Do you treat...

United States
June 4, 2010 12:58pm CST
I just want to know, and see how far this goes... Do you treat your pet like a pet, or part of the family? I treat mine as part of the family just because their lives are just as important as mine and I don't think it's right treating them inferior to ourselves. But there are many arguments to this, and I'm curious to know what you allow your pets to do. Sometimes they actually start acting like people do.
2 people like this
11 responses
@chickabee (119)
• United States
5 Jun 10
Right now we have two chihuahuas, Sam who is 14 and Mickey who is nine. I am a 63 yr old grandmother and my husband is 72. I have had chihuahuas since I was a small child. It all started with my great-grandfather who had asthma and was told that chihuahuas would help his condition if he slept with them. An old wives tale I am sure. After that the whole family, aunts, uncles, cousins started getting them and still do to this day. It is a lot of fun when we all get together with our little dogs. We never board our dogs. Where we go they go. Where we sleep, they sleep. They are our family and we love them dearly. Most of our chihuahuas live to be around 20 years old. We feed them usually what we eat, except pork which makes them sick. When they get older they eat boiled chicken and rice because it is easily digested. Our dogs get regular baths, more in the summer than winter and they are not dirty or nasty. We have never gotten sick from sleeping with our dogs. In the winter they are like little heaters. When I hear a person say they don't like dogs I don't trust them. Something is wrong with someone who doesn't like dogs. How can you look into their soulful, trusting eyes and not love them. I couldn't imagine not having my dogs who love me no matter what. This world would be a better place if people acted like my dogs.
@setsuna26 (2751)
• Philippines
5 Jun 10
Well eventhough my vet tells me i should not be doing such a thing i just cant help it but to treat my pets as part of the family. Im even talking to them once in a while its as if they can understand me. Talking and playing with my pets relax's me alot specially after work all the stress that the office if giving me, talking to pets and petting them makes me feel so good that i dont want time to move anymore. Its more like giving them a part of my life that i know makes them pretty much happy and satisfied just like me too. Thanks for sharing this wonderful topic of yours my friend
• Philippines
5 Jun 10
we have a pet dog at home and we consider him as part of our family. we just thought at times that he also considers himself as one of us. he loves eating what we eat and whenever we talk he would just sit and as if listening to the conversation. i think if pets feels that he is well loved by the family they tend to do what the people do.
• Philippines
5 Jun 10
we treat our pets as family members.our pets in turn act as member of the family.they like sleeping with is on our beds.they look out for us when we are not yet home.they wait for us by our gates to see if we are already home.they are like our little,four-legged siblings.
@ronz30 (275)
• Philippines
5 Jun 10
HonestLy I treat our cats us also pert of our family but sometimes they were too annoying that's why sometimes I hurt them :))) hehe
• Indonesia
5 Jun 10
Animal have feelings too, just like human. And i treat them just like i treat an animal. I mean animal is different than human, so their treatment sometimes is different than us. But that doesn't mean we are allowed to harass them. They could become a loyal friends more than most human could.
@TexLadyPj (1328)
• United States
4 Jun 10
Although I do not have pets now, we have had several dogs. When they were a part of our family, they were family. Slept on our bed at the foot, loved them. They traveled in our RV with us. We didn't feed them many scraps as scraps are not good for them. They got their annual checkups from our Vet, same one for 3 of them. They got their shots and heart-worm. They were almost expensive as our son, except we were military and had medical care at the base. One of them got too heavy and we put her on a vet supervised diet. We called them our four-legged children.
• United States
4 Jun 10
They are certainly fur "babies". My dogs sleep in the bed or on the couch. And are spoiled rotten. My little dog goes with us everywhere. If you ask her if she is ready to go bye bye she will start jumping up and down and running in circles. Then you tell her she has to get her leash on and she will jump on the arm of the couch and sit there and wait for you to hook her up. She also has a full array of clothes. My niece loves to dress her in her different outfits. She has already asked if she can do a pet fashion show with her this summer. And do a "photo shoot" of her. I guess if I were 8 this would seem like a lot of fun. Hope the dog thinks so too.
@maxito100 (150)
• Argentina
5 Jun 10
my black lab is always with me. she even sleeps in my bedroom in her own sofa. with her own blankets toys etc. i love taking care of her and she seems to enjoy it. dogs tend to feel they are a team with you and your family. and see you as the head of the team. she always pays attention to what i am doing or how i am talking. she knows if we're going out. she knows if we stay at home. she's sad if i go out without her and she's so happy when i come back. i love my dog. and she's a part of me.
@Cliff94 (49)
4 Jun 10
My cat is definately a member of our family ( I even rank him above some other members x3) We have had him for a long time, and over the years, we have just spoilt him more and more, expecially me. xD Like if I am asked to do something and im paying attention to the cat, I will keep paying attention to him for half an hour to an hour and then do what I was told, if i remember. I even rescue him from other cats if i think there is going to be a fight :)
4 Jun 10
My cats definitely treated like one of the family and is allowed to get away with so much because he's cute! He gets alot of affection from me as I have never had a pet before (my Mum wasnt a pet person at all!) and I dont have children, only my other half to give all my attention too which I dont think he appreciates lol! This means my cat gets loads of pointless toys because I think they're cute and if I could afford it he would be eating the best food (though at the moment felix and science plan will do). In terms of acting like people I'd say my cats almost there as when you talk to him he miaows back like hes trying to have a conversation and he loves to watch telly.