Teased over love for cats

[EriAndo]

This might sound trivial but I’m really upset by people taking the pee on my social media when I post photos of my cats calling them my babies.

Thing is, they are like my babies and people don’t understand. Usually people with kids who take the p@£*

I miscarried at 20 weeks and got two kittens to help me cope. It helped that they needed me and gave me affection when I needed it most.
One of these kittens died before she was 1 (hit by car) and I was distraught and couldn’t go to work for a few days and was reprimanded by my boss even though I explained it was like losing my baby again. I left that job not long after as boss called me ridiculous.
I had another two miscarriages & I got a kitten about 5 years ago and she and my other cat love each other and I love seeing them cuddling and playing, it cheers me up.
Sometimes I take photos and post them on social media & some people make snarky comments. Some ‘friends’ have even deleted me as they’re fed up of the constant cat photos.

AIBU to feel upset?
(Ps: Joined MN when I was pregnant and feel a bit of a fraud as I’m not a Mum yet!)

I'm sorry for your loss, I totally understand the cat love!

But if posting on social media doesn't get a helpful response, do you need to do it? Perhaps enjoy your cat yourself, and limit the posting about it?

Constant posts about anything can get irritating for people not fussed about whatever it is, it's not cat specific.

I’m sorry you have such weird friends. I would love you to flood my Facebook with photos of your cats!

Sorry for your losses. Maybe don't post so much on social media? It can be irritating, whether it's cats or babies if it's alot.

Totally get the cats as family thing. They ARE family! But as others have said, there can be too much of a good thing. Perhaps limit your posts to one a week. I do love seeing funny or cute pet pictures to break up the mummy mush though!

My friends and colleagues take the piss out of my cat obsession all the time. I just embrace the mad cat lady reputation I've gained.

Like Toddler, I also embrace the cat lady ribbing I get from friends and colleagues. Just last week I noticed the name plate on my desk had been changed, where it used to say my job title under my name it now reads "Cat Lady" 😂

My advice would be to find some fellow cat lovers to share your photos with and ignore everyone else. I'm part of several cat groups on Facebook, including one for a cat charity I donate to.

People who love cats ‘get’ you. Ignore them.

I don’t post a lot to be honest, not even once a week. I don’t post many on FB and set up an IG just for the cat pics so people could follow it if they liked cats or not if they didn’t.

But I did post one on FB last week as had returned from trip and they were cuddling in bed, happy I was back. I posted a pic of them on my bed and put ‘happy Mummy is home’ and had loads of piss taking comments so I took picture down.

Honestly, ignore them. If your cats make you happy then you are perfectly entitled to love them as much as you want.

I'm sorry to hear about your losses

You need better quality friends. Time for a Facebook cull. No one should be taking the piss out of something harmless that brings comfort and joy to an individual.
Or restrict who can see your cat posts to those that appreciate them.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Of course they are your babies.

Can you look for some Facebook groups for likeminded folk?

I walk dogs and feed cats for a living. My feed is jam packed with people and groups and adverts for dog and cat people. I think Facebook's spooky algorithms point me towards them.

'Rate my cat ' is one that I can recommend.

I'd love to see a pic of your cats if that's not too outing.

There's often lovely threads on here on the 'litter tray' board also.

Your friends don't sound like very nice people.
This is why we end up liking cats more!
Sorry it upsets you. Can you hide them for a bit?

Your social media is for you to use as you wish. It sounds as though your "friends" are actually snarky bullies ganging up on you - it only takes one person to start and others think it's safe to join in.

You carry on as you wish. You love your cats, they make you happy. If other people have a problem with this they can literally scroll past.

Carry on enjoying your kitties 🐱

Another crazy cat lady here

If your cats make you happy ignore everyone else, I have 4 DC and on my SM there’s probably more photos of my pets than DC some people would say oh she loves them more but that’s because most of my DC are teens and don’t want their photos all over SM. I see SM as a bit of fun to post daft photos of cats anyway and keep all the political stuff etc off there.

Cats are nicer than most people anyway

Thanks all, a lot of comments are from work people and some even family members. Although they post pics of their kids every day but apparently ‘that’s different’.
I’m going to only post photos of them on their IG page now.
That way only the cat lovers will see them!

People who do this are immature
Delete their piss taking comments
They're ridiculous
And join a cat/animal forum they're like us there

Fellow non- mum here. People who haven't experienced the same kinds of pain as you have really don't understand. They think they have the right to censor your language/ thoughts because they have kids and are therefore somehow 'superior'. (Most people with kids are normal and lovely and don't behave like this but oh, the ones who do...) ignore them. They can miss out on your bundles of fluff, let them. Enjoy the love in your life. This is like people who frown on others for having the "wrong" interests because they are different - how boring and unimaginative of them. "Those who care don't matter and those that matter don't care."

I wouldn't let them stop me you shouldn't have to stop
If you delete the comments/tell them to shut up they'll soon get the message

They don’t sound very nice people tbh. Animals are quite often nicer than humans.

I love cats. I love seeing pictures of cats. I fully understand they can be child substitutes and people love them like family. If not more.

However. There is a line- I’m quite happy to have pictures of cats on my SM, and will leave comments about how gorgeous, much like I would peoples kids. But they are pets, and if people start to anthropomorphise or post stuff “from” the pet or in anyway appear to think the pet is human, that’s my line and I will mute them. It doesn’t do the pets any favours.

One of my colleagues said to my student last week. "She'll distract you by taking about her cats." It was 8.30 am and I'd gone an entire 90 minutes without mentioning them until then!

Just ignore the comments OP and carry on sharing photos of your cats. I have a toddler but I still prefer to see photos of people’s pets than their kids. I have pet rats so you can imagine the type of comment I get too! I used to get similar comments about my dog before he passed away. I had an album on fb especially for him and I’d upload 200 photos to that album at a time just as a back up incase I lost my phone. People would take the mick but I couldn’t care less, he was my baby and I loved him far more than any of the idiots leaving stupid comments. Sometimes people just think they’re being funny and probably don’t realise that it might upset you. My advice would be to just own it, be proud of being a crazy cat lady

I can never see too many cat pictures.

I'm sorry you've been through so much.

I had an old boss like that, my colleague's dog had to be pts, it was at the end of a lot of treatment & planned. She asked for 2 days off for compassionate leave & my boss actually laughed. It wasn't until she noticed our shocked/disgusted faces that she shut up. Some people don't understand love for animals & grief when they die is very real (& can trigger previous feelings of grief).

I'm on a couple of cat pages on fb which are lovely & full of like minded people who I'm sure would love to enjoy seeing your cats.

@PhantomErik

I'm sorry you've been through so much.

I had an old boss like that, my colleague's dog had to be pts, it was at the end of a lot of treatment & planned. She asked for 2 days off for compassionate leave & my boss actually laughed. It wasn't until she noticed our shocked/disgusted faces that she shut up. Some people don't understand love for animals & grief when they die is very real (& can trigger previous feelings of grief).

I'm on a couple of cat pages on fb which are lovely & full of like minded people who I'm sure would love to enjoy seeing your cats.

That's awful

But I wouldn't ask for compassionate leave for my pets. Even though my work know how much I love them and I've taken it as holiday before when they've died I can't see them granting compassionate leave for it