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?

I know what you mean , I think it's just the comparison, especially when I directed my maternal love towards my pets , once I had my children that love was much more intense than anything else I had experienced. I find it much stranger that some of the replies say they love their pets the same as or more than their children, that I don't get.

My cat certainly moved down the list of priority once the DC came along. I don't think the actual amount of love decreased, but pre children I didn't know how much I could love, and the amount of love I had for DCat was my top level. Then I discovered a who other level of love for the DChildren, which kind of made what I felt for the cat seem comparatively less.

YANBU. Of course you love your kids more than your animals; they’re human.

If you’ve only ever owned animals and never had a child you can’t ever understand the intense love you feel for one. A pet doesn’t even come close.

This thread reminds me of a Family Guy episode where Brian accidentally runs over (I think) another dog and thinks he'd go to prison, and then the family realises he killed a dog, not a human, and they all laugh uproariously at him and say of course it's not a crime or even comparable in any way with manslaughter.
I wonder what animal owners who are sure they love their pets the same or more as people love their children make of that episode when they watch it...
The story in it is kind of cruel, pragmatic and poignant at the same time. But it's also true and makes sense. And I'm not a fan of Family Guy at all.

@JayAlfredPrufrock

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

Exactly

All the people I know who have kids aged over say, 10, openly prefer their dog their their offspring. Best stick to spaffing out more kids, OP, don’t get any pet if you don’t give much of a fuck. Obviously. This didn’t need a thread.

My love for my 4 cats is endless. Each one comes up separately through the day and evening for a snuggle, brushing as long haired and half an hour of fussing each every day.