To think it's a bit twee for C4's Super Vet to call animals' owners their 'parents'?

[InapproOrNo]

Every time he says it I'm a bit

Also, how the fuck do these people afford all this treatment? It's like tens of thousands of pounds' worth! Does pet insurance really cover that much?

YANBU
I have watched Supervet and find myself a bit surprised about some of the treatment the animals are put through but maybe it is because I am old enough to remember the time when we had dogs at home on a farm who went through their lives being cared for, fed, worked and quietly let go if they became very ill or they died naturally.
I have a dog I love dearly (not sure how he feels about me ) but he is loyal and gives me some reason to get up in the morning. I am devastated when I lose a dog but I would let him go (he is now 14) if I knew he was in pain or very ill as to keep him going with massive surgery/treatment would be for me rather than for him.
I am not his mum I am his friend/companion as he is to me and I clear up his mess and keep him safe.

I refer to DH as "Daddy" to the dog I'm afraid. I know it's wrong and we have two human children aswell.

I can't help it. The dog knows it's his Daddy....if I say "Daddy's coming home!" the dog knows who I mean. :D

My dog was operated on by the Supervet just before he became really famous. He is very pragmatic, kind and gentle but fairly dour and nowhere near as twee and sentimental as the show would have you believe. He certainly never referred to me as her mum! Ick.

And my dog's insurance wouldn't pay out for her spinal surgery because she'd had spinal x-rays 2 years earlier and it was excluded. I had to dig pretty deep.

My kitties are my furry babies. And Noel is a genius and an absolute star. I worship the ground he walk on having saved my baby. We live nearby to Fitzpatrick referrals.

So do we Henry! Was handy for all her follow ups. I will always be grateful to Noel, he was kind to my dog, he fixed her and I suspect our bill was heavily discounted because we were paying and not an insurance company.

But at no point did he hug me or comfort me (I really wanted to break down but he was emotionless so I kept it together), well up with tears, or call me mummy.

TrinityTaylor I completely agree with you. I love my dog, I care about her infinitely more than a lot of people in my life, but I'm not ignorant enough to realise that to most people she is a dog and not a person. Likening pets to children is something that only childless people do.

How can I afford tens of thousands of pounds of treatments? I have a dog and six horses - if I wasn't insured I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. My 4 yo sports horse had a tooth out at Oakham last year and the bill was £6,400 plus VAT.

Sometimes my friends question my insurance premiums and ask me why I bother. I feel very strongly about being able to afford your vet bills if you own animals, and if that isn't outright it should be through insurance.

I'm fairly level headed about my horses - if their treatment goes over the £15k (which is mostly their insured point apart from my 2* eventer) I would take a view on the treatment, their recovery chance and my bank balance. I'm rather less concerned about money when it comes to my dog because I would throw any amount of cash at her to fix her.

I prefer it to 'owners.' I don't think you 'own' pet, you 'have' a pet.

Farm vets don't generally refer to their clients as 'ewe 587's mum & dad That's true but some sheep are more special than others. We call our tups 'the boys' and the ewes 'the girls' and some have names.

Yabu. My cat is my baby and I am most definitely his mummy. And my husband is his daddy.

I like to say furry friends, although I am my cats servant.

I don't like the idea of calling animals our children.

It can actually lead to an unhelpful atmosphere for dogs especially,
Dogs are pack animals with an established heirarchy, a structure that dogs feel happy with but isn't good for children.

The most badly trained dos I have seen are the ones who are treated like children. They are given sofa space, will growl or snap when challenged, possessive over food, toys, often jump up, bark a lot These animals will often be overweight because Mummy can't resist feeding him when humans are eating,.
To be treated like one of the children doesn't mean a dog feels equal, it makes him feel dominant.

Treating a dog like a child makes him think you are a dog. Dogs need to know their place.

My horse, dog and rabbit are comrades. I am just owner of the goldfish though because they don't really contribute much.

We call "owner" mummy and daddy at our practice. If the owners look a bit po faced then it's mum and dad. We refer to ourselves as aunties

I tend to talk to dogs as if they are toddlers or older children and my voice does go up several octaves, however i talk to cats like adults about philosophy and such like

Our cats have just been in for dental treatment at our local country practice. Usually their contact with me is the vet treating ill sheep. If the vets started talking about mummy and daddy I would think they had lost their minds

BillyDavey, same. He didn't hug or anything but then again, I'm quite similar in such situations. When I'm highly worried or stress I'm on survival mode. I think that's his persona on TV. But he was understanding and a miracle worker.
Also, the waiting area was full, another dog rushed in, all was mental there.

I love Noel. I'd really like to meet him, he seems like such an interesting guy.

I do not associate being a parent with giving birth alone. As you know that would exclude the many foster and adoptive parents in the world. That would also exclude the many parent figures - aunts grandmothers senior friends even who may play parental roles in the lives of those who need it. I know I have had some mother figures in my own life and for whom I'm eternally grateful in ways beyond my biological mum and I may connect.

I associate feelings of benevolence kindness and enter affection with parental feelings. Of course I gave birth through 37 hours of a back to back labour to DS. But that does not mean, I cannot feel similar feelings of benevolent affection to a vulnerable loving being who is and always will be entirely dependent on me.

I will never have intellectual conversations with her as I will with my DS when he grows up. But I am allowed to feel similar kinds of caring affection - and biology doesn't come in there. It's just love.

It's surprising it causes such irritation and offence to others really but to each their own

The most badly trained dos I have seen are the ones who are treated like children

This. I love animals but a dog should be treated like a dog and not a child. It makes me cringe when I hear people referring to their pets as children - no, they're animals.

The main times I hear it used are by childless people who then try to draw similarities between their dog and other people's children (in terms of feelings/experiences) which makes my teeth itch.

I'm my pets Mum. They are my fur babies, especially my dog who is my favourite. Don't tell anyone as I told my family I don't believe in favourites.

I am never my pets' Mum.

In fact that diminishes the importance of my own children in the family.
I am Mum to my own valued and loved children- to compare that to how I feel about a cat is quite insulting to my kids.

I think it goes without saying that all of us love our pets, whether or not we call ourselves mummy and daddy or find it weird and twee.

For me, the term owner implies a possession, not a living, breathing creature that I love - hence I lean more towards the twee end of things. But I am sure that posters like @Westray and others love their pets just as much as I do - so the bottom line is, does it matter if she doesn't call herself mum to her pets and I do, as long as we are both treating them right?

I do wonder if there is an acceptable term that isn't too twee, but that recognises that pets are more than just possessions.

Last time I was at the vets with DDog the vet referred to me as DDog's mum in the middle of reception. I thought it was quite sweet.
I'm Mum to my little ones and my parents are Granny & Granddad. And DDog does share (hog) the sofa with me. I talk to her & DCats as if they're human, though to be fair I do tend to do both sides of most conversations. Maybe that makes me slightly mad but I'm happy and they're happy.

It has to be said that I am definitely not the cat's mum - not in his mind, at least. As far as CatBastard is concerned, I am staff - and pretty damn inefficient staff too, given that I will not give him his food on the garden table.

My excuse is that it is better to feed him indoors on the utility worktop, because when he wanders off after a mouthful or two, the remainder of his food isn't eaten by the dogs or the birds. He seems to think I should be on hand to move the food indoors, as soon as he has finished, and take it back out again when he wants the next mouthful or two. I think I have better things to do with my time.

I am wrong, of course.

YANBU.
I do not have furbabies and nor am I 'mum' to the animals.