I feel very cross with someone I'm fond of. Should I say s/thing?

[Fatmomma99]

This is sooooo trivial:
I've made v good friends with someone half my age, and she's great fun. She's also a work colleague.
This isn't relevant (although I DO feel I owe her...), when I started work at our joint place, I was universally disliked initially, and then she rocked up as a new starter, got to know me out of work (we went to the same gym) and just told stories to them about me about what fun I was, and it changed everyone's mind, and now I'm universally liked. Which is all totally down to her, and I'm VERY grateful for it. That's not part of this thread, but it's the back-story.

I saw her (with my DD) on Monday, and she was disgruntled. Her boyfriend hadn't clocked valentine's day, and she was annoyed. She decided the only thing that could make her feel better was to get a hamster. My DD was TOTALLY up for it... they went off to local pet shops.
She eventually (after a long day of trips to pet shops, etc) got a hamster for a quid and a cage for a fiver via websites (this is a BIG saving). She brought it to mine for the evening. It was cute.
She got all these ranty emails all evening from her sister about how immoral it was to buy a pet from the internet. I defended her.

She went home on Tuesday and decided it was boring.

She's re-homed it.

I feel really angry about treating an animal in this way.

It's not my place to say anything. Is it? I'm esp cross because of the message she's giving my DD. I should shut my mouth, shouldn't I. I'm very cross. i think this is appalling, spoilt behaviour. Not my place to say - right?

Wow. Thanks for all the responses. I shouldn't have let it rankle, because I'm very fond of her (and, like I said, very grateful about how she turned things around for me at work). I won't say anything that isn't jokey.

My DD (who is 14) adores her and finds her really good fun (my DD thinks all my other friends are mostly pretty dull), but they never usually spend more than an hour or so together and I'm usually there. My DD was really excited to be around when the friend got the whim, and was really pleased to be part of the process of getting the pet. I think she's going to feel disappointed when she learns it's gone. She and I will have a chat about it - not a big deal, but we will talk.
I'm upset by what my friend did because it WAS ridiculous to get a pet on a whim and it seems princess-like to me to then say "bored now" and get rid.

I find it disrespectful to another living thing, but as others have said, it's not evil, she hasn't killed it - she's rehomed it, and it won't care.

Those who said I shouldn't have got involved with her family are right, but it was all quite jokey... she kept getting these cross messages from her sister (and she has quite a prickly relationship with her anyway), so I took her phone and said something along the lines of "you are right, friend is too immature and irresponsible to own a pet, but the hamster is very cute". I think I felt disappointed my friend gave her sister (who I've never met) the moral victory so easily, but that's way too over-involved of me.

RE the work thing. I immediately (within a week of joining) had to deliver something new at the workplace which I'd had some experience of. I was given an assistant to do it and that assistant was very established within the workplace. The assistant didn't like the thing I was doing and didn't really take to me, and she spread that to everyone else. People didn't know me, but they knew her and trusted her judgement and took that on board. They'd probably have changed their minds eventually, but it really helped that my friend then came into the workplace and saw me differently and talked about me a lot. I wasn't especially on people's radar as I'm part time and also the nature of my job means I don't spend that much time with most of the colleagues, who all do spend a lot of time together.

The friendship is more important, but I will be more wary now. I.e. if friend ever announces at lunch again that the only thing to improve her life is to get a pet, instead of laughing I'll suggest she does some research first.

Really, many thanks for all the feedback.

I'm upset by what my friend did because it WAS ridiculous to get a pet on a whim and it seems princess-like to me to then say "bored now" and get rid. I find it disrespectful to another living thing, but as others have said, it's not evil, she hasn't killed it - she's rehomed it, and it won't care.

I suggest you say exactly that to your DD. She's old enough to understand, let it open up a point of discussion for you both. That should help turn around your worry about her being unduly influenced by this episode.

And just one other thing... to those who read my thread as me expecting my friend to parent my DD re animal ownership, I should just point out that for the last 7 years we've had a dog which we spoil rotten are responsible for, so she's seen us modelling respectful behaviour to an animal. Nothing amazing, but feeding, walking, clearing up after promptly, giving affection to, having to take account of when we make plans, etc.
She sees this every day, so it's not like she's lived an an animal-free vacuum!