Mothers' Day and "Fur Babies"

[Cecilie1200]

Excellent treatise as always. And I clicked in because I know to expect quality writing from your quill.


However I think you have misunderestimated the pleasures of licking one's own genitals. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.

Why am I not surprised to see you taking a turn for the stupid.........nevermind, I won't get into it

Cecile is both feisty and articulate. I can relate to both of those. She and I may fight like cats 'n' dogs ideologically but we have those stylistic traits in common, so I respect that.

I'll give you credit. When I get pissed off at you, you don't start crying about it and run away. You just fight back. I appreciate that.

And exactly the same applies back. Revolting as it may be to either of us, in that way we're made of the same stuff.

OK so this is a bit creepy. It was a quick observation in the cause of honesty.and credit where due but that's enough of that, back to battle stations, our comfort zone

We need a mushroom cloud emoji. Do we have one?

 

[Gracie]

I gag when some schmuck drags out their wallet to show pics of their kids and grandkids. So...ok. Whatever floats a boat.

Hey, I don't necessarily want to see them, either. But they still deserve more credit and respect than to be equated with someone who dropped $50 at the Humane Society and now thinks she's the frigging Madonna complete with halo.

So who are you to judge on what constitutes love?

 

[JustAnotherNut]

perhaps you should share it with a therapist who at least gets paid to listen to you drivel on.

Take your own damn advice

Regardless of your intent with this thread, you do come across as a cold hearted ***** with your nose so far in the air you can't see in front of you.

There are many people that rely on those 'fur babies' for their very lives and others for the emotional support of true unconditional love they get from said pets that they don't or can't get from anyone else. Animals, pets, fur babies can be and are just as important in many peoples lives, as human babies

No, they can't.

All other things being equal, and not digressing onto wild extremes (as so many snowflakes feel required to do), pets are wonderful additions to a person's life, but they are not children. Not now, not ever.

From my OP:

"Know how I know "fur babies" aren't the equivalent of children? Ask yourself what your reaction would be if your dog was diagnosed with metastasized cancer. Would you go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt for chemo or radiation therapy and multiple operations to extend his life? Or would you have the vet put him to sleep? Now ask yourself the same question if your child was diagnosed with the same cancer."

Feel free to take some time out of your rhapsodizing to address these questions, and tell me about mortgaging your house to pay for your dog's cancer treatments, quitting your job so you could drive him to and from the hospital, sitting by his bedside for months on end, holding his paw and praying fervently every moment for God to take you instead. Tell me about how, years later, you still visit his grave and cry. Tell me how, when it comes right down to where the rubber meets the road, your pet is EXACTLY like a child. I dare you.

First off, 'No, they can't' WHAT???

As for my own personal beliefs as far as pets vs humans.......yes there is a limit to what extent I'd be willing to go. Of course pets are not people, nor are they literally 'EXACTLY like a child'. Although our 2 dogs and 2 cats are very much like family and FOR THE MOST PART are treated as such and there are strong emotional bonds. And I will go so far to agree, that there are some people out there that take it to a whole new level of stupid.......but that is their choice and I do know of some that would go to such extremes to care for their pets.

If you re-read my post, I had said there are many people that are dependent on their pets for their very lives, as in Service dogs or cats. Or to someone who is very traumatized from abuse or neglect, pets are valuable to get thru to victims that family, friends or therapists can't.......and when they do, they become attached and dependent on those pets.

You're entitled to your own opinion and choices regarding pets, but so are others

 

[fncceo]

Better than kids and you save a fortune in tuition.

 

[Cecilie1200]

I gag when some schmuck drags out their wallet to show pics of their kids and grandkids. So...ok. Whatever floats a boat.

Hey, I don't necessarily want to see them, either. But they still deserve more credit and respect than to be equated with someone who dropped $50 at the Humane Society and now thinks she's the frigging Madonna complete with halo.

So who are you to judge on what constitutes love?

Just a rational human being who keeps being asked to smile and nod at increasingly irrational nonsense.

Free country, hon. I'm allowed to hold any opinion I want, and to express it as I please. No one's making you read it, respond to it, or agree with it.

 

[Gracie]

So what if people call their pets furkids? I do it all the time. Comparing what is supposed to be love from one being towards another is like trying to say Hershey bar is better than M&Ms...then to complain about it is just as silly.

 

[koshergrl]

Well, another Mothers' Day has come and gone, and yet again my social media has exploded with benighted yahoos blathering on about "I'm a mother too; my pets are my children" and "Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there (fur babies count too!)", etc. ad nauseam.

May I interject a little curmudgeonly reality here (I won't say "Can I" because I think we all know I'm fully capable of it)? Leaving aside the sickeningly cutesy-poo label of "fur babies" for a moment, let me just state this categorically: they are not "your children". They are pets. And you are a pet owner, not a mother. As an ACTUAL mother, I am out of patience with pretending not to be offended by softheaded dimwits trying to draw an equivalency between my relationship with my children and theirs with their cat, dog, [fill in the fuzzy lower lifeform here].

We celebrate Mothers' Day for a reason. Being a mother is a huge, complicated, often-painful, lifelong undertaking. You bring forth an actual human being from your own body, through your blood, sweat, and pain (or, in the case of adoptive mothers, you take on the responsibilities of a child who has no one else in the world through an expensive, emotionally-agonizing legal process which typically takes far longer than an actual pregnancy does). If you're any kind of decent mother, that little human being becomes more important to you than anything else in the world, including yourself. You feel more joy at their accomplishments than you ever have at your own, you bleed inside every time they're hurt, you rearrange your entire existence around their care and nurturing. And if, God forbid, they die before you do, you carry that heartbreak with you every day forever.

We don't celebrate Pet Owners Day (or "Fur Mommies Day", if you insist) for a reason. You spend a half-hour to an hour filling out paperwork (maybe more, if the animal is pedigreed), hand over some cash, and ta daaah! You buy some food and toys, take them to the veterinarian once in a while, and you pet them while you watch TV. One assumes that you get upset if they get sick or injured (I'd certainly like to believe no one here is so heartless as to not care), but if you really believe it compares to the tortures of the damned experienced by actual parents of actual children who are in the hospital, you're delusional. And WHEN they die before you do (because pets generally have a significantly shorter lifespan than humans), you cry and feel sad and depressed (again, one hopes), and then you eventually get another pet.

Know how I know "fur babies" aren't the equivalent of children? Ask yourself what your reaction would be if your dog was diagnosed with metastasized cancer. Would you go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt for chemo or radiation therapy and multiple operations to extend his life? Or would you have the vet put him to sleep? Now ask yourself the same question if your child was diagnosed with the same cancer.

"Fur mommies" are basically just trying to horn in on the attention and adulation being handed out, without making the commitment. Let's just state that baldly. They want the status without putting in the work. And I am tired of hearing it. No, your "babies" are not just like my children; none of MY children have ever sat in the middle of the living room floor with company over and licked their own genitals, all right?

Changing the definition of *mother* like they change the definition of *life* and *rights* and *freedom* and *marriage*.

It's to lend credibility to their delusional and depraved lifestyles.

 

[koshergrl]

It also reveals their true belief that humans, and children, are nothing more than disposable animals, there for their enjoyment and at their leisure.

 

[Gracie]

I gag when some schmuck drags out their wallet to show pics of their kids and grandkids. So...ok. Whatever floats a boat.

Hey, I don't necessarily want to see them, either. But they still deserve more credit and respect than to be equated with someone who dropped $50 at the Humane Society and now thinks she's the frigging Madonna complete with halo.

So who are you to judge on what constitutes love?

Just a rational human being who keeps being asked to smile and nod at increasingly irrational nonsense.

Free country, hon. I'm allowed to hold any opinion I want, and to express it as I please. No one's making you read it, respond to it, or agree with it.

Agreed. But..you started the thread and its your complaint. If you did not want differing opinions..perhaps you should have sent the OP to yourself in an email so you could agree with yourself?
I get what you are saying. I do. But you refuse to get what others are saying. To ME, personally, my dog IS like my child due to the fact I take care of its needs. That might make you want to barf, but oh well. Seeing people dress up their little dogs in people clothes makes me want to barf too, but I don't start threads about it and then get upset or indignant when those who do such things post their own opinions about why they do it.

 

[Gracie]

Well, another Mothers' Day has come and gone, and yet again my social media has exploded with benighted yahoos blathering on about "I'm a mother too; my pets are my children" and "Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there (fur babies count too!)", etc. ad nauseam.

May I interject a little curmudgeonly reality here (I won't say "Can I" because I think we all know I'm fully capable of it)? Leaving aside the sickeningly cutesy-poo label of "fur babies" for a moment, let me just state this categorically: they are not "your children". They are pets. And you are a pet owner, not a mother. As an ACTUAL mother, I am out of patience with pretending not to be offended by softheaded dimwits trying to draw an equivalency between my relationship with my children and theirs with their cat, dog, [fill in the fuzzy lower lifeform here].

We celebrate Mothers' Day for a reason. Being a mother is a huge, complicated, often-painful, lifelong undertaking. You bring forth an actual human being from your own body, through your blood, sweat, and pain (or, in the case of adoptive mothers, you take on the responsibilities of a child who has no one else in the world through an expensive, emotionally-agonizing legal process which typically takes far longer than an actual pregnancy does). If you're any kind of decent mother, that little human being becomes more important to you than anything else in the world, including yourself. You feel more joy at their accomplishments than you ever have at your own, you bleed inside every time they're hurt, you rearrange your entire existence around their care and nurturing. And if, God forbid, they die before you do, you carry that heartbreak with you every day forever.

We don't celebrate Pet Owners Day (or "Fur Mommies Day", if you insist) for a reason. You spend a half-hour to an hour filling out paperwork (maybe more, if the animal is pedigreed), hand over some cash, and ta daaah! You buy some food and toys, take them to the veterinarian once in a while, and you pet them while you watch TV. One assumes that you get upset if they get sick or injured (I'd certainly like to believe no one here is so heartless as to not care), but if you really believe it compares to the tortures of the damned experienced by actual parents of actual children who are in the hospital, you're delusional. And WHEN they die before you do (because pets generally have a significantly shorter lifespan than humans), you cry and feel sad and depressed (again, one hopes), and then you eventually get another pet.

Know how I know "fur babies" aren't the equivalent of children? Ask yourself what your reaction would be if your dog was diagnosed with metastasized cancer. Would you go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt for chemo or radiation therapy and multiple operations to extend his life? Or would you have the vet put him to sleep? Now ask yourself the same question if your child was diagnosed with the same cancer.

"Fur mommies" are basically just trying to horn in on the attention and adulation being handed out, without making the commitment. Let's just state that baldly. They want the status without putting in the work. And I am tired of hearing it. No, your "babies" are not just like my children; none of MY children have ever sat in the middle of the living room floor with company over and licked their own genitals, all right?

Changing the definition of *mother* like they change the definition of *life* and *rights* and *freedom* and *marriage*.

It's to lend credibility to their delusional and depraved lifestyles.

I can't say I think of my pets as their mother. I think of them as my best friends. And remember..just because a woman can give birth...that does not make her a mother if she sucks at it.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

I gag when some schmuck drags out their wallet to show pics of their kids and grandkids. So...ok. Whatever floats a boat.

Hey, I don't necessarily want to see them, either. But they still deserve more credit and respect than to be equated with someone who dropped $50 at the Humane Society and now thinks she's the frigging Madonna complete with halo.

So who are you to judge on what constitutes love?

Just a rational human being who keeps being asked to smile and nod at increasingly irrational nonsense.

Free country, hon. I'm allowed to hold any opinion I want, and to express it as I please. No one's making you read it, respond to it, or agree with it.

Agreed. But..you started the thread and its your complaint. If you did not want differing opinions..perhaps you should have sent the OP to yourself in an email so you could agree with yourself?
I get what you are saying. I do. But you refuse to get what others are saying. To ME, personally, my dog IS like my child due to the fact I take care of its needs. That might make you want to barf, but oh well. Seeing people dress up their little dogs in people clothes makes me want to barf too, but I don't start threads about it and then get upset or indignant when those who do such things post their own opinions about why they do it.

Yeah, I can see bows in a Pekinese and it's kinda cute, but when I saw nail polish on it's claws, I had to walk away......Oh good grief

 

[OldLady]

Sorry, Cecille, but I think you need to get over yourself.
If someone wants to call themselves a "fur mommy," it's no skin off my nose. Mothers are just as fucked up as anyone else, including people who think their cats or dogs are fur babies.

Sorry, Granny, but you need to put a check on your eagerness to be offended, at least long enough to comprehend what's being said.

I don't give a rat's fat ass if someone wants to call herself a "fur mommy", so long as they don't mind me gagging a little. So I have no need to "get over myself" about telling them not to, since I didn't.

Furthermore, I never said anything about whether or not "mothers are just as fucked up as anyone else", although your blanket cynicism tells us nothing about motherhood, and everything about you and your childhood, and perhaps you should share it with a therapist who at least gets paid to listen to you drivel on.

Perhaps you could try directing your "I must take offense and contradict NO MATTER WHAT!" at something I actually said. Just a suggestion.

you need to put a check on your eagerness to be offended
You're the one who just wrote a lengthy rant about being offended, not me. I said I wasn't offended. I speak from experience, as both a mother and a grandmother and of course a daughter, and it wasn't cynical so much as true. The biological outcome of repeated sexual encounters doesn't make us anything special.

Yes, but unlike you, I wrote it AFTER thinking very carefully about what I wanted to say and whether or not I wanted to say it, AND I actually managed to address the salient points. You, on the other hand, blathered on about irrelevancies unrelated to anything actually said. You may "speak from experience", but you're not speaking ABOUT THE TOPIC.

Also, please note that I was pretty clear that motherhood doesn't stop with pushing the kid out. The motherhood of which I spoke - the motherhood we celebrate on Mothers' Day - is all about the commitment, which DOES make one special, and which is NOT comparable to having a pet, no matter how much you spoil the little ankle biter.

You're shadow boxing. I'll leave you to it.

I just heard "I thought I could wander in and take over, and instead I got my ass handed to me."

Why, oh why, do I check back on these nutcase threads?

"I thought I could wander in and take over,"
Is that what you think of anyone who dares reply to your threads, or is it just me and my threatening 9 lines over three posts? Actually, that is exactly the attitude of yours that I was responding to in the first place. Arrogance galore. I'll leave it there since we are in a polite forum (your own behavior to the contrary).

 

[OldLady]

I gag when some schmuck drags out their wallet to show pics of their kids and grandkids. So...ok. Whatever floats a boat.

Hey, I don't necessarily want to see them, either. But they still deserve more credit and respect than to be equated with someone who dropped $50 at the Humane Society and now thinks she's the frigging Madonna complete with halo.

So who are you to judge on what constitutes love?

Just a rational human being who keeps being asked to smile and nod at increasingly irrational nonsense.

Free country, hon. I'm allowed to hold any opinion I want, and to express it as I please. No one's making you read it, respond to it, or agree with it.

Agreed. But..you started the thread and its your complaint. If you did not want differing opinions..perhaps you should have sent the OP to yourself in an email so you could agree with yourself?
I get what you are saying. I do. But you refuse to get what others are saying. To ME, personally, my dog IS like my child due to the fact I take care of its needs. That might make you want to barf, but oh well. Seeing people dress up their little dogs in people clothes makes me want to barf too, but I don't start threads about it and then get upset or indignant when those who do such things post their own opinions about why they do it.

Yeah, I can see bows in a Pekinese and it's kinda cute, but when I saw nail polish on it's claws, I had to walk away......Oh good grief

They do dye jobs, too.

 

[Cecilie1200]

perhaps you should share it with a therapist who at least gets paid to listen to you drivel on.

Take your own damn advice

Regardless of your intent with this thread, you do come across as a cold hearted ***** with your nose so far in the air you can't see in front of you.

There are many people that rely on those 'fur babies' for their very lives and others for the emotional support of true unconditional love they get from said pets that they don't or can't get from anyone else. Animals, pets, fur babies can be and are just as important in many peoples lives, as human babies

No, they can't.

All other things being equal, and not digressing onto wild extremes (as so many snowflakes feel required to do), pets are wonderful additions to a person's life, but they are not children. Not now, not ever.

From my OP:

"Know how I know "fur babies" aren't the equivalent of children? Ask yourself what your reaction would be if your dog was diagnosed with metastasized cancer. Would you go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt for chemo or radiation therapy and multiple operations to extend his life? Or would you have the vet put him to sleep? Now ask yourself the same question if your child was diagnosed with the same cancer."

Feel free to take some time out of your rhapsodizing to address these questions, and tell me about mortgaging your house to pay for your dog's cancer treatments, quitting your job so you could drive him to and from the hospital, sitting by his bedside for months on end, holding his paw and praying fervently every moment for God to take you instead. Tell me about how, years later, you still visit his grave and cry. Tell me how, when it comes right down to where the rubber meets the road, your pet is EXACTLY like a child. I dare you.

First off, 'No, they can't' WHAT???

As for my own personal beliefs as far as pets vs humans.......yes there is a limit to what extent I'd be willing to go. Of course pets are not people, nor are they literally 'EXACTLY like a child'. Although our 2 dogs and 2 cats are very much like family and FOR THE MOST PART are treated as such and there are strong emotional bonds. And I will go so far to agree, that there are some people out there that take it to a whole new level of stupid.......but that is their choice and I do know of some that would go to such extremes to care for their pets.

If you re-read my post, I had said there are many people that are dependent on their pets for their very lives, as in Service dogs or cats. Or to someone who is very traumatized from abuse or neglect, pets are valuable to get thru to victims that family, friends or therapists can't.......and when they do, they become attached and dependent on those pets.

You're entitled to your own opinion and choices regarding pets, but so are others

You're not great with attention span, are you?

Last line of YOUR OWN DAMNED POST:

"Animals, pets, fur babies can be and are just as important in many peoples lives, as human babies"

Again I say, no they can't.

My pets are members of the family, and are treated as such. The salient difference is that they hold a different position in the family, that of PET. They do not hold the same position as my children, or get treated the same as my children, any more than my children hold the same position as my husband. My children are allowed to help themselves to food that I set out on the table (for example). My dog will get swatted on the nose for trying the same thing.

You can blather at me about the "strong emotional bonds" to your effing pets until your face turns blue, but not a word of it is going to mean diddly shit compared to the emotional bonds a mother has to her children. And if you think it does, then I can only wonder what kind of fucked-up family you had or have.

While we're on the subject of stupid behavior that irks the ever-loving shit out of me, the compulsion people have to constantly interject "they have a right" or "that's their choice" into everything every two seconds or so. No one, including me, is disputing the right of human beings to be pig-stupid and to proudly exercise that right above all others. I am stating my opinion and the reality on which it is based; at no point has my opinion ever been "you can't say stupid shit". It's only "I wish people would stop saying stupid shit, and I'm finished being nice about it in response."

I read your post. Please don't flatter yourself that I'm categorically disagreeing with it because I didn't read it and comprehend its brilliance. I'm aware of service pets, and I think they're amazing. But while I have no doubt that those people love and bond with those animals to a degree beyond what most pet owners can imagine, I also think you'll find that they do not view them as "children", or twaddle on about "fur babies", or demand that people honor them on Mothers' Day for having them.

Tell me, do you honestly think that motherhood (done correctly) is comparable in any way to needing a seeing-eye dog? I mean . . . wow. Just wow.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

I will say here, that I trust animals and especially mine a whole lot more than most people I know. Animals can't lie, deceive or put you on hold, they are always there 100%

Hey, I don't necessarily want to see them, either. But they still deserve more credit and respect than to be equated with someone who dropped $50 at the Humane Society and now thinks she's the frigging Madonna complete with halo.

So who are you to judge on what constitutes love?

Just a rational human being who keeps being asked to smile and nod at increasingly irrational nonsense.

Free country, hon. I'm allowed to hold any opinion I want, and to express it as I please. No one's making you read it, respond to it, or agree with it.

Agreed. But..you started the thread and its your complaint. If you did not want differing opinions..perhaps you should have sent the OP to yourself in an email so you could agree with yourself?
I get what you are saying. I do. But you refuse to get what others are saying. To ME, personally, my dog IS like my child due to the fact I take care of its needs. That might make you want to barf, but oh well. Seeing people dress up their little dogs in people clothes makes me want to barf too, but I don't start threads about it and then get upset or indignant when those who do such things post their own opinions about why they do it.

Yeah, I can see bows in a Pekinese and it's kinda cute, but when I saw nail polish on it's claws, I had to walk away......Oh good grief

They do dye jobs, too.

yeah I've seen that......too much for me

 

[Cecilie1200]

So what if people call their pets furkids? I do it all the time. Comparing what is supposed to be love from one being towards another is like trying to say Hershey bar is better than M&Ms...then to complain about it is just as silly.

You want to talk about silly, equating pet ownership with motherhood, and THEN comparing that nonsense equivalency with the difference between one candy bar and another.

I devoutly hope you don't have any children, if you really think mothering is just like owning a dog. But hey, at least they'd be able to sit, stay, and fetch on command.

 

[JustAnotherNut]

perhaps you should share it with a therapist who at least gets paid to listen to you drivel on.

Take your own damn advice

Regardless of your intent with this thread, you do come across as a cold hearted ***** with your nose so far in the air you can't see in front of you.

There are many people that rely on those 'fur babies' for their very lives and others for the emotional support of true unconditional love they get from said pets that they don't or can't get from anyone else. Animals, pets, fur babies can be and are just as important in many peoples lives, as human babies

No, they can't.

All other things being equal, and not digressing onto wild extremes (as so many snowflakes feel required to do), pets are wonderful additions to a person's life, but they are not children. Not now, not ever.

From my OP:

"Know how I know "fur babies" aren't the equivalent of children? Ask yourself what your reaction would be if your dog was diagnosed with metastasized cancer. Would you go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt for chemo or radiation therapy and multiple operations to extend his life? Or would you have the vet put him to sleep? Now ask yourself the same question if your child was diagnosed with the same cancer."

Feel free to take some time out of your rhapsodizing to address these questions, and tell me about mortgaging your house to pay for your dog's cancer treatments, quitting your job so you could drive him to and from the hospital, sitting by his bedside for months on end, holding his paw and praying fervently every moment for God to take you instead. Tell me about how, years later, you still visit his grave and cry. Tell me how, when it comes right down to where the rubber meets the road, your pet is EXACTLY like a child. I dare you.

First off, 'No, they can't' WHAT???

As for my own personal beliefs as far as pets vs humans.......yes there is a limit to what extent I'd be willing to go. Of course pets are not people, nor are they literally 'EXACTLY like a child'. Although our 2 dogs and 2 cats are very much like family and FOR THE MOST PART are treated as such and there are strong emotional bonds. And I will go so far to agree, that there are some people out there that take it to a whole new level of stupid.......but that is their choice and I do know of some that would go to such extremes to care for their pets.

If you re-read my post, I had said there are many people that are dependent on their pets for their very lives, as in Service dogs or cats. Or to someone who is very traumatized from abuse or neglect, pets are valuable to get thru to victims that family, friends or therapists can't.......and when they do, they become attached and dependent on those pets.

You're entitled to your own opinion and choices regarding pets, but so are others

You're not great with attention span, are you?

Last line of YOUR OWN DAMNED POST:

"Animals, pets, fur babies can be and are just as important in many peoples lives, as human babies"

Again I say, no they can't.

My pets are members of the family, and are treated as such. The salient difference is that they hold a different position in the family, that of PET. They do not hold the same position as my children, or get treated the same as my children, any more than my children hold the same position as my husband. My children are allowed to help themselves to food that I set out on the table (for example). My dog will get swatted on the nose for trying the same thing.

You can blather at me about the "strong emotional bonds" to your effing pets until your face turns blue, but not a word of it is going to mean diddly shit compared to the emotional bonds a mother has to her children. And if you think it does, then I can only wonder what kind of fucked-up family you had or have.

While we're on the subject of stupid behavior that irks the ever-loving shit out of me, the compulsion people have to constantly interject "they have a right" or "that's their choice" into everything every two seconds or so. No one, including me, is disputing the right of human beings to be pig-stupid and to proudly exercise that right above all others. I am stating my opinion and the reality on which it is based; at no point has my opinion ever been "you can't say stupid shit". It's only "I wish people would stop saying stupid shit, and I'm finished being nice about it in response."

I read your post. Please don't flatter yourself that I'm categorically disagreeing with it because I didn't read it and comprehend its brilliance. I'm aware of service pets, and I think they're amazing. But while I have no doubt that those people love and bond with those animals to a degree beyond what most pet owners can imagine, I also think you'll find that they do not view them as "children", or twaddle on about "fur babies", or demand that people honor them on Mothers' Day for having them.

Tell me, do you honestly think that motherhood (done correctly) is comparable in any way to needing a seeing-eye dog? I mean . . . wow. Just wow.

Go take a Midol or three until you can clear your head and quit twisting shit around.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Well, another Mothers' Day has come and gone, and yet again my social media has exploded with benighted yahoos blathering on about "I'm a mother too; my pets are my children" and "Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there (fur babies count too!)", etc. ad nauseam.

May I interject a little curmudgeonly reality here (I won't say "Can I" because I think we all know I'm fully capable of it)? Leaving aside the sickeningly cutesy-poo label of "fur babies" for a moment, let me just state this categorically: they are not "your children". They are pets. And you are a pet owner, not a mother. As an ACTUAL mother, I am out of patience with pretending not to be offended by softheaded dimwits trying to draw an equivalency between my relationship with my children and theirs with their cat, dog, [fill in the fuzzy lower lifeform here].

We celebrate Mothers' Day for a reason. Being a mother is a huge, complicated, often-painful, lifelong undertaking. You bring forth an actual human being from your own body, through your blood, sweat, and pain (or, in the case of adoptive mothers, you take on the responsibilities of a child who has no one else in the world through an expensive, emotionally-agonizing legal process which typically takes far longer than an actual pregnancy does). If you're any kind of decent mother, that little human being becomes more important to you than anything else in the world, including yourself. You feel more joy at their accomplishments than you ever have at your own, you bleed inside every time they're hurt, you rearrange your entire existence around their care and nurturing. And if, God forbid, they die before you do, you carry that heartbreak with you every day forever.

We don't celebrate Pet Owners Day (or "Fur Mommies Day", if you insist) for a reason. You spend a half-hour to an hour filling out paperwork (maybe more, if the animal is pedigreed), hand over some cash, and ta daaah! You buy some food and toys, take them to the veterinarian once in a while, and you pet them while you watch TV. One assumes that you get upset if they get sick or injured (I'd certainly like to believe no one here is so heartless as to not care), but if you really believe it compares to the tortures of the damned experienced by actual parents of actual children who are in the hospital, you're delusional. And WHEN they die before you do (because pets generally have a significantly shorter lifespan than humans), you cry and feel sad and depressed (again, one hopes), and then you eventually get another pet.

Know how I know "fur babies" aren't the equivalent of children? Ask yourself what your reaction would be if your dog was diagnosed with metastasized cancer. Would you go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt for chemo or radiation therapy and multiple operations to extend his life? Or would you have the vet put him to sleep? Now ask yourself the same question if your child was diagnosed with the same cancer.

"Fur mommies" are basically just trying to horn in on the attention and adulation being handed out, without making the commitment. Let's just state that baldly. They want the status without putting in the work. And I am tired of hearing it. No, your "babies" are not just like my children; none of MY children have ever sat in the middle of the living room floor with company over and licked their own genitals, all right?

Changing the definition of *mother* like they change the definition of *life* and *rights* and *freedom* and *marriage*.

It's to lend credibility to their delusional and depraved lifestyles.

I think of it more in line with participation trophies. Other people are getting attention, so they want attention, but they don't want to go to the trouble of actually earning it.

 

[koshergrl]

Well, another Mothers' Day has come and gone, and yet again my social media has exploded with benighted yahoos blathering on about "I'm a mother too; my pets are my children" and "Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there (fur babies count too!)", etc. ad nauseam.

May I interject a little curmudgeonly reality here (I won't say "Can I" because I think we all know I'm fully capable of it)? Leaving aside the sickeningly cutesy-poo label of "fur babies" for a moment, let me just state this categorically: they are not "your children". They are pets. And you are a pet owner, not a mother. As an ACTUAL mother, I am out of patience with pretending not to be offended by softheaded dimwits trying to draw an equivalency between my relationship with my children and theirs with their cat, dog, [fill in the fuzzy lower lifeform here].

We celebrate Mothers' Day for a reason. Being a mother is a huge, complicated, often-painful, lifelong undertaking. You bring forth an actual human being from your own body, through your blood, sweat, and pain (or, in the case of adoptive mothers, you take on the responsibilities of a child who has no one else in the world through an expensive, emotionally-agonizing legal process which typically takes far longer than an actual pregnancy does). If you're any kind of decent mother, that little human being becomes more important to you than anything else in the world, including yourself. You feel more joy at their accomplishments than you ever have at your own, you bleed inside every time they're hurt, you rearrange your entire existence around their care and nurturing. And if, God forbid, they die before you do, you carry that heartbreak with you every day forever.

We don't celebrate Pet Owners Day (or "Fur Mommies Day", if you insist) for a reason. You spend a half-hour to an hour filling out paperwork (maybe more, if the animal is pedigreed), hand over some cash, and ta daaah! You buy some food and toys, take them to the veterinarian once in a while, and you pet them while you watch TV. One assumes that you get upset if they get sick or injured (I'd certainly like to believe no one here is so heartless as to not care), but if you really believe it compares to the tortures of the damned experienced by actual parents of actual children who are in the hospital, you're delusional. And WHEN they die before you do (because pets generally have a significantly shorter lifespan than humans), you cry and feel sad and depressed (again, one hopes), and then you eventually get another pet.

Know how I know "fur babies" aren't the equivalent of children? Ask yourself what your reaction would be if your dog was diagnosed with metastasized cancer. Would you go hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt for chemo or radiation therapy and multiple operations to extend his life? Or would you have the vet put him to sleep? Now ask yourself the same question if your child was diagnosed with the same cancer.

"Fur mommies" are basically just trying to horn in on the attention and adulation being handed out, without making the commitment. Let's just state that baldly. They want the status without putting in the work. And I am tired of hearing it. No, your "babies" are not just like my children; none of MY children have ever sat in the middle of the living room floor with company over and licked their own genitals, all right?

Changing the definition of *mother* like they change the definition of *life* and *rights* and *freedom* and *marriage*.

It's to lend credibility to their delusional and depraved lifestyles.

I think of it more in line with participation trophies. Other people are getting attention, so they want attention, but they don't want to go to the trouble of actually earning it.

That too.

 

[Gracie]

I gag when some schmuck drags out their wallet to show pics of their kids and grandkids. So...ok. Whatever floats a boat.

Hey, I don't necessarily want to see them, either. But they still deserve more credit and respect than to be equated with someone who dropped $50 at the Humane Society and now thinks she's the frigging Madonna complete with halo.

So who are you to judge on what constitutes love?

Just a rational human being who keeps being asked to smile and nod at increasingly irrational nonsense.

Free country, hon. I'm allowed to hold any opinion I want, and to express it as I please. No one's making you read it, respond to it, or agree with it.

Agreed. But..you started the thread and its your complaint. If you did not want differing opinions..perhaps you should have sent the OP to yourself in an email so you could agree with yourself?
I get what you are saying. I do. But you refuse to get what others are saying. To ME, personally, my dog IS like my child due to the fact I take care of its needs. That might make you want to barf, but oh well. Seeing people dress up their little dogs in people clothes makes me want to barf too, but I don't start threads about it and then get upset or indignant when those who do such things post their own opinions about why they do it.

Yeah, I can see bows in a Pekinese and it's kinda cute, but when I saw nail polish on it's claws, I had to walk away......Oh good grief

They dress them in little dresses or other outfits. Poor dog.