Today's meander through FB.......

@rosesarered : In many cases the 'fur-kids' appellation is all too accurate - we've all known women who have elected to love a dog or cat, having no children of their own. I suppose it's mostly harmless...

We are certainly like the other animals in many ways -- some of them are real PITAs too!

I couldn't agree more. I love wildlife -but the clue is in the word "wild!"
I am vegetarian because I care about animal welfare but I really don't need or want animals as pets. I hate animal cruelty and would never hurt an animal but I don't like the feel, or smell of most animals and certainly don't want them licking me! They are not people - (not that I would want many people licking me either!)

What I do hate are dog owners that feed their dogs on their food [ice cream etc] because 'he/she loves it' then lets them get obese and ill. Give them dog food and only just the amount they need to keep them alive please.

In the U.S. They tend not to let their cats outside, so very few live a normal life there. I have heard people there refer to their fur-kids(pets).

I love anthropomorphism (but in an ironic way ). I love films with talking animals too. A hangover from all the multitude of children's books and stories. I know my youngest GS seems to look on my big cat as some sort of mobile teddy and I can see his point. Generally speaking, I tend to introduce my cats as friends of mine who happen to live with us but I have heard myself referred to as "the cat's mother".

Oh Ann...I hope you disabused your neighbour and reintroduced yourself as 'Ann'!

Mishap...fingers are often down my throat when these things happen!

I so agree ladies. My cats are the most loving, good natured felines who make a total nuisance of themselves trying to get on visitors' laps, but I still wouldn't leave them alone in the room with my 6 week old grandson. At the end of the day they respond as animals and, as such, can be unpredictable. I sometimes watch My Cat from Hell, if you haven't seen it it's about an Anerican cat behaviourist (!) who goes into homes to straighten out cats with problems. The cats don't gave problems...it's the owners! They keep multi cat households indoors and then wonder why the cats are peeing everywhere or attacking people! Let them out-they're stir crazy!!

I agree - it is a bit finger-down-the-throat when pet owners talk to their animals like this. Yuk!

Not just pets. Some people humanise ALL animals and think they all sing that song from the Jungle Book - "I wanna be like you-ou"

No they don't. Those tea-party chimps were cute but they were not real chimps, they had been turned into puppets for the producers of the ads. And if you see a chimp grinning at you, watch out, they are not being friendly, they are showing you their teeth, because they are terrified and aggressive.

My neighbour has just adopted a rescue cat and refers to herself as "mummy" if that wasn't enough last week she referred to me as Auntie Ann when I called in to see her.