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?

@Toilenstripes

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

To be fair to the OP, I think they just want to know whether they're alone in how they feel.

YABVVVVVVVU

Wow! Pets aren't for you op, the poor thing. Please give the dog to a loving home where he/she will be well loved. Can't abide these people who push their pets to aside once they have children.

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 ?!

How is that a viable alternative?

This post reminds me of an earlier one today where the OP wanted to know why people on MN “are so vile”.....because of you, OP, because of you.

Hm, once we had a baby I was able to bar the cat from our bed without feeling too bad about it. We really needed the sleep and she was standing on my head in the night. Before the baby I’d felt too sorry for her.

It's not how I felt. The same as my love for do didn't decrease when I had a baby, and my love for dm didn't decrease when I met dp. I just do t think lobe works like that.

I love my cat as much

But no he isn’t as important as ds is the most important now. Not that the cat sees it that way

I had my cat first. Loved her just the same after kids. Had the dog last, love him more than the kids! The kids love him the most too! He is family, the cat was a pet.

@WorraLiberty I hope they are alone and get a pasting. It’s the wrong way to feel.

Why would you love your dog less because you've had a child? That seems weird to me. Why would the amount of love you have for anything or anyone reduce? I can understand not loving your dog as much as your child but I love my dog more now than I ever have before.

Well aren’t you a delight , in our house the dog is known as ‘the best child’ .

I completely agree, OP. It's not to say I dont still love and care for my pets any more, rather that my DC come first for time and attention. Also for safety reasons the pets have had to be excluded from parts of the house now. They are by no means neglected, just no longer my number one priority.

You sound lovely!

Maybe it depends on if you loved your dog for being a dog in the first place, or saw him as a surrogate child. And therefore dispensable when the real thing came along.
Poor dog

Yabvu

I am sad that I have less time for my pets now I have a child. And like a pp said they are now kept out of certain rooms etc, which is a bit rubbish. But I love them just as much. I wish I could still enjoy long dog walks and nice cat cuddles in the same way I could before children!

YANBU - you now feel unconditional love. And it's a completely different love altogether.

People who class their pet as their babies are weird.

I don't know if my parents loved the dogs more than me, but they certainly put them first. I don't understand it at all.
I have cats, I adore them, as does DD, but if it came down to it, she comes first, and she knows it.

I agree. I love, adore my dog. But before my children, I used to think it love this dog so much, I couldn’t love anything more’ and then I had my children. Although I definitely don’t love my dog less, I underestimated exactly how much I could love my children - and that love does exceed the love I have for my dog.

Yabu to have ever compared the two feelings.

I don't have children. I have a cat that I love dearly but I'd never compare it to the unconditional love I'd feel for a child. Theres no hormones involved, for a start. I'd never sacrifice my life for a dog or cat (again, hormones make you feel that way when you have a child).

This will probably sound weird but I loved my dogs even more when I had children (if it was possible to love them more than I did already 😂). They were such great friends and I miss them so much 😭. So, sorry op although I think I know what you’re getting at, I really didn’t feel the same.

There is some very ott responses

The op isn’t neglecting her dog. Most people will say they are totally overwhelmed with the love they feel for their child/children and had not experienced such a strong feeling before.

My DS are grown up now but they both know that our dog is my best girl. We had a long drunk discussion once about who you would rescue from a burning building and they both agreed I should leave them to sort out getting out and rescue the dog first.

I love my dog just not in the same way I love my children.
My dogs life would never come before theirs.

Wow. Op you don’t deserve such vitriol. You’re just being honest. You’re not alone. I loved my cat like crazy but when I had my first dc that love died inexplicably quickly. I’ve always been a cat lover and it has really confused me. I don’t know the answer but don’t feel bad.