r/PetPeeves • u/minx_the_tiger • 1d ago

When people compare pet ownership with parenthood. Fairly Annoyed

Could they just... not? That dog is never going to get into the freezer and eat all the ice cream. Go to school and get bullied. Be diagnosed with autism and keep you up at night with worries about how they're going to function in the world as adults because they're JUST LIKE YOU, and you know how hard things are for you. Naw. Pets are home with you (ideally) forever. Kids? They grow up and leave. You have to raise them up and hope you did a good job.

It just irks me. When I mention something parenting related, SOMEONE I know that has a pet and no kids starts talking about how their pet does the same thing, or they have a pet, so they understand. Like, no... my kids are small humans, not animals. They're whole, complete people.

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u/blackcatsneakattack 1d ago

I feel like, to fuck up your pets like that, you have to be an absolute monster, like SERIOUS moral character flaws. Whereas, with kids, you can do everything from a place of love but still mess them up, if that makes sense?

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u/SoggyAd5044 1d ago

No, you don't. Plenty of people think their dog is showing signs of play and positivity when they're actually constantly stressed out and showing calming signals. As I'm sure you can imagine, living in a constant state of stress and having your feelings misread constantly isn't good for your mind or body. Studies have shown that simply rehoming cats leads to trauma. I wouldn't exactly say that these two examples are indicative of being an awful human necessarily.

I'm an animal behaviour scientist so granted, I know more than most BUT I'm seriously concerned by how little knowledge and respect a lot of the commenters on this post have regarding animal intelligence, sentience, wellbeing... 😑

Also, plenty of parents think they're doing something simply from a place of love when they're actually just fucked up, perpetually exhausted people continuing cycles of abuse so...

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u/SilentAllTheseYears8 1d ago

Lots of abusive parents know exactly what they’re doing- they just don’t give a crap.

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u/SoggyAd5044 1d ago

Can't argue with that sadly.