To think that people who genuinely dislike pets are weird?

[Kittenmumma]

I understand not wanting them in your own home because you don’t want to deal with mess/smell/looking after them etc. but to dislike pets as a concept… I think is very weird, animals are so amazing and anyone who has or has had a pet will be able to acknowledge that, I am sure.
Mainly referring to cats and dogs here btw, not “strange” (by our standards) animals like reptiles, rats etc

Happy to be weird if this is the definition.

Okay 🤷🏾‍♀️.

Why is it not weird to want to share your home with animals but it’s weird not to want to?

Why aren’t both perfectly acceptable preferences and not “weird”?!

We need to get out of othering everyone who doesn’t agree with us and labelling them as weirdos.

I have 2 cats, and a dog. I don’t agree with you. Not everyone likes animals. Not everyone wants to share their space with an animal. Same as children.

So if you think rats as pets are 'strange' where do you stand on guinea-pigs?
Answer- you don't stand on guinea-pigs, that is nasty and weird .

I have pets and still think yabu.

They’re not my people but I don’t think they’re weird.

I don't really get what the point is you're trying to make. I love my pets but I don't think badly of anyone who doesn't want them, nor would I even really care. I can understand why people don't, they make mess, they are a financial commitment and can restrict your time and freedom.

Conceptually you think an animal living in your house is less weird than no animal living in your house?!

I think animals are amazing. Personally, I don’t think keeping them as pets is. Too many animals are at a disadvantage because people just want to own a pet. I’m talking rabbits in hutches (hardly ANYONE who owns a rabbit properly knows what it needs or how to care for it, and that’s before you get to the fact they should be in a pair) bored parrots plucking their own feathers out, cats terrorised by small children, lonely fish swimming around in a tiny tank… I could go on. And on.

I don’t think anyone should have the automatic right to keep a pet, even if they do think animals are amazing.

I have dogs, they are my everything, I still think you're being odd.

I love cats, and have had them as pets, but to be really honest I'm not sure that domesticating animals and owning them for our pleasure is a good thing/the right thing.

I am probably wierd but I can't help but feel immensely sad for pets. When we had out guinea pigs or dog, I could understand that they had a lovely life with us, treated like kings and much safer than being in the wild but yet I could not get over the fact that they were trapped and only able to leave thier cage/room when we the humans deemed fit. that thier every movement and experience was controlled by us. Equally I love horses and wished I had a horse growing up but again I feel so sad that they have to carry a human whenever they are forced to and have no say to say, oh today I dont feel like it. I feel bad that they do not have autonomy over their life!!

No.
I do think it's strange to think everyone should have the same likes and dislikes though.

YABU.

Having pets is an absolutely insane concept.
We domesticate wild animals into living very human lives - spaces, routines, interactions, foods.
Then we willingly share our homes with them in similar ways to how we share our homes with our closest relatives.
This is despite the fact they don't really offer much in return beyond 'they're nice to have around'.

Fundamentally its absolutely bonkers.

I say this as someone with a dog. She's my entire world. I'd do anything for her. She sleeps in my bed. I haven't been on holiday for about 8 years because I won't leave her.

I still recognise that me and her sharing a house is nuts.

I mean, you've answered your own question! Pets as a concept involves smell, cleaning up, responsibility. (Albeit it also involves love, fun and enrichment) That is the very concept of pets! Some people dont like that because some of the things negatively outweigh the others. (Says me with my cat and dog sat beside me - but no children because despite working as a teacher for 18 years and loving children, I dont want to live with one!)

Hitler loved dogs and horses, so what is your point.

I have never regretted the loss of the laugh emoji more than reading this comment.

Everyone has different tastes and wants in life. We have got animals (chickens and a part share in a family dog who stays with us) but completely understand why anyone wouldn't like them and it's not wield. It's strange and short sighted of you to not see why someone wouldn't like pets...they smell, wee, poo, cost money, make you sneeze, the up time and stop you doing other things. I personally don't like seeing rabbits, hamsters etc as pets as they not kept correctly mostly. During bird flu seeing my chickens being kept lock up in they very large enclosure instead of roaming the garden broke my heart. Pets also amazing and life changing.

I think you mean people who are freaked out by animals or hate a particular animal? I am not sentimental about animals and have never had pets (though I do like dogs very much) but I do think that people who show cruelty to animals - this includes pet owners- are dangerous human beings.

I hope some of these replies make OP reflect but I suspect they probably won’t.

I agree with the pp who said it’s unhealthy to be constantly framing people whose harmless preferences differ from our own as ‘weird’.

YABVU. I have a cat, but I would see pet ownership as intrinsically weird - to use your words. It’s exploitation of animals for our benefit, even though the animal may have a better life than in the wild. Working animals like sheepdogs and horses I have more time for.

It's almost as if people have different tastes and opinions 😂

Yeah I have a slight sort of distrust for people who profess not to 'like' animals at all.

I understand that people might like animals generally but not be in a position to or even desire to have one ... but people who say 'Oh I don't like animals' etc... Nah, that feels very odd to me, I can't get my head around it.

I've always felt this way since being very small (and we only had one rather unpleasant cat at that point, it isn't like I was raised in a household rammed with animals!).

I understand when people are fearful of or uncomfortable about a particular species - as long as they're not glorying in it like 'oh I would burn/stamp on/smash any spider I say haha im so tough aren't i' (as they'd then fall into the category of 'likes hurting things' and thats a huge red flag). It is just that broad spectrum 'I dislike ALL animals' I find odd.

I say the above as someone who had a lot of pets as a child, and I’m a bit appalled at how some of them were kept now I’m older and better educated, and we thought we were ‘good’ pet owners. I vowed not to keep any as an adult (and still ended up with two rescue dwarf lops who are now very happy but quite intense house bunnies, that my upstairs neighbour kept in a couple of hamster cages then dumped in the car park when she moved out)