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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To prefer animals to humans?

56 replies

malificent7 · 11/12/2017 19:40

Ok i know im a grumpy old sod.
After an afternoon with a tricky class i reglected on something i oftwn think about....how much i prefer animals to human company .
( dp excepted.)

Animals are so much more simple, honest and just easier to be around.
Give me cats over colleagues any day.

OP posts:
WatchTheFoxes · 12/12/2017 03:51

YANBU. I totally agree and couldn't be close friends with someone if they didn't like animals. It would totally change how I view them.

Lollipop30 · 12/12/2017 04:00

Nope I definitely prefer humans. I do have a pet hate for people who treat animals better than humans too.

We have pets and they’re lovely and well cared for but they’re animals and I’ll never prefer them or put them before a person.

I think we see way too many people put animals first, ime it’s usually dog owners. I guess because a fog is more dependent. I very much disagree with the statement that they’re part of your family, they’re a nice addition, but they not family members.

IAmNotAWitch · 12/12/2017 04:10

I like my cat better than I like most humans.

I know where I am with my cat, she has no hidden agendas or plans.

She wants food, warmth and the door opened a various points throughout the day.

In return she provides soft furriness, makes a pleasing sound of an evening and warmth for my toes in the winter.

We have a purely transactional relationship and it is much less complicated than that required with other humans.

We would eat each other if we had to. Grin

Dogs are too much like people for me to want one around too much, they need.

Cavender · 12/12/2017 04:31

People generally say that they prefer animals because animals don’t talk back and give them attention. I wonder how they’d feel if their dog or cat could tell them what they really feel.

I wish animals no harm and in the wild they are fascinating but I’m not particularly interested in domesticated cats and dogs. As far as I can see they quite naturally play up to the person that feeds them. Their emotions aren’t very complicated.

I read a very interesting article recently by a psychologist studying animal behaviour, he cautioned against assuming that dogs and cats really thought much about us at all.

I much prefer humans. They are interesting and entertaining and capable of amazing things.

I like a conversation and a relationship that has two sides personally.

laudanum · 12/12/2017 06:44

Lollipop

My sadly now dead Bulldog saved my life twice, once from someone coming at me in a park, and once from an ex who wanted to kill me. He kept me going during periods where I was suicidal because of the godawful things people have done to me, and he was absolutely 💯 my family, he held my heart and soul, and when he got cancer and I had to euthanise him, it broke my heart like nothing had ever done before, so you don't get to tell people that animals aren't part of their family. For many people, animals are the best family they could ever have.

Every animal I've ever kept has been wonderful, and I'm not just talking about dogs, and yeah I will absolutely put animals above people because people are bloody awful at the best of times.

Beerwench · 12/12/2017 07:35

I love my animals, and to me, they are part of my family. They get their needs seen to before mine and yes, on occasions they piss me off too! But I do value their presence, and want to spend time with them.
With my dogs I can say I think they 'love' me, although underneath I know in reality I'm seen as the pack provider and protector and they would switch allegiance in a heartbeat for their own survival.
Having studied equine behavior though, I know the motivations behind the 'sweet' whinny every morning just for me, and behind the other behavior that might on the surface appear to show they 'love' me. Food and protection again! I have appointed myself herd leader, I provide protection from predators (they've not been eaten!) And I provide food and shelter. The whinny is the same as they would greet a senior member of their herd "Hello, I'm here. Feed and protect me!" As are a lot of behaviors. They too, would switch allegiance without a second thought if I didn't provide and someone else did.
Even knowing that, I appreciate the quiet comfort of another being and the simple way animals see and react to things. It makes my mind less busy than having to deal with complex human relationships!

formerbabe · 12/12/2017 07:39

One of the nastiest women I've known preferred animals to humans. Like another poster said, i'm always suspicious of people who do.

Ragusa · 12/12/2017 07:43

I'm also highly suspicious of anyone who states they prefer animals to people. I love animals, we have pets, but .... no. People are definitely higher up my pecking order.

deepestdarkestperu · 12/12/2017 07:47

I think whether you prefer animals to humans (or vice versa) probably depends on how you've been treated by people and animals over the years.

I love both. My cats can be extremely affectionate but I'm fully aware it's either because they're cold or hungry!

Timmytoo · 12/12/2017 07:53

I completely disagree with you Eatalot. I have two cats, they hardly ever leave my side and they greet me at the gate when I come home if I go out. They don’t scratch or hiss ever. I’m not completely deluded thank you, I just have an amazing relationship with my beautiful cats and I love them and would do anything for them.

lidoshuffle · 12/12/2017 07:58

All animals have a place in the ecosystem. They kill or are killed but it's without malice and everything is balanced. Earth is/was heaven on earth, an Eden, but humans are destroying it, not just for ourselves but for so many other species.

Watching something like 'Blue Planet' fills me both with wonder and with sadness and dread, and shame for what we are doing to our animal planet-mates. So yes, I suppose I do prefer animals to humans, as a species.

Personwithhorse · 12/12/2017 07:59

It is not animals who are destroying the planet with pollution, destruction of the environment, over breeding and killing of all other animals.

Give me our pets any day

Taffeta · 12/12/2017 07:59

Hating animals, eg cats, is different to being ambivalent.

The people I’ve met that hate cats have turned out not to be very nice people themselves. That’s my experience, anyway.

Lollipop30 · 12/12/2017 08:18

Laudanum 💐
I really am sorry you’ve had such a hard time and such truly awful human relationships.

I don’t doubt you can be very fond of an animal but it is still a transactional relationship.
I protect you = you feed me and provide shelter

ohfortuna · 12/12/2017 10:37

I read a very interesting article recently by a psychologist studying animal behaviour, he cautioned against assuming that dogs and cats really thought much about us at all
Sounds interesting Cavender, I don't suppose you can remember who is it was by can you?

ohfortuna · 12/12/2017 10:43

I watch a lot of stuff about Monkeys and Apes and their societies are so much more nurturing
More nurturing than humans? So do they build hospitals and invent Hi-Tech pharmaceutical products to care for the sick do they invent prosthetic limbs for people who have been injured?

ohfortuna · 12/12/2017 10:50

I mean seriously does anyone think that they would have a better life as a female chimpanzee or someone's pet dog?
Does anyone really want to be an animal?
wouldn't you rather be human with all the interesting complex things that humans can do
for the massive potential that humans have
dogs and cats ain't going anywhere, they're just living toys that humans have invented
what's the matter with you people?

ChardonnaysPrettySister · 12/12/2017 10:53

Cats are bastards.

ohfortuna · 12/12/2017 11:31

Humans love pets because we respond strongly to things which look cute to us, we become powerful emotionally attached to them we anthropomorphize and this causes us to become even more strongly emotionally attached to them

mirime · 12/12/2017 12:27

@Cavender

People generally say that they prefer animals because animals don’t talk back

You've clearly never met the older of my cats!

The other one doesn't talk back, but he's not vocal at all.

Cavender · 12/12/2017 12:32

mirime Grin

Whatslovegottodo · 12/12/2017 12:39

I love animals, but love lots of people too.
What upsets me is all the grief I get for being vegan, and yet so many people proclaim to 'love animals' and yet eat them Confused.
You don't, you love pets.

Lethaldrizzle · 12/12/2017 12:43

Animals can't talk. If that's your megalomaniac idea of a fulfilling balanced relationship, fill your boots! People are awesome!

WTAAF · 16/12/2017 01:03

I prefer animals. Probably because it's such a simple and stress free relationship. I'm a total introvert, so people leave me drained and my pets help me to recharge. I don't think animals are better than people, I just find them easier and more enjoyable for me to be around.