To think more thought needs to go into getting a pet

[Beachcountrysidetown]

I am so confused as to why people get pets without really considering the responsibility they are taking on.
A lot of people talk about getting small pet shop animals for the children then get annoyed when it’s the adults having to look after the pets and remind the children to check food water etc. What did they expect? There is a reason charities only rehome animals where there is an adult with enough time to properly care for the pet.
Another one I hear a lot is “this small pet is rubbish because it bites” again what did they expect when they only get the animal out once a month or when the animal is taken out it is not handled gently?
I also see animals being kept in such unsuitable houses - too small and often without enough room to behave naturally at all!
“farm” type animals being kept in the same condition as intensive farmed animals (garden chickens for example being kept in tiny hutches)
Animals being treated badly because it’s “only” hamster, chicken, gerbil etc.
Dog that need a lot of walking not being walked nearly enough.
It upsets me. Animals take time and need owners to research properly to make sure that the animals are being kept the best way possible.
AIBU? Should I be a bit more light hearted towards animals?

YANBU, but I have come to the conclusion that some people just really don't care about animals.

I totally agree. Pets - whatever size and individual needs- need to be taken seriously. They are a responsibility, whatever they are.
But when I see irresponsible pregnancies, I do wonder what the hope in hell some pets have. It grieves me.
I have a German shepherd. Did I want Him? No. I didn't. Various, justified, and well thought reasons.
Did someone know better? Yes. Course he did. Maybe 'cos he'd not had a dog before!
Now I have a dog who completely knackers me and curtails everything I do.

My husband escapes as many duties as he can.....'cause he can't cope with a big dog!
Well, really? Wtf did you think a German shepherd was? A dachshund in disguise?

I agree but I also think sometimes life circumstances change so it's not always a case of poor planning. I find there seems to be the 2 extremes. People who think all pets should come from a rescue, breeders are bad, petshops are bad and all animals need a cage the size of a bedroom or they are neglected. Or people who have zero idea and look after animals appallingly. There is a middle ground I think.

Yanbu. One thing the Brits used to do really well is breed and train animals. We've been famous for it for over 2,000 years. Its all gone to hell in recent decades.
People who cant do it dont get it. They dont realise what we are losing.

Totally agree. People seem incredibly stupid when it comes to animals. They seem quite disconnected from the fact these are real, thinking, feeling beings that feel fear, loneliness, hunger, pain etc. Rather than toys that exist to serve the owners' purpose.

YANBU, I think there should be some sort of test involved before you become a pet owner.

Agree a thousand times over -I am sickened when I read some of the threads on here about pets. They are not disposable items you dump when you get bored - a pet should be for life and some people don't have a clue how big a responsibility it is.

Nor can you abdicate responsibility for it because the child wanted one and promised to look after it - the buck stops with the adult.

Lastly don't get a pet from Gumtree where they are bred in god only knows what condition - puppy farms are an abomination. I also don't understand why people buy from breeders when there are thousands of animals in shelters who need a good home - all shapes and sizes and ages. There's no excuse.

I'm getting off my soapbox now before I burst a blood vessel, it makes me so mad.

YANBU at all. Im not one to have a pet purely because I know I wouldn't want to look after one. I care in a different way, i guess. I hate to think a living thing would be mistreated but i don't want to be the caregiver.

YANBU. Put three dogs down this weekend because the owners couldn't afford treatment, didnt have insurance, didn't live in catchment area for the PDSA, couldn't get a loan cause they are on job seekers and I and my partners weren't prepared to sub them. It's such a waste. A one year old German shepherd broke my heart. But he had a broken leg and needed a few hundred quid a worth of metal in his leg, then all of my staffs time, dressing changes, hydrotherapy.... Pets are a privilege. If you can't afford these unexpected bills then don't get them.

Agreed.

I have a ludicrous bunny because she was dumped by a parent whose kid got bored of it. Was only a few months old and living in a box in a mate's kitchen.

Worked out well in the end because I luffs her, but what else could I do? Leave her there? It's annoying when you're one of the few people who take responsibility for stuff.

Oh and then of course they get aggressive because we won't do the treatment anyway, and say we only care about the money blah blah blah. Yes that's why I'm on call all weekend again, cause I'm all in it for the money! We are a business. If I treat everyone's animal for free then where would that leave us. I had great pleasure in informing these people that they cannot put the responsibility of this dogs death on my shoulders - they took that on when they bought the dog despite not being able to care for it properly

And breathe!!

I have also seen threads about people wanting to adopt from shelters/rescues but find it an incredibly difficult and frustrating process, so there is that SilverySurfer. It's a difficult issue propounded by the non-caring types who dump them in a shelter, and of course shelter owners want to make sure that the pets will have a good life, but rest assured there are nice people out there!!
Parents should never give in to kid pester power.

YADNBU. Some people should NEVER be allowed pets. There is an attitude from a few posters here I’ve seen, that they’re only animals , they don’t matter and it’s no big deal. Well it does fucking matter and they do too.

It is enraging.
Quite a few people turn up at the school gates with a puppy when their youngest goes into reception.
Puppy is gorgeous and makes friends with my dogs, owner wants to talk all things dog. After a couple of months, pup stops coming to school. Won't walk on the lead/barks at cars, scooters, bikes/getting nippy/too big to carry. Owner looks irritated if you mention the dog.
Several of these are never seen or heard of again. There's always a 'good' reason why they had to go
Owner avoids me if I have the dogs.

I feel the same, I got my cat in 2009 when I was a homeowner and thought I'd be able to give her a stable life forever.

I wasn't expecting to become ill and would still try to keep her for life. She is a little cat though and I caught her earlier trying to have a poo in the neighbour's garden , she's getting confused. I had to run and snatch her before she did

I came to the conclusion that some people have no idea about animals. I used to have hamsters - ideal for a student who kept 'erratic' hours! The last one I had had a growth under his chin. Vets - medication- operation. Cost very little but the vets told me they rarely did this sort of operation because people didn't bother to bring small furries as it was cheaper to get s replacement.

It pisses me off to no end.

One of our family friends got a border collie puppy who is now 3. They have a small house and yard, and he gets out for a walk/trip to the park maybe once a month, if that. This is a house with 3 adults, none of whom work full time.

We looked after the dog for 48 hours while they were away at the wedding and said we were "spoiling" him because we took him to the dog park twice with our dogs. No, that's not spoiling them. It's just cruel and neglectful to keep a working dog cooped up inside a tiny house and yard for weeks and months on end because you're too lazy to get off your behind and walk them.

Oh poor hamsters! They do get the brunt of being bought as a toy for the children of idiots.

Got the children some guinea pigs. They were going to love them and look after them and train them.

Now they’re mine, all mine. They squeak at me whenever they hear me coming. I love popping out to see them for company.

I luffs them!!

*Okay, I missed the point. I agree with you OP

I’ve found my people. I get so sick of hearing piss poor excuses as to why people got ‘dog/cat/rabbit/goldfish’ but a couple of months later ‘don’t have time/can’t afford/kids lost interest/going on expedition to mars’ or any other piss poor excuse they can come up with. I’d have more respect for them if they held their hands up and said made a massive error in judgement, didn’t do the research and was looking at it through rose tinted specs and it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

I spend a fortune each months on my pets making sure they’re well cared for and have everything they need, rushing home at lunch to let the dog out or sending her to day care because I feel guilty she’s at home by herself. Yet I know of people who work more than full time including all weekend and the most the poor dog gets to see if the outside world is through the kitchen window and the can’t work out why the poor bugger is destructive and barks all the time. ‘Oh we we have to keep it in the kitchen as it chews/wees on the carpet’ yet they can’t see it’s because of their own making. Or rabbits stuffed in a hutch too small for them forgotten at the end of the garden because out of site out of mind. I’d love to shake some people and scream at them.

Of course these people put it down to the pet (it’s like they’re a broken tv) and weeks later they’ve got another poor animal that’ll suffer the same fate as the cycle continues. It’ll never cross the minds of these morons that they’re the problem and they don’t just have shit luck when it comes to having a pet. They’ll never realise that an animal is of the result of the time and effort you put into it because hey the pet should just know how lucky they are to have been picked up by this wonderful person.

Don’t get me started on the ‘we can’t afford the vets bill’ brigade. What do they think the rest of us pay for vet treatment with? Hopes and dreams!

These people wind me right up and shouldn’t be allowed to look after a house plant.

It really is astonishing how many people do this with animals. I think that the Naivety towards animals is that upsets me the most.
Rabbits being kept in cold damp huntches at the bottom of the garden really is how so many animals live isn’t it? Maybe because the kid lost interest or the rabbit / guinea but once and now the child is too frightened to get them out.
The craze of keeping chickens in the garden has thankfully gone out of fashion because there was a time where chickens were being kept in terrible conditions because “we love the fresh eggs” when the poor birds had no room to roam, run, fly etc. Basically back yard battery farms.
The attitude towards hamsters that’s so true they are often seen as a toy - rather than an animal with feelings and emotions. It’s so sad

Couldn't agree more!! Far too many people see pets as a novelty and when the novelty wears off, they are a burden.
It also annoys me when people go and get themselves a puppy without researching the breed and then can't handle them or train them properly. Also, people who take on a kitten because they're cute but then complain when they have to clean up accidents or their furniture gets wrecked.
I wish more people would rehomed older animals.
We didn't have a pet for years and years because we thought too much about it - didn't want to give an animal a home unless we were 100% certain we could give the best home we could... but always talked about getting a rescue cat. As it happens, a beautiful stray wandered in to our garden a few months ago and we did keep her. She is bloody spoiled I can tell you!

I wrote about this on another thread but here goes:

There is absolutely NO excuse nowadays for not "knowing" how to cope with a let of any size at all. We have so much information online that will tell you all you need to know about what equipment you need, what pet likes, how many to get, etc and time and time again incompetents hide behind the "b...b...but I didn't know!".

Selfish wankers who fail to grasp that a pet is a responsibility as opposed to an accessory or a living toy boil my piss like nothing else.

See also: people who get pets even though someone in the home is allergic to said pet because "theirs won't cast" or "it's been bred hypoallergenic".

I know someone who's just adopted a cat and her DH is wildly allergic. We're convinced the poor animal will be in a shelter by a Christmas (the cat not the DH).

TL:DR; for a nation of supposed animal lovers we can be selfish fuckwits when it comes to pets.

I find people spend more time thinking about what car or flat screen TV to buy than considering the full implications of a pet.

Or, for that matter, whether they should be having children.

I agree. Dogs in particular seem to be some sort of status symbol. But they need a lot of care and attention (and are expensive).

People want to be able to say they've got whatever the expensive breed is, but have no real interest in walking it or caring for it properly.