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

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

So you understand why people don’t want pets in their homes but then find it weird people dislike pets? Even after the reasons you listed. I don’t have pets, we had them growing up (dogs) and I loved having them but as an adult now I don’t want the commitment of a pet

I’m happy for you to think I’m weird.

My dog is my world. I spend most of my life making sure he’s happy and well cared for. Spend every moment I can with him and he’s rarely left alone for long. Spend tons of money on toys, the best food I can afford for him and taking him to dog fields etc. I don’t go on holiday without him. I don’t think this is weird, however I also don’t think people who don’t like pets are weird, everyone is different.

I don't get the correlation.
Are you judging people in poverty for spending money on their pets rather than their own children, or people not in poverty for spending money on their pets rather than poorer people's children?

Why pick on pets as extraneous spending people should be instead giving to charity and not how much people spend on food/alcohol/clothes/holidays/electronics etc?

It might be uncomfortable or an unpleasant truth - but if you wiped out pets entirely, people would not then redistribute the cash they spend on their pets to feed or clothe other peoples kids.

In fact if you removed the pet industry - a natural consequence of vanishing pets from the nation - you would remove a huge employment sector and inevitably, some of those people have kids that need to be fed and clothed.

You're not wrong, it is shocking and shameful that so many people, adults and children, are living in poverty - but they are not doing so because some of us have pets!

I don’t dislike any animal, I like them all and have kept many over the years. I don’t keep any now, but I still like them.

But, not in my space, in appropriate places, and behaving badly. 🤷‍♀️

So what is your point, should people who work hard and are lucky enough to be able to afford it never be allowed to buy a home, or a car, or take a holiday because others are in poverty. I work very hard as does my DH, we don’t drink, smoke, have holidays or go out often. We do have a dog who yes, costs us a lot. We feel that this is a privilege but we have worked for that privilege. As much as I hate to see poverty, especially for children, no one can solve the poverty problem single handed.

This is a mad analogy.

Do you think all designer clothes stores / high end car showrooms / make up stores / take away shops / nail bars / netflix / anything that isn't strictly needed stores should be closed down and the people who would have spent money there are ordered to give their money to children they don't know?

I don't think random people should be ashamed of looking after their pets with money they've earned.

I used to love animals and children. I think now after being a single mum for years and my children being almost teens I’m just exhausted with it!
I want children and pets to be loved and happy but I don’t want anything to do with them any more. Going to try to have a break from all pets/ children for a few years in case I end up with grandchildren in the future and then I would have to make an effort with them. I used to pet sit for friends and would happily have my children’s friends in the house whenever and I would look after them. Now I don’t look after any young kids or pets. I do things for my teenagers but I don’t have the energy for anything else as well as working, general life etc.

That’s meant to say almost adults not almost teens.

Very weird. They will never know true love.

I've never wanted pets, am allergic so having a cat or a dog was never something I could do. We had hamsters and gerbils and rabbits when the children were small but it always made me a bit sad to see animals in cages. I love wildlife and like to see animals in their natural habitat. We have domesticated pets and to a certain extent have curbed their natural behaviours.

Glad to read that, out of consideration for dogs.

Some people like Coldplay. Some people like horrid tasteless lager. Some people are morning people like me, others are not.

People are not the same, nothing wrong with not liking pets.

Keeping animals in your own home and outside of their own natural environment for your own comfort and entertainment is weird.

Breeding them strategically so that they are crippled with disabilities is weird. Breeding them so that pets meet your aesthetic or to make them more docile and compliant and furbabyish is weird.

People say the same thing about people who don't have children. It's bollocks in either case.

They will never know a particular type of love, sure, but that's true of everyone. People who don't have friends will never know that specific type of love. People who don't have siblings will never know that type of love etc.

Weird if you bang on about loving animals yet are still happy to eat them.

Of course people who don’t like pets aren’t weird.

I love animals. Because I love animals, I’ve become increasingly of the opinion that it’s unethical to have pets (and yes I am vegetarian, strongly considering going vegan once DS grows up).

I also strongly dislike a lot of people’s individual pets because they are so badly trained and antisocial! That’s the owner’s fault though. I’ve never met a working sheepdog or husky that I’ve disliked, but I’ve met plenty of shitty badly-trained barky/snappy/jumpy chocolate labs and poodle crosses. Often in a house with small kids.

Same

I don’t like pets - I’m allergic to cats and dogs and horses anyway. Probably also allergic to smaller animals they just have less of an impact because of their size. Why would I want something in my home that makes me feel ill?

On top of that personally I find it really unhygienic - cat litter trays, bowls of dog food, pooey bums on soft furnishings, hair, slobber, dead animals being brought in from outside. Objectively, it is pretty gross. Some people choose to tolerate the grossness but I don’t understand what a pet adds

Wheek!

Me too

You don't think it's weird that people spend so much money on things like pet food, while other people are suffering from malnutrition because they don't have money/ as much access to food? Or that they dress their pets up in clothes? Or dye their fur because they think it's "pretty"?

You don't think it's weird that lots of people profess to "love animals" but then eat them? And say they could never eat a dog or a cat, because they think of them as "pets", but happily eat lots of other species, or wear coats/ shoes made out of their skin/fur, and don't seem to care what conditions they're farmed in?

We as a family have pets, and I do not find them amazing. I prefer the cat to the dogs, but if it were just me, I'd be weird by your standards as there'd be no pets here. Maybe fish at a push.