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Post by Crouton on May 9, 2014 21:07:00 GMT -6
It really annoys me when people are rude to other peoples pets. And I'm not sure if it's something anyone here has come across before, but I've witnessed it many times and it gets on my nerves. The types of pets people like are different for everyone. It could be anything from a dog or a cat, to a snake, a tarantula or a rat.
Either way, whatever the animal is it's something that the owner loves, cherishes and looks after. For that reason it bothers me when people find out you have a pet snake, or a pet rat for example and they straight away say things like "ew", "gross" or "disgusting". These things hurt. And for some reason if someone has an unconventional pet it seems like many people seem to think that gives them a green light to insult something you love.
You don't have to like it, but I just wish people would be a bit more sensitive from time to time. I'm so sick of people calling my rats and lizard disgusting.
Anyway, this turned into a semi-rant. Has anyone else experienced this before, with a pet you own or with one someone else owns? How do you usually react? Does it bother you or do you just brush it off?
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Post by Liv the Librarian on May 9, 2014 22:28:57 GMT -6
It bothers me too. When Till was alive, he was 100% tame after his first attack by the cats. He never tailed whipped or bit anyone, and he was blind and just out of nowhere loved people. So I would let people hold him etc, and always offer when I had guests over and they asked to see him. I had several people tell me that lizards are "disgusting" and honestly, I had half of a mind to tell them THEY were disgusting human beings and to get out of my house. Total overreaction, but part of me wishes I would have done it. Pets are family members. I don't tell you that your child is disgusting and not to bring it to my house, etc. Sigh.
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Post by Crouton on May 9, 2014 22:35:22 GMT -6
Exactly, and a lot of the time children can be way more annoying than a pet that is kept out of the way. So many people look at me with disgust if I mention my rats. They don't ever see how cute they can be, and how gentle, and how nice it is when they fall asleep curled up on your shoulder. They just ignorantly assume things without knowing.
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Post by Midnattblod on May 9, 2014 22:54:17 GMT -6
while I would not personally want a pet rat I see no reason for others to feel the same, it's just a personal thing for me, and how the heck can someone find lizards to be gross. I remember when I live in Texas there was a lizard that my sister and I found in our backyard and we spent the whole day making a home for it. I don't know if it ever came back but it was one of those rare moments that we had some fun rogether.
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Post by Liv the Librarian on May 10, 2014 1:56:27 GMT -6
I mean, okay, I don't like cats. But I'm not going to go to a cat-lovers house and talk about how awful I think they are. I'll pet their cats if they come up to me and be respectful etc. I mean, I understand that everyone has their own opinions about other animals, but I get just as offended when someone throws an insult at my lizards as I do when someone insults my family.
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Post by Crouton on May 10, 2014 2:25:52 GMT -6
I mean, okay, I don't like cats. But I'm not going to go to a cat-lovers house and talk about how awful I think they are. I'll pet their cats if they come up to me and be respectful etc. I mean, I understand that everyone has their own opinions about other animals, but I get just as offended when someone throws an insult at my lizards as I do when someone insults my family. Exactly! I'm not overly fond of large insects, and I know some people love to keep them as pets. If I went to their place I would look at them and admire them but politely decline if they asked if I wanted to hold one. There's just no need to be rude about these things but for so many people it's the first thing they jump to.
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Post by sjfaerlind on May 10, 2014 6:35:43 GMT -6
For me it's more annoying when people judge me for being too attached to my pets. "It's only a cat, how could you possibly justify spending that kind of money on it to save it?" EXCUSE ME?!!?!?!!?!? *blood pressure rising* I hold the opinion that having a pet is a luxury, not a right. If I'm going to bring a pet into my family, it will have as good a quality of life as I can give it. I only have two pets because I know I can afford to look after them. I could care less what anyone else thinks about the hair my cat leaves around my house or that my Guinea Pig is a rodent. If they don't want to sit among the cat hair on my couch, they don't have to come over...lol.
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Post by Firiath on May 10, 2014 7:01:59 GMT -6
Pets are family members. I don't tell you that your child is disgusting and not to bring it to my house, etc. Sigh. Oh, how much I'd love to say things like that sometimes. But I don't, and I'd never dare to say anything like it, no matter whether it's about animals or children, because if I don't like it, well, I'm not forced to live with it, so why bother? My roommates (in the first shared flat I lived in) had rats and I admit I didn't really like them, because they smelled and their cage always looked dirty, as well as the floor around it. Don't take me wrong, I never had anything against the animals themselves, but the way they were kept in those cages. I remember coming home from work one day and the cage stood in my room (my roommates had to hide the rats from someone and they used my room because I wasn't there), and I got so angry, but never said anything. It was their choice to have rats and I had decided to live with them and their pets, so why would I? But ever since my parents have had cats I know what it's like to have pets and to love them. We've only had cats so far any never any other pets, but I can imagine that other people love their spiders, snakes, or guinea pigs as much as I love those furry four-legged rascals. Although I still sometimes wonder why people would want certain kinds of pets (I'd never know what to do with a spider, for example), it's not my concern, so I don't say anything.
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Post by Crouton on May 10, 2014 7:02:41 GMT -6
Yeah that would annoy me too SJ. It's not up to other people to judge how much you care about a pet. Everyone should do as much as they can to look after any pet they may own.
Firiath it's pretty bad they they put the rat cage in your room without asking. I wouldn't do that to someone ever. To me bedrooms are personal space and should be left for that person alone, unless invited in.
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Post by Liv the Librarian on May 10, 2014 7:44:50 GMT -6
Pets are family members. I don't tell you that your child is disgusting and not to bring it to my house, etc. Sigh. Oh, how much I'd love to say things like that sometimes. But I don't, and I'd never dare to say anything like it, no matter whether it's about animals or children, because if I don't like it, well, I'm not forced to live with it, so why bother? My roommates (in the first shared flat I lived in) had rats and I admit I didn't really like them, because they smelled and their cage always looked dirty, as well as the floor around it. Don't take me wrong, I never had anything against the animals themselves, but the way they were kept in those cages. I remember coming home from work one day and the cage stood in my room (my roommates had to hide the rats from someone and they used my room because I wasn't there), and I got so angry, but never said anything. It was their choice to have rats and I had decided to live with them and their pets, so why would I? But ever since my parents have had cats I know what it's like to have pets and to love them. We've only had cats so far any never any other pets, but I can imagine that other people love their spiders, snakes, or guinea pigs as much as I love those furry four-legged rascals. Although I still sometimes wonder why people would want certain kinds of pets (I'd never know what to do with a spider, for example), it's not my concern, so I don't say anything. It sounds to me like your roommates weren't properly caring for their animals. Rats have a slight rodent musk to them, but you shouldn't really be able to smell it just from being in the same room as them. And their cage always being dirty really makes me sad. Rats can be really clever and are great pets, but I can understand why, in your experience that you didn't like them. But it's like whenever people tell me that ferrets are smelly... I always respond with "not if you care for them properly". Even cats are smelly when you don't care for them right. Ours are especially smelly because we can't find a food for them that doesn't make their poop stink up the house -.-
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Post by Crouton on May 10, 2014 7:46:58 GMT -6
My two rats don't smell. Not the rats themselves, but their cage can be pretty messy from time to time. We litter-tray trained them, but they have a habit of pulling all the litter out of the tray and spreading it around the cage, they also pee everywhere which can get smelly after a while. As long as you clean it frequently though, as Liv said the smell never gets so bad that it fills up the whole room they are in. Those people you lived with probably didn't clean it enough.
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Post by Erehsidne on May 13, 2014 0:24:01 GMT -6
I have a horse, she's the daughter of my old horse. I love her, but mostly because she is her mothers daughter. It's probably as strange as it sounds, but I got her mother when I was 14 and she died in my arms when I was 22, after I had to make the decision to put her down. She got sick 3 months before she died, she suffered from laminitis in one hoof. I had her at a veterinarian for two weeks for the best care, took her home and had a veterinarian out every week, paid about 70 000 kr in veterinarian costs. She got pain medication twice a day and things were looking okay, her hoof was slowly healing, she was getting better. Until all of the sudden she got some kind of reaction on the medication she was on and her inner organs failed.
I miss her every single day. The day she died, my heart broke and I've not been the same since. A lot of people call me insane for putting so much feelings into an animal. I honestly don't care what other people think, but that could be my autism speaking, I've never really cared about anyones opinions when it comes to things like this, I only know that she was the most important living creature in the world, to me. I loved that horse so much, she was my best friend. The only friend I had back then. And that is what is important to me. I don't care if people don't understand my love of a non human animal, I don't care if they call me crazy for it. I do pity them however. For not being able to love a creature for it's personality and for who it is, rather than what species it belongs to.
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Post by Taliesin on May 13, 2014 1:49:20 GMT -6
No, Erehsidne, it's not your autism speaking. You're not crazy. You loved her very much. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and she was very lucky to have you as her owner. If anything, I admire you for your compassion towards your equine friends. That is a commendable quality to have.
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Post by sjfaerlind on May 13, 2014 9:07:33 GMT -6
I agree. There is definitely a bond that develops between some people and their pets. I don't think it's fair to judge anyone for that. It is what it is and it's nothing to be ashamed of.
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Post by Liv the Librarian on May 13, 2014 12:57:09 GMT -6
I miss her every single day. The day she died, my heart broke and I've not been the same since. A lot of people call me insane for putting so much feelings into an animal. I honestly don't care what other people think, but that could be my autism speaking, I've never really cared about anyones opinions when it comes to things like this, I only know that she was the most important living creature in the world, to me. I loved that horse so much, she was my best friend. The only friend I had back then. And that is what is important to me. I don't care if people don't understand my love of a non human animal, I don't care if they call me crazy for it. I do pity them however. For not being able to love a creature for it's personality and for who it is, rather than what species it belongs to. Hey, I know how you feel. People call me insane too for putting so much emotion into my iguana that died. It's hard when you nurse your companion back to health and then they still die. It's hard when that animal was your best friend, someone you expected to be there a lot longer than what they were. Our pets should be more than pets, they should be our best friends and our family and our children, because we care for them and they love us, as we love them (with all of our hearts, body, soul, and mind). It hurts beyond belief when we lose that. I miss Till every single day, and maybe I am crazy, but every night I talk to him before I go to sleep and tell him that I still love him, miss him, and always will. I pity those people who cannot love another creature fully who isn't human, as well. People still don't understand how I could love a lizard as much as I did, but he was my life. I'm very sorry for your loss, Erehsidne.
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