when they come) and that we should all visit them so the dogs can stay at home.

Oh and they did seriously suggest on more than one occasion that i leave DP because he was allergic to their dogs and it wasn't very fair on them, apparently.

Pets give you a little idea of what children will be like. Children are so much more hard work though! And more stressful, both mentally and physically!