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I've never known anyone who paid more attention to their pets than their kids.
I will admit that in times of natural disaster, I feel worse for the animals than the people. I once asked my sister if she thought it was bad that I feel this way, and she said "Well, it's because they don't understand..." And she hit the nail on the head - it's not that I cared more for the animals than the people, it's just that the animals are more vulnerable and don't understand what it going on or why. People often have warnings about natural disasters these days, and they generally know when they live in an area where there is a risk of a natural disaster. They choose to live there. I'm not saying I don't have empathy for them, I do - I greatly empathize with the lose of their home, any loved ones, etc - and I certainly wouldn't prioritize saving animal lives over human ones. But the animals didn't choose to live there, don't understand what's going on, and it adds to their vulnerability in a way that people (of a certain age anyway) don't have.
That in no way means I care more about my cat than my husband (we have no children yet). If my husband and my cat were trapped in a burning building and I could only save one, there is no question - I shouldn't even need to say it - I would save my husband.
Equally, in the wake of the dentist who killed the lion - I wondered how many of those people outside his office protesting his actions do the same for someone who killed a human and got away with it?
I have a neighbor whose kids visit, at most, every few years.
The last time we visited my mom, she was watching TV. She didn't turn it off, so we watched her watch TV. After 40 minutes, she said, "Guess you'd better be going now!" (We had driven an hour to get there.)
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Her dog is there with love, support and companionship every single day. In this case, if her kids complained about her favoring the dog on one of their rare visits, I'd side with the dog.
My mother has a dog. I'm happy for her, really. The thing about people is that they live long enough to remember how shabbily she treated them.
I don't give my pets more attention than my human children, but I have mourned the loss of a pet and felt it hurt more than when I have lost human relatives.
I spoke to my vet about this, and he said that he experiences the same thing. He explained that he thinks it is because we spend more time cuddling and having physical contact with our pets than we do most of the humans in our lives, and also because we receive a type of love and devotion from our pets that is unlike what we receive from our fellow humans, so that loss is in its way much harder for us than the loss of our human friends and family.
The last time we visited my mom, she was watching TV. She didn't turn it off, so we watched her watch TV. After 40 minutes, she said, "Guess you'd better be going now!" (We had driven an hour to get there.)
My mother has a dog. I'm happy for her, really. The thing about people is that they live long enough to remember how shabbily she treated them.
It definitely cuts both ways. Some people are ignored by their kids and some have no time for or interest in their children. Sorry your Mom falls into the latter category. I don't get that attitude. I don't care how old I get (or what's on TV), I'll always love seeing and being with my babies.
I saw a wife swap where the couple lavished attention on their bird while the young son was routinely ignored. I can't imagine how it made him feel to know he was second place to a bird. It was sad.
I see those types as having been utterly dejected by humans to the point that they turn to animals for comfort and try to reject people first before they can be rejected themselves. I know because I have been there before and it was a ridiculous place to stay in.
Bit depends on the individual. Some because they have had bad experiences with people as in betrayed, abused so they like animals more. Some because of the opposite they feel dominant. Others simply because they feel sorry for helplessness in animals vs humans but when its taken to extreme its either motivated by self-deception or mask that it is out of love if they are abusive or uncaring toward even innocent or vulnerable humans when it's just that animals are not equals to them, no threat or competition whereas another human is.
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