Do you consider your cats to be your children?

[maggiedemi]

Interesting discussion. If there was a fire, I would rescue my cats first because they would be so scared and probably try to hide somewhere where it would be hard to find them. If I just threw them out the window, they might get run over by a fire truck. I don't have any children, so they are my kids, they mean the world to me.

 

[dahli6]

I really don't.
I recognize the responsibility that I have accepted in allowing them to live in my home.
Being indoors they cannot hunt so they must be fed. Being indoors seems to make them more susceptible to infections and parasites so I have to do my part to keep the environment habitable for us and them.
I try to focus on overall quality of life and above all else, as much as possible, I try to let them be cats.

 

[Mother Dragon]

Yes, my cats are my surrogate children. We also have a human adult child. I love my cats and care for them just as I do her and I grieve hard when one is gone.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

No, my children are my children. My cats are my cats. I don't love them in the same way I love my children. However, I do consider them part of my family. When we give a home to a cat it has always been with the understanding, "till death us do part." We are committed to giving them the best living arrangement we can provide. That includes the best medical treatment we are able to afford. And the biggest part of the commitment is that we will face the challenge of giving them up when it needs to happen for them, no matter how much it hurts us. In the past I remember praying that I would just find my sick cat already passed so we wouldn't have to make yet another dreaded decision and that last trip to the vet's office. It never happened. It didn't keep us from having another cat.

 

[weebeasties]

Absolutely, unequivocally, YES.

 

[cassiopea]

Yup, I see my kitties as pretty much my babies. I am content, comforted and fulfilled. Especially since I got them young, Morgana being a prime example since her mom died very soon after her birth, so I raised her from scratch. It's hard not to see that as my baby...

I dislike real kids I hate being around them most of the time. People give me a hard time about that, giving me essays on how "unnatural" and how I'm not a "real woman" and that "I'm missing out" "It's different when you have your own" yada yada. None of your business people, clearly your apprehensive about your own life choices if you are so threatened and imposing when I hardly say a thing about you. If it happens, it happens, with the right person and the correct time, stable health status and mindful decision. I don't take creating new souls lightly. But anyway, a discussion for another time!

-End unnecessary side vent-

But my mom is really a wonderful sport about it all:

 

[ericsmom1000]

Yes, of course. I call them my kids, and they are my son and daughter.

 

[Gizmobius]

I call Gizmo my baby boy but no, he's not my kid. I don't like actual kids, I want none of my own, and that is exactly why I do better with cats because they aren't kids. I don't have to teach him to talk, walk, use the bathroom, I don't have to teach him manners and hope he grows up to get a successful job and be a decent and good person. That is exactly why I'm better suited to cats. I get to pet him and cuddle him and talk to him like he's a baby without actually having all the responsibilities that come with an actual baby.

 

[Kitty Mommy]

Yes! We are mommy and daddy and our cats are our babies.

 

[Mer.kitten]

Yes and no? I dont call my cat my fur kid, nothing againt those who do. Shes not my child-shes a cat. But-shes a cat i love. Its not just affection and a sense of responsibility. I love her. But i love her as a cat, not a little person in a fur suit. Idk, does that make sense?

Although when i leave, i do sometimes say “mommyll be back soon”.

Idk-Its Complicated! I have a complicatd relationship with my cat. =^..^=

 

[muffy]

I was not their mommy. I was their caretaker.

 

[di and bob]

Any one you do not actually give birth to is not your "child". But that does not mean you can't develop the same love and maternal feelings for them. Even a different species, your heart knows no difference, it just loves. A human adopted child can be loved just as fiercely and just as deeply as one you carried, it is no different. If some want to think of thier felines as their children, that is fine, if some do not, that is fine too. We all are a member of one big family, we all love them in our own unique way. There is no right or wrong, because all of us have different beliefs and cultures.

 

[annabella]

Mine are my babies and I am their mummy and that's all there is to it. Never mind that my human children get cross when I refer to my furbabies as their brothers.
They are my babies and I'll worry myself sick if they're not well. When they talk to me they call me mummy.

this is cool. normally the opinion is of a human childless person. nice to see another perspective
my mum had cats when i was growing up, they would get fresh cooked fish and i got cornflakes
says it al really
i am a proud cat mother and my partner of 8 years and i have discussed if anything were to ever happen they get saved first

 

[Azazel]

I think it's perfectly reasonable to consider cats like your children but also not lose sight of the fact that they are cats and have different needs than human children. I do consider mine to be my babies because I care for them just as any mother from any species would care for their children. This doesn't mean that I'm not well aware of the fact that they are fierce carnivorous predators and that they probably don't see me as their "mom." It's really just a way of me acknowledging that I consider them a part of my family.

 

[Katie M]

No, because I can't stand children. Cats, yes. Children, never.

 

[Royalty]

I actually call my two my Furbabies, I don't consider them to be my children, I didn't give birth to them, I never lose sight that they are cats. I don't dress them up, but if anyone else wants to call their cats their children that's fine with me, everyone has a right to call them what they want to call their own, it doesn't matter

 

[maggiedemi]

LOL Katie! That was funny.

 

[Jayflower]

I consider my cats my family, or my kin, or my clan; I don't really consider them my children...they're more like my equals, kind of like we're all the same species...not they're cats and I'm human.
I am the provider for them, so I'm like the parent or the leader. The four of us have a very strong bond; I love them more than anything else in the world and I vow to always protect them. As long as I have breath in my lungs, my cats will always be loved and well cared for.

 

[MeganLLB]

I really do not like it when people anthropomorphize their pets. Pets are not people and I think that it disrespects the inherent dignity of the human person when people truly place the love and respect of animals on the same level of a human person. I love all my pets dearly, but not to the same extent that I love another human person. If people jokingly call them furkids or whatever that's fine, but there are people who seriously replace having children with owning pets and that is just wrong. I don't like to be called Mom. It makes me uncomfortable because I know some people mean that seriously. We need to uphold the dignity of human life and not lower ourselves to the level of an animal or raise an animal to the dignity of a human person.

 

[Kat0121]

No, because I can't stand children. Cats, yes. Children, never.

I got my daughter a shirt similar to this for Christmas. She loves it.