My cat is my baby, and I have countless cell phone photos and cute stories to prove it.
I’m generally hesitant about talking about Felicity as my baby, as people usually look at me as if I’m insane. On more than one occasion, I’ve caught myself listening to someone talk about her child and then heard myself chip in with, “Oh, I get it. My cat…” and regaling her with a comparable pet parent tale.
So, I was very pleased to hear about a recent study that found that dogs become attached to their caregivers in the same way that human infants attach to theirs.
The researchers discovered that animals exhibit the “secure base effect,” which allows them to feel safe in an unfamiliar environment when the caregiver is present. In other words, just like children, dogs feel more comfortable exploring the world and interacting with strangers when their “parent” is around, and a dog will bond with its parent in the same way a child bonds to his or hers.
My experience has been that this behavior is also true of cats.
And while human children eventually grow out of this behavior, our pets don’t. Which means they’ll always be our babies.
I definitely saw this with my dog. He was my baby, unruly teenager, mature adult, and then my grandpa before he passed away. Losing him was as painful as the loss of any person that I loved. When people saw how upset I was over his death, they responded the same way to my miscarriage, e.g. “just get another puppy” vs. “ah, you’ll get pregnant again.” Like there was no loss and they were both so easily replaceable. The people on this site are the tender-hearted who value love, relationships and acknowledge loss. We are the minority but if the world didn’t have people like us in it, what an ugly place it would be.
So true! Thanks for pointing that out. I, too, feel like I have grown a lot in the way of having a more tender heart for others that have suffered in a variety of ways. I have noticed, just like you said, that people who haven’t experienced similar things just don’t seem to recognize how much pain is really involved in such situations. I think as a result of my experiences, my heart is somehow more full of love that I just need an outlet for and need to share with others. It has driven me to help others and give more service. From my own religious perspective, it gives me peace to feel that my experiences and my pain have played a huge role in shaping the person that God needed me to become as opposed to the person I had always planned to become. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
My furry babies help to heal the edges of my ripped heart. And now I foster rescue dogs; I take on the growly and the biters because I don’t have any kids in the house to worry ab
My dog is definitely my baby. She is now 12 1/2 years old, but she still needs me and loves me. For the first 10 years of her life, she didn’t sleep through the night, so I like to tell people that I guess that is the reason why I never had kids because I never would have slept between the dog waking me up and a baby doing the same, but on opposite schedules.
Thank goodness!! Thanks for sharing this. I know my pups sure have taught me a lot about being a “mom.” They have filled a very large void in our lives and I can’t imagine enduring/enjoying childlessness without them!
My three cats are definitely my babies, especially the nearly 17-year-old little old man who’s been with me since he was a tiny kitten. The other night as my husband and I walked into a 24-hour pharmacy late at night to get pediatric nose drops for his stuffy nose I said, “So a childless couple walks into a late night pharmacy to get medicine for their cat…” and we both just started laughing at what a cliche we were. Cliche or not, the three of them are the recipients of all my maternal attention, which makes for happy cats and a happy me.
So good to read this. My cats are my babies. In public, to be seen as sane, I deny I see them that way. When family visits I try to treat them the same but had an instance where I was cuddling one of my fur babies, walked into the kitchen and saw my sister cuddling my niece the same way. That was awkward. I was holding him up to my shoulder, similarly to the photo above and she was doing the same. I felt the urge to apologize and was assured it was okay as they are my babies.
Love this post… Where would we be without our fur babies… They have comforted me so much over the years, even after failed ivfs and miscarriage I can always look at them and they make me smile. They make my house feel like a home.
Thank you for this post. My dog is definitely my baby and some people don’t get it and say I spoil her too much, but she deserves it she is always there to comfort me when I’m having a tough time. She’s 12 and recently had a costly surgery to remove a few lumps (luckily they weren’t cancerous) and I got told I was ridiculous by a few family members and friends for spending so much. But she’s not just a dog to me and just like if their kids needed something they would pay for it.
I love our cats. With all my heart. The older (bigger) one loves to be carried around like a 2 YO, – reaches up asking to be picked up and he loves to “swing” in the sheets when we are folding them, too. I’ve tons of funny stories.
I’ve never been comfortable being called “mama” to my cats, tho. My first husband did that, and as much as i loved my cats, it really insulted and hurt me.
My current husband (wonderful man that he is) loves our cats, too. He would, however, be very insulted to be called their “dad.” So this works, at least we are on the same page. We love them, laugh at them, care for them, and spend plenty of $$ on them, but they won’t ever replace children for us. We do need to be sure that they are cared for, however, should something happen to us. It breaks my heart to think of them without us.
We have two cats and a dog. They are “rescues” but they rescued us. We love the fact that we can play and cuddle with them allowing us lots of comfort. We can also board them and travel (unlike kids). They do have a line item on our monthly budget labeled “monsters.”
I think our animals have trained us well and we love it!
I so love your “monsters” line item! Our senior dog is on some costly meds, so I joke all the time she really needs to get a job to help out 😉
Love my two adorable cats to bits!
My darling little cat is my baby. She’s 19 so she’s been my baby since before I started TTC, and I’m not ashamed to say that I call myself her “mummy” !