is your pet part of the family
By addysmum
@addysmum (1225)
Canada
March 1, 2007 12:17pm CST
I have 3 dogs and 4 cats and they are my family. My husband and I both feel that they should be treated like they are family. They don't eat human food, they aren't allowed on the furniture and the do come second to the kids but they are still my loved ones and I think people should respect that when they deal with my pets.
My mother tells me every chance she gets to build a dog run and keep them out of the house and that I should get rid of my cats and just have 1 or 2 cats no dogs. My in-laws (who have dogs themselves) don't let us bring our dogs when we visit not even to sleep in the garage. When we have brought them they sleep in the van or garage if we can and walk then so they don't do their thing in the yard. we respect others when it comes to our pets in that we don't leave any messes for others to clean up ever.
Are your pets family to you? and how do you deal with others who don't respect you for that?
2 responses
@maryannemax (12156)
• Sweden
1 Mar 07
i have a dog, two cats, chickens, fish and a dove.
my dog sleeps at my side at night. she is allowed to sleep or stay on the sofa anytime she feels like being there. she has her own cushion on the floor, too. if the weather's too hot, she has her own electric fan to freshen up.
my cat is allowed on the sofa, too. both my dog and cats are well pampered and well fed.
my chickens, crazy as it may be, but i do talk to them. say good morning to them and night night before they sleep at night. they are well fed, too. so as my dove.
my fish's aquarium is always cleaned up by my brother atleast twice a week and they are well fed, too.
i think pets should be treated as one of the members of the family. there's joy in spending time with them. and they are sweet creatures if given the chance to show love to us, too.
i don't care if people won't like my style. all i know is i am happy being so close to my pets. i love them and they love me back. that's all that matters to me.
1 person likes this
@addysmum (1225)
• Canada
1 Mar 07
I don't let the dogs up on the furniture because i hate having to vacuum the furniture every day and not in my bed because I hate dog hair in my mouth when I sleep. Th cats do almost anything they please except being on the counters. No cats where I make food, that is the rule.
When I had chickens They where a lot of fun, I hand raised them all and they where trained to come when called. My neighbor who started me on chickens thought I was crazy for training them, part of the reason for training them was they shared a barn and a field with my horse who hated everything that moved except people. he would kill anything in his field if he could so I trained the chickens to come, and which tree was their safe place. I had a rooster that would ride around on my foot when I was working outside and he would wait at the door for me to come outside, he even used to walk down the road to me if I was working close to the house (I did road construction)the guys all had a good time teasing me over him. He was the best, a raccoon got him and the whole flock in one night. I saved his father and he lived for another 3 years alone with only me as his company. He went every where with me after the attack, even to work. (Again my crews thought I was crazy, a chicken doing road construction got a laugh out of a lot of motorists.)
My husband and I did fish until a few years ago and would love to start a new tank now that my son is old enough to enjoy them.
@dreamingmyth (594)
• United States
2 Mar 07
we have 4 cats and they are deffinately part of our family! i dont think ive ever ran into anyone who doesnt respect that though? well my ex had problems understanding that u cant hit a cat because it didnt do what u wanted it to! he once tossed one of my cats across the room so i told him if he couldnt knock it off id find a good home for the cats (i should have just kicked him out of the house right then and there lol).. but other then that i havent had any problems. most of my friends are total animal lovers themselves so they understand :)
1 person likes this
@addysmum (1225)
• Canada
2 Mar 07
I would have tossed him across the room. My husband didn't like cats until I showed him what a cat really is like. Once he made a move to hurt my cat and I informed him that no animal is ever hurt under my roof and if they are he won't have a family to come home to. Now he gets them, and loves their silly things. He can see they are not the animal his parents always complained about. He still is more a dog person.
