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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think MN shouldn't be promoting old fashioned and cruel methods of pet ownership

139 replies

Newfluff · 05/12/2022 22:29

OK, my teens will say 'it's not that deep' but AIBU to be saddened that the best toy of 2022 is based on cruelty?

Guinea pigs are social creatures that need to live in pairs, but ideally groups. They need space to thrive not a tiny handbag cage.

I'm sure the majority will say I'm batshit and that it doesn't matter as they aren't real, but this perpetuates the idea of it being acceptable to house pigs alone in dark cages, and this shouldn't be promoted in 2022

To think MN shouldn't be promoting old fashioned and cruel methods of pet ownership
OP posts:
Battlecat98 · 05/12/2022 22:43

Sorry I really don't see an issue here. You could say this about so many things aimed at children. My DC know how to treat real animals and they had plenty of plastic/rubber creatures.

fruktsoda · 05/12/2022 22:44

CaptainThe95thRifles · 05/12/2022 22:38

If you think that some parents don't buy their kids unsuitable pets with no research (and therefore extremely poor management and care), on the basis of films, trends and toys, you're sadly mistaken. I wish it weren't the case, but some parents do just that.

Well, obviously some (many) don't do the research they should, but I don't think this toy is going to make much of a difference to that fact, one way or the other. A reasonably intelligent, responsible person will do some research, if only to watch a YouTube video or two. The rest won't. I don't believe we can reasonably expect toys to reflect the reality of pet ownership.

SliceOfCakeCupOfTea · 05/12/2022 22:44

SeenAndNot · 05/12/2022 22:40

They fall out from the roof. Childbirth made easy.

gasp
The sodding roof??
I had assumed it was timed magnets in the mum or something!

I take it back. I feel betrayed.

Newfluff · 05/12/2022 22:46

Kanaloa · 05/12/2022 22:31

They’re toys. My DS has a range of sea animals, but he understands that in real life orcas must not/should not be kept in captivity (certainly not in a terraced house) because it is cruel.

DD’s lol dolls on the other hand… promoting entirely ridiculous head to body proportions. Nobody could walk round with a head that huge.

I'd think it was wrong if the Orcas came with a sealife style enclosure.

Lol are a whole other thread.

OP posts:
CaptainThe95thRifles · 05/12/2022 22:49

fruktsoda · 05/12/2022 22:44

Well, obviously some (many) don't do the research they should, but I don't think this toy is going to make much of a difference to that fact, one way or the other. A reasonably intelligent, responsible person will do some research, if only to watch a YouTube video or two. The rest won't. I don't believe we can reasonably expect toys to reflect the reality of pet ownership.

Toys which are designed to model "care" or ownership of an animal, as this does, do influence the expectations of the average, irresponsible person who often don't bother to research beyond their own expectations. I don't agree that the portrayals of how animals should be kept - whether that's as a toy or on tv or in books - don't influence how people think about those animals and how they may then go on to keep them.

Newfluff · 05/12/2022 22:49

Battlecat98 · 05/12/2022 22:43

Sorry I really don't see an issue here. You could say this about so many things aimed at children. My DC know how to treat real animals and they had plenty of plastic/rubber creatures.

But toys recreate reality, I've seen toy kitchen, toy hoovers, toy houses all toy versions of acceptable reality. I don't think a tiny cage is acceptable reality.

OP posts:
scrivette · 05/12/2022 22:49

DD has gone to sleep cuddling his toy Lion. I hope he doesn't try to do that when we see a real one at the zoo.

UpdownUpdownAltogetherNow · 05/12/2022 22:49

You’re over thinking it in my opinion. I have six very well looked after guinea pigs and still bought it for DD for her birthday as she loves guinea pigs. It’s a toy, it bears little to no relation to the real animals (they don’t even really look like guinea pigs but the babies are cute).

XenoBitch · 05/12/2022 22:52

Newfluff · 05/12/2022 22:49

But toys recreate reality, I've seen toy kitchen, toy hoovers, toy houses all toy versions of acceptable reality. I don't think a tiny cage is acceptable reality.

Do you feel the same outrage at small children playing with baby dolls/prams etc?
I mean, small children make pretty shitty parents when you think about it.

Kanaloa · 05/12/2022 22:53

Newfluff · 05/12/2022 22:46

I'd think it was wrong if the Orcas came with a sealife style enclosure.

Lol are a whole other thread.

But the orcas are sold separately - they should live in matriarchal pods, usually staying with their own families for all their lives. These come alone. Surely that is then equally wrong? Of course we could buy several, but then anyone could buy several of these toys.

Then there’s the Noah’s Ark toys - very wrong to depict all those animals crammed into a small boat.

Toy dogs, usually children do not walk them twice a day (or more) and attend training classes to simulate true responsible dog ownership.

Baby dolls often come with toy bottles which don’t offer a good representation of the choice between breast and bottle, many of them do not come with safe sleeping required cots but just little plastic cribs.

Roleplay toys are a joke. My kids’ toy kitchen does NOT meet health and safety requirements, and my dd frequently drives a toy car with no licence, plus I’m pretty sure she has been performing illegal surgery with her doctor’s kit. She doesn’t even have a medical degree.

They are toys. If you want reforms in small pet ownership that needs to be campaigned for with pet stores, campaigns to stop people selling pets on Facebook/gumtree. Not getting frazzled over a toy Guinea pig that is specifically made to be portable.

DontBuyANewMumCashmere · 05/12/2022 22:53

Oh my days.

I got a Sylvanian Family mansion for one of my childhood Christmasses, it was so cherished that I kept it for over 30 years and have passed it on to my daughter.

I have recently completed the formal transfer of ownership documents, tied her into a really good interest rate of 3.19% for two years, for most of her monthly pocket money and if she decides to buy sweets instead of pay her mortgage I will take the whole chuffing lot back off her.

Toys aren't real OP.

Pascor · 05/12/2022 22:55

Newfluff · 05/12/2022 22:38

I thought this when I first saw it, but it cements the idea that pigs should live in cages alone, so if they progress to owning live pigs they are more likely to replicate the housing.

Rabbit hutches were used in the war to house rabbits that were destined for the pot, they were never designed as lifetime prisons where socially complex animals live out their lives in solitude.

That's completely batshit.

People don't learn how to keep pets from some piece of shitty plastic from when they were six. You might as well start a post about how all small kids will be the worst parents ever because baby anabel lives in the toy box, upside down with a dented head !

Ylvamoon · 05/12/2022 22:55

Aww, I think they'll be just fine. Plenty of play and running freely around the home will ensure that they are over tired and happy to settle in their tiny bedroom house. 😉

CaptainThe95thRifles · 05/12/2022 22:56

XenoBitch · 05/12/2022 22:52

Do you feel the same outrage at small children playing with baby dolls/prams etc?
I mean, small children make pretty shitty parents when you think about it.

If a doll aimed at a small child was marketed with a bottle you add alcohol to, to make the baby sleep, yes I'd be outraged, and I think most people defending this toy would be too.

Granted, that's a hyperbolic comparison - keeping a long guinea pig in a small hutch to breed from it probably isn't as bad as drugging a baby - but they are both things which people have done in the past, and are not considered good practice today.

It's not the idea of a toy guinea pig that's the issue. It's a toy guinea pig, kept alone (other than the expectation of babies from on high), in a small hutch, purely to breed from it.

Kanaloa · 05/12/2022 22:58

It's not the idea of a toy guinea pig that's the issue. It's a toy guinea pig, kept alone (other than the expectation of babies from on high), in a small hutch, purely to breed from it.

You’re right, better remove the kids’ V-Tech laptop before they try selling the babies in gumtree…

wherearebeefandonioncrisps · 05/12/2022 22:59

If I had my way , no one would keep rabbits, Guinea pigs or any rodent in a cage.
They should be banned.
In particular, no one should keep a bird in a cage , either.

dancingqueen123 · 05/12/2022 22:59

luxxlisbon · 05/12/2022 22:32

It’s a toy. My DD’s toy bear lives in a cardboard box, is that animal cruelty too?

😆

RoyFuckingKent · 05/12/2022 23:24

Newfluff · 05/12/2022 22:49

But toys recreate reality, I've seen toy kitchen, toy hoovers, toy houses all toy versions of acceptable reality. I don't think a tiny cage is acceptable reality.

Some Toys recreate reality.
I’ve spent half my life waiting to really fly the Millenium falcon with R2.

donquixotedelamancha · 05/12/2022 23:29

I'm sure the majority will say I'm batshit

It sounds like you hear that a lot, OP?

I would love to know what other things you think should be banned. I imagine it's a fascinating list.

TheLadyofShalott1 · 06/12/2022 00:26

I voted that you are not being unreasonable
@Newfluff but maybe I shouldn't have voted at all, as I believe that it is a rather grey area. Some of your issues I absolutely agree with, while others don't seem to be so much of a problem.

Take the cage worry for a start, a small child's pet guinea pig toy should only arrive at the child's home in it's transporting cage, and then be taken out and be treated gently by the lucky child. This (illustrated) guinea pig is obviously going to be a 'house' guinea pig, and have the freedom of the house - or part thereof, but until the pig can be trained to poo in it's litter tray (I suggest an old backing tray and shredded paper from the office - home or at work, and must have been printed on with non-toxic ink), it's little adopter will need to learn to be aware and to clean up any wees or poos that it does in the meantime! But that is definitely only a trasnsporting cage OP for when the little piggy goes to the vet etc.

I do seriously think that anything like keeping toy pets, or babies (baby dolls) should come with a list of care notes, and should not be given to a child until they have a reasonable understanding of their parents vocabulary - with the exception of from birth suitable furry animals. My own wish is that all babies should have at least one of their own well made furry animal toys, and I mean all, I think it is extremely sad that globally there will be so many babies who do not get that opportunity - sorry for the aside.

Obviously most enlightened mums parents will tell their little ones if they start to treat their toys "cruelly" (what would be considered cruel if it was a real animal or baby), eg holding baby upside down, and dunking it's head into a bucket of water/the toilet! My own Dear Mum, sadly now long passed away, once remarked to me when I was little, that she was worried that when I had my own baby I would never dress it, as I kept my own life size baby doll undressed most of the time - I never forgot her saying that, even though I am pretty sure that at the time she said it with an exclamation mark! When my first born was about 13 months old I did say to her "see I have kept him/her dressed - when appropriate!"

Like a PP said, if your little one's baby doll came with it's own milk bottle, and a miniture bottle of - hopefully pretend - whiskey (I'm half Irish, long survive Bush Mills 😍), for the purpose of (pretend) adding some to the baby's milk bottle to help it sleep, then hopefully every single mumsnetter would find that outrageous! My very Dear Departed Uncle gave my first born a teaspoon of whiskey after my child's Christening, when I found out I was naturally furious. My Uncle was born in the 1920's, he was highly intelligent and educated (he could not only speak fluent Latin, but fluent Greek too, he was brilliant at maths, and very educated in, and enjoyed many of the arts - it is such a pity that none of that rubbed off on me 🙈).

The point that I appear to be struggling to make is that depending on a multitude of different reasons, anyone can make important mistakes in regards to child rearing, no matter what their level of commonsense, education, or a myriad of other positive or negative qualities, so I am very much on OP's side for starting this thread, and I also believe that any 'toy' that needs taking care of because it represents a living creature in real life, should absolutely come with care instructions.

Hopefully those enlightened people that I mentioned earlier, would be able to explain the difference between toys and real animals (including humans) to their child, and the importance of still looking after their toy even though it is 'only' a toy. But then I am also someone who is horrified by family and neighbours who think it is ok to pour boiling water on an ant hill, or to cut slugs in half, etc, which is probably why I do find that quite a few aquaintences seem to find me very strange, or far too serious...

PipinwasAuntieMabelsdog · 06/12/2022 00:40

SeenAndNot · 05/12/2022 22:40

They fall out from the roof. Childbirth made easy.

I think this more misleading and cruel than the suggestion that Guinea Pigs can live alone is small cages. A child who plays with this thin which looks terrifying will be traumatised if they end up at antenatal as an adult! Grin

RafaistheKingofClay · 06/12/2022 02:16

XenoBitch · 05/12/2022 22:52

Do you feel the same outrage at small children playing with baby dolls/prams etc?
I mean, small children make pretty shitty parents when you think about it.

Are you suggesting that babies shouldn’t be picked up and carried about by the ankle? I think I’ve been doing things wrong with my nieces.

ImustLearn2Cook · 06/12/2022 02:40

I used to love that game called Operation. But I never felt inspired to cut open my sister and perform surgery on her.

I also grew up in a time with toy guns. It never trivialised the reality of gun violence. We played cops and robbers and none of us grew up to become criminals or to arrest people on absolutely no charges and throw them in jail just for the fun of it.

I bought dd a toy puppy that you feed it little plastic pellets and when you make it sit it poops it out. Then you feed it the pooped out pellets again and again. I really don’t think that if I got her a real puppy that she would feed it with it’s own poo.

Toy spiders and snakes could be viewed as encouraging handling venomous creatures.

The list goes on.

I think the toy Guinea pig enclosure is made compact for practical reasons.

Any parent who bought a Guinea pig and housed it in something that small on it’s own with no other Guinea pigs for social interactions would be the only one responsible for teaching animal cruelty.

ImustLearn2Cook · 06/12/2022 02:45

Kanaloa · 05/12/2022 22:53

But the orcas are sold separately - they should live in matriarchal pods, usually staying with their own families for all their lives. These come alone. Surely that is then equally wrong? Of course we could buy several, but then anyone could buy several of these toys.

Then there’s the Noah’s Ark toys - very wrong to depict all those animals crammed into a small boat.

Toy dogs, usually children do not walk them twice a day (or more) and attend training classes to simulate true responsible dog ownership.

Baby dolls often come with toy bottles which don’t offer a good representation of the choice between breast and bottle, many of them do not come with safe sleeping required cots but just little plastic cribs.

Roleplay toys are a joke. My kids’ toy kitchen does NOT meet health and safety requirements, and my dd frequently drives a toy car with no licence, plus I’m pretty sure she has been performing illegal surgery with her doctor’s kit. She doesn’t even have a medical degree.

They are toys. If you want reforms in small pet ownership that needs to be campaigned for with pet stores, campaigns to stop people selling pets on Facebook/gumtree. Not getting frazzled over a toy Guinea pig that is specifically made to be portable.

@Kanaloa 👏 Well said.

notangelinajolie · 06/12/2022 02:55

They aren’t real. Kids aren’t stupid, they know this.

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