To think you don't love your pets half as much once you have kids

[ishouldtryabitmoreachday]

We have a dog. We had him a couple of years before I had a baby. We'd had a previous dog together and my parents had a dog when I was in my teens. But I just don't love my dog like I did before I had kids.

My dog is looked after, he's walked twice a day, groomed and wormed, flea stuff and is part of the family. He goes most places with us, but I just don't have that love I had before I had kids. It's hard to explain, is it just me .. AIBU?

YABU your poor dog, this makes me sad to read

Wow you’re lovely.

This isn’t going to go well...

I can't relate I'm afraid.

I loved my pets exactly the same after the kids came along as I did before.

YABVU. Poor dog :( why would you love it any less just because you have an extra family member?

You wouldn't stop loving your partner or first child when a second child comes along. Or maybe ^you would

I agree with you op.

That's awful. Poor dog.

I don't relate at all. I adore my pets. Loved them before and after my ds. In fact I cried when we adopted our dog I was so happy. Our pets are our family.

Still love my pets the same, I feel sad I don't have the same time for them that I did before my kids though.

And that’s why people like you shouldn’t have pets.

Is your child still a baby? Most people I know love their pets MORE when they firm a bond with their child. But that obv doesn’t happen till the children are toddler+

I rethink our beast is a surrogate child for my husband now the children have mainly flown the nest.

Yabu

I completely agree with you (but also agree that this will be considered an unspeakable opinion on Mumsnet where posters regularly equate dogs with children - I just can’t relate).

I love my pets the same amount.

I wasn't prepared for how hard I'd love a baby.

And I now realise it was maybe a touch OTT staying awake the whole night once to keep my cat company when she had something up her nose and kept sneezing....

Yabu. Not everyone should have pets.

What an awful post. Even if you don’t love your dog as much, why would you announce it?

YABU. Love isn't a finite resource - you don't have to stop loving a pet so you can give the love quota to your DC. You just love the DC and continue to love the pets.

We have two DC and two dogs. There are moments I love the dogs more to be honest because never once during lockdown have they walked in on me on a video call in their pants and loudly proclaimed they need v-bucks.

Totally agree with you, once kids come along dogs turn from being like your child to well just being a dog .

Also, poor dog. Find him a better home.

I'm being honest, maybe it is just me then.

Dog is quite happy and compared to many dogs I know has a very good life. But I'm prepared to be told he knows I don't love him now and would be better off with someone who's out all day and never walks him, but loves him with all their heart ?!

YABVVU your poor dog. I love mine exactly the same, they are part of the family. Kids may change available time do do things or where you can go on walks etc but shouldn’t change your feelings or how much you love them

I remember a friend of mine being upset after visiting the midwife when she was pregnant because the midwife had make a remark about her dogs. My friend had told her that the dogs were like children to her.

The midwife said “when you have a baby your pets become just pets”.

The love I have for my dogs has never wavered. In fact sometimes I think I love them more than my child!

No, that's not normal. That's horrendous