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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To dislike all animals?

253 replies

PineappleFwitters · 02/10/2016 09:32

I've never liked animals. From the time I was a child, probably due to a dog chasing me at age 4. Dogs, cats, birds, farm animals, I don't like being around them and don't like them near me. I have no interest in seeing videos of funny cats or dogs in YouTube either.

However, when I tell people I don't like animals, they look at me like I should be committed! Or worse, they think I advocate cruelty to animals, which couldn't be further from the truth. I would never try to injure an animal - I'm a vegan FFS - I just don't like being around them.

Am I really that unusual?

OP posts:
MrsJayy · 03/10/2016 16:14

Nobody needs to have a pet its not showing lack of anything if you dont have an animal in your house pets are rewarding but they are also tying need care supervision and they poop that we clean up . Im not understanding i dont like animals tbh not liking dogs or cats fine but every animal to me is odd

MrsJayy · 03/10/2016 16:16

I love Gorrilas doesnt mean i want one

limitedperiodonly · 03/10/2016 16:18

you do also back up my theory that a lot of vegans are vegan because they really dislike animals, rather than like them. I have a vegan friend who's utopic view of the world is one without pets and farm animals not because she doesn't like the idea of them being owned, but because she really doesn't like to see any animals and finds them gross.

sparechange a friend of mine is vegan for the same reason. He finds animals and the thought of consuming flesh or bodily fluids repellent - I haven't questioned him about his stand on oral sex Smile.

However he's a very likeable person and doesn't feel the need to announce his dislike of animals. I assumed he was vegetarian, if I gave it that much thought. I only learned it because a tiresome smartarse challenged him on his veganism in a restaurant because he was wearing leather. His food preferences didn't cause any problems to any of us. He just checked with the waiter that what he'd ordered didn't have any animal products and this person swooped.

At the end of his explanation I'd learned a lot and the smartarse was probably regretting bringing it up Grin

limitedperiodonly · 03/10/2016 16:21

sparechange I should say similar reasons, not the same. He wears leather, just doesn't want to consume flesh because it revolts him. He's a nice person and it's all very logical

quencher · 03/10/2016 16:24

I don't like any animal. Wild ones am ok seeing them from a distance.

I hate touching animal fur. What I have also found is that people who love animals too much usually are not nice people. They care more for animal welfare and consider them to be more loyal compared to humans while I find that disturbing. I would put human life above any animals. however, I would not stand by and watch a person be cruel to animals either.

Sallystyle · 03/10/2016 16:47

There is nothing more beautiful than the unconditional love a dog has for its owner.

I love my dogs, but lets face it, they would love anyone who fed them.

DH always talks about the bond they have with us, but when my mum goes away and someone else looks after her dogs they don't really care all that much. As long as someone is feeding them and giving them fuss they will be happy with anyone, even if it takes a couple of weeks to settle into a new home.

Anyway, I love animals. Currently have 4 ferrets running around my feet right now and two dogs in the kitchen eating their bone.

shockthemonkey · 03/10/2016 16:51

I'm animal-mad and have an extremely good friend who is just like you, OP.

Certainly don't hold it against her, in fact far from it. She is one of the best people I know.

MrsJayy · 03/10/2016 16:52

Im not sure when jaycat was alive she loved me she liked her spot to sleep and me feeding her and im sure liked as enough but unconditiinal love no i dont think that is what it was.

limitedperiodonly · 03/10/2016 17:14

I wonder if my cat would recognise my mum if she were resurrected. There's no reason to think he wouldn't. The biggest problem would be who he would choose to stay with because he's my cat now Grin

limitedperiodonly · 03/10/2016 17:23

When humans are transplanted from one loving family into another equally loving family and are presented with a choice, they also feel conflicts, don't they?

Not that I'm saying that animals have the same emotions as human beings, but the notion of attachment is interesting.

In any case, I do think someone like the OP, who feels the need to declare her dislike of animals, is odd.

BertrandRussell · 03/10/2016 17:23

Our dog "loves" us. But she has another family before us and loved them too-she transferred her love to us in less than a week!

limitedperiodonly · 03/10/2016 17:26

I suspect your dog does not love you Bertrand

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 03/10/2016 17:37

But WHY would people put any human life above any animal's? Why is it just naturally assumed that homo sapiens is more valuable and superior? There are 7 billion humans and correspondingly an ever smaller number of wild animals, and humans are directly responsible for the decline. They prove themselves again and again to be short sighted and selfish, and unable to understand that they live alongside other species who also have every right to life on earth.

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 03/10/2016 17:38

And why do humans only value another species if they think it displays human traits?

MrsJayy · 03/10/2016 17:39

Jaydog is a rescue i often look at him and wonder if he trusts us or remnants of whatever happened to him remain so he just puts up with us because we are kind to him.

MrsJayy · 03/10/2016 17:40

Oh this is getting deep

MrsJayy · 03/10/2016 17:42

I agree totally with sukey why is an animals life home and well being put under human greed and wealth

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 03/10/2016 17:44

Oh this is getting deep

:o

Glad someone agrees MrsJayy

formerbabe · 03/10/2016 17:48

But WHY would people put any human life above any animal's? Why is it just naturally assumed that homo sapiens is more valuable and superior?

Arguments like this are ridiculous...if you continued with that line of thinking, you'd end up believing the death of an ant is equal to the death of a human...

JaimeLannister · 03/10/2016 17:49

There is a massive difference between not wanting a pet and disliking all animals.

I am currently watching Davis Attenborough's Earth and am in awe of the sailfish. I can't imagine not finding animals amazing.

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 03/10/2016 17:54

It's an interesting discussion to have. I'm thinking from a biodiversity angle, so the point about ants isn't really relevent. There's a species of dolphin in New Zealand which is down to fewer than 50 individuals, solely down to the fishing industry, and it's on the very limits of viability. I'd say each member of that species was more important than a human.

limitedperiodonly · 03/10/2016 17:55

What's wrong with getting deep mrsjayy?

Personally, I think the OP has made a throwaway comment, possibly to cause some controversy. How can you dislike all animals? It's as ill-considered as saying you dislike all vegetables.

My favourite vegetable are peas, closely followed by carrots. I have a deep and abiding loathing for beetroot but I wouldn't use that to say that I disliked all representatives of the vegetable kingdom.

It's all a matter of degree and I don't think the OP has thought it through.

If you are interested I can give you a top 10 of my favourite vegetables. Or animals.

  1. Otter
MrsJayy · 03/10/2016 17:57

Nothing wrong with getting deep it is interesting to talk about stuff like this ☺

BertrandRussell · 03/10/2016 17:58

"I suspect your dog does not love you Bertrand"

Hence the inverted commas. She certainly experiences some sort of pretty strong feeling-the nearest word I can find for it is love. But I have no idea what it actually is.

BertrandRussell · 03/10/2016 18:00

Actually- when it comes to animals, I suppose all that matters is how humans interpret their behaviour. I like to think my dog loves me. I like to think - because I find it amusing- that one of my cats dispises me........