There’s people out there who view their pets as being part of the family as much as a child would be. There’s also those who couldn’t care less about animals or are abusive. Then there’s the in between people who take care of their animals, but don’t do anything extra for them as long as the animal stays alive.

Do you view your pets as being just animals or do you view them as being more than that? Do you think of your pets like they’re part of the family or just as material possessions? How spoiled do you think too spoiled is for a pet?


Personally, I look at my pets as being a part of the family. All my pets I look at as my children since I don’t have children yet. I spoil the heck out of my pets and tend to go over the top as far as care for them goes. The way I see it is that nothing is too good for them. For example, I always have treats on hand for all my pets, including my fish and frogs, I always have a huge habitat for my animals too, especially for my fish that only need a 10 gallon tank and they’re in a 30 gallon, same with my frogs. For my cats, dogs, and birds I make fresh food daily such as boiled chicken for the cats and dog and fresh veggies and fruits for my bird. So yeah, I tend to go over the top a lot of the times, but to me it’s worth it.

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  I have a rabbit named Kocoa, and I love him very much. He is part of my family...or is he? :0 He's not as important as a person, but he definatly is part of my family. n__n I also veiw Kocoa as an animal and not as an individual, since he can't communicate through vocal sounds, and only has a few emotions I can read (exsitement, sadness, playfullness, and frightened).
  

Growing up I always felt like our pets were part of the family. Some moreso than others, but I think that was more of a personality thing.

But now, I have a dog of my own, and she is the baby. Since my husband and I decided to wait on human children, she is a great substitute. We even call each other Mommy and Daddy. ^^;; Shes spoiled, but the love we get in return is more than worth it to me.

I have two pets. My bird is pretty much just an animal I take care of. My dog, however, is like one of the family. She's spoiled beyond belief, and I treat her like a little sister. A small, furry, little sister who occaisionally gets into the trashcan. And eats bugs. And likes to sleep under the bed.

I just view pets as pets... I'm afraid... I don't consider them part of the family at all. I don't currently own any pets, though I have owned pets before, over the years. Several kinds, for various periods of time. Perhaps that's why... I've had so many pets come and go that I can't see them as family members because of it. I had a pet that lasted a long time, but I still didn't see him as a family member... He was 18 when he died. I can still remember back to when he was a puppy.

I view my pets as a part of the family.... I love them a lot.

I grieved more over the deaths of my cats than the deaths of relatives. (I knew the cats for all of my or their lives, and rarely saw both of these relatives.)

Ever since I was a little girl, my family had been breeding pugs. Right now I have 5 and I've taken care of all of them ever since they were puppies. I consider them my babies. n_n <3

Wordstreamer - I suppose that's understandable, since you didn't know said relatives well. I've never grieved for anyone's death... Human or otherwise... It makes me feel like a bad person. Perhaps I'm just cold ^.^; I've out lived quite a few pets... As many pets have short life spans... Such as Hamsters who only live for about 2 years on average.

Kiwizzle - How long have you had them? My family bred rabbits... but due to that I don't care for rabbits anymore ^.^; But then... There were a 'lot' of them. I mean... they 'are' rabbits ^.^;

If I'm especially close to someone, I grieve. If not..... I don't. *shrugs*

I met my great-great-aunt once to say "Happy Birthday", and my grandmother had been in a more-or-less vegetative state for the past few years from Alzheimer's. So, yeah. That also affected it.

I view my pet dog as just as important as anyone else in my family. She's the world to me and I'd do anything for her <3

my cats are my children :) so they are pretty much my family

All of my animals are like an addition to my family. I love them all like they're my own flesh and blood.

They're much easier to talk to them my real siblings, anyways, and I spoil them sometimes. xD I don't think I over do it. -Shifteh eyes-

It completely depends on the animal.

My first dog was part of the family. I grew up with the little guy, and he was by my side for years and years. It broke my heart when he passed away. But since then, we've adopted another dog. We've had him for a few years, but I just haven't bonded with the fella at all. I tend to think of him as my parents dog. Sadly, I do think of him as a material possession.

My cat is my baby. He is part of the family and I call him baby all the time. XD I love him like I would a child, and especially since I don't think I ever want to have children, I will always have pets to be my "babies".

My family has an old greyhound, Lizzie, but shhhh don't tell her that she isn't a people. My sister and I refer to her as "our sister" and she gets lots of treats and love. I think she is definently family, even if she is old and grumpy she is still our lovely Lizzie!

oh i wish i have some of the pets that you owe..
but i am probably the last kind you mentioned in the first paragraph..
and thats also why my hamster isnt too familer with me yet..i think
or it might just be her personality..TAT

i really should pet and talk with it more..DX[but it seems like its gonna bite wt so ever.and it s scared..very]

kinda off topic neh?XDhaha

Part of the family.
She's awesome.
x'D

I like animals [[soft and cute ones]] more than I like humans. :]

My pet rabbit is like... the only one I devote myself to besides myself. He's my responsibility and I love him. So my pet definately isn't a "material possession". I don't know if I can call him family, because when I think of family, it's not such a bright and happy connotation; family to me is being tolerant and feeling familiar to people you've lived with your whole life that you have to cohabitate with. But my rabbit is like... sort of my baby that lives its own life but you feel such responsibility towards it because it is still weaker than you and you want to protect it, and you feel really strong affection towards it.

I think of him all the time, if I'm out and I find a really huge juicy weed (you know...not the drug kind! XD) or apple, I pick it off the ground and bring it home for him to eat. And I always leave my window wide open so I can hear if any cats or raccoons get into his pen. I've had to run down in the middle of the night twice now to fight off a raccoon, and it really scared me. So... he's something I definately take care of. A constant, but very welcome, responsibility. :) It's interesting, because he definately affects my life and a bunch of the things I do, like the example I mentioned of picking random (edible) plants while I'm out... Pets definately affect me for the better, if I was without my rabbit, I'd be a lot lazier and worse slob. I love being able to care and work for him. I adore my baby. <33

I has a little doggie. His name is Chico. He's incredibly spoiled. I love him to death.

I also love my kitty Angus. He's so sweet. He's a pain in the ass, but he really is a sweetie.
I hate my other dog, though. She pisses me off so much. I still give her some love sometimes.. she's just so damn cute. XD

My dog = My brother.
He's as important to me as the rest of my family. More important than some members.
I was talking with my best friend and we came up with this scenario to work out how important people in our lives are. So we decided that we're on a boat with all the people (animals count as people in my case) in our lives that matter to us. The boat's sinking because of the weight onboard. If one person throws themselves overboard, they can save all the others. So we were trying to work out who we'd get out of the boat for. I'd get out for my dog. No hesitation.
All the dogs we've had have been part of the family. That's probably why I can not understand when people are cruel and abusive to dogs, as to me that's as bad as if they were doing that to a human. Worse in fact, as a human may have some chance of telling someone and getting out of the situation, where an animal doesn't have that voice.

Good to see I’m not the only crazy one here. XD Nice to know this is a pretty pet friendly community.

I have a puppy dog who is part of the family, her name is Tessa and she gets spoiled all the time. She gets a walk a day plus lots of treats (maybe a few to many) plus she sleeps on the bed. Deffinetly a people in disguise.

My animals have always been very much part of the family. Mabey a little too much for my own liking. What i mean by that is, there are some things that my parents - my mom inparticular - lets the dog get away with, that i wouldn't with my own animals.

People acan be so ignorant sometimes towards animals, and i can say we're deffinetly not like that, even if they are spoilt.
I remember once, my mom was taking the dog for a walk and was going past a gate.
It was dark, and my dog isn't very confident at night. A man came out of the gate and startled the dog, making him jupm and snap at the man.
This man said to my mom, "That's vicious it should have a muzzle on."
He was jsut scared, and mom told him so. His reply was, "Pshh, animlas don't get scared."

I think it's a shame how some people regard animals as feelingless bits of property.

I think I regard my pet more as just a pet than a member of the family. I love my little kitty, but at the same time, my love for her doesn't compare to the love I have for my husband or daughter. But I do treat my kitty nicely - give her treats and stuff, but at the same time, don't spoil her. She's not allowed on the counters, not allowed to just do whatever she wants, etc. And if some kind of emergency happened, of course, she'd come with us.

I viewed my cats [when I had them T-T] as a part of my family. I loved them very much. I never really went over the top to take care of them though. Just simple setting out the food and water =] We did have canned food for them a lot and we occasionally would open one up and they loved that. Sometimes we'd feed them our left over scraps from dinner as well, which they also loved. I would always take in the strays cats from the neighborhood and feed them as well. At one point, we had 3 different strays coming up to our house daily for food.