Fur babies!

The term ‘fur babies’ certainly makes me cringe but when it comes to the ‘rainbow bridge’, it is an actual thing. Those of a certain spiritual inclination know that it actually exists. I’d say a lot of people use the term as a comfort without knowing of it’s existence. When you know, you know…

Dislike phrases like fur babies. Also pooch. Would not put my dog in silly clothes or carry in any form of transport. So degrading.

Fur babies and rainbow bridge - both make me feel quite queasy. But then I feel even worse about the word 'hubby'. Don't get me started on 'holibobs'! I'm also not great about people having 'passed on', or 'passed'. They've died, fhs.

Most dog 'owners' have dogs because they are just amazing and unlike humans don't get upset about words used or such irrelevances!

Where is this rainbow bridge then MickyD have you seen it ?
You ve intrigued me now
I realise I come across annoyed in my texts and maybe I do sound like a animal disliker I can’t say enough I ve had dogs cats rabbits, gerbils, mice, snakes, fish, and hamsters and loved them all but there’s a place for animals and it’s not everywhere
Obviously for people with old ill or infirm dogs buggies are an idea, the same with medical shoes I was taking about the fancy frilly ones you can buy and the fancy dress costumes and crates where people leave there dogs in them for hours I m not taking about decent animal owners
We have big buggies come in the shop and thats not taking them for nice walkies to see the grass and the countryside
Our local pub chain (and no not Whetherspoons) has an advert for Saturday meet up for doggy walks, then obviously they expect them to all sit down for a drink and food The photograph advertising it has a dog sitting on the table that people are then going to eat off

My whole beef is not with good dog owners it’s not with the animals it’s with the whole thing about humanising animals and elevating them to a higher level

Colls

Most dog 'owners' have dogs because they are just amazing and unlike humans don't get upset about words used or such irrelevances!

👍

Quote BlueBelle Mon 21-Jul-25 16:21:47
Where is this rainbow bridge then MickyD have you seen it ?
You ve intrigued me now

Bluebelle do you ask this of those who believe in an afterlife

I cringe every time I hear someone refer to their pets as their babies.

They are not babies. They are animals.
It really gets on my nerves.

Just writing about this has got my hackles up.

BlueBelle

Where is this rainbow bridge then MickyD have you seen it ?
You ve intrigued me now
I realise I come across annoyed in my texts and maybe I do sound like a animal disliker I can’t say enough I ve had dogs cats rabbits, gerbils, mice, snakes, fish, and hamsters and loved them all but there’s a place for animals and it’s not everywhere
Obviously for people with old ill or infirm dogs buggies are an idea, the same with medical shoes I was taking about the fancy frilly ones you can buy and the fancy dress costumes and crates where people leave there dogs in them for hours I m not taking about decent animal owners
We have big buggies come in the shop and thats not taking them for nice walkies to see the grass and the countryside
Our local pub chain (and no not Whetherspoons) has an advert for Saturday meet up for doggy walks, then obviously they expect them to all sit down for a drink and food The photograph advertising it has a dog sitting on the table that people are then going to eat off

My whole beef is not with good dog owners it’s not with the animals it’s with the whole thing about humanising animals and elevating them to a higher level

That's a great initiative by Wetherspoons; especially with the need to socialise dogs. And the only conversations I tend to have with people these days is with fellow dog walkers.

I know people refer to their pets as fur babies on social media but has anyone actually heard anyone say it in the real world?

Greciangirl

I cringe every time I hear someone refer to their pets as their babies.

They are not babies. They are animals.
It really gets on my nerves.

Just writing about this has got my hackles up.

I don't understand why it bothers some people so much. It's not a term I would use - but it doesn't bother me in the slightest if someone else does. My dog is as much a part of the family as any other.

ViceVersa
I don't understand why it bothers some people so much. It's not a term I would use - but it doesn't bother me in the slightest if someone else does. My dog is as much a part of the family as any other.

This
How often do posters have to cringe? I’ve never actually heard anyone say fur baby but why get so het up about something that isn’t any of your business if it’s not harming the animal?

Exactly Mollygo. Some dogs suffer real cruelty and abuse, now that is something to find cringe worthy and complain about.

I wish people would be more concerned about the increasing level of animal cruelty and abuse than getting up tight about how some people address them. Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?

There's something about that awful phrase 'fur baby' that i think completely strips an animal of its dignity. My beautiful labradors are fully grown dignified creatures that we treat with love and respect.

Hi
My name's Dawn. Was it this site my mum was on, Lois Smalley?

Gillycats

I wish people would be more concerned about the increasing level of animal cruelty and abuse than getting up tight about how some people address them. Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things?

That’s such an important point. Evidently the rspca reports huge influx in cruelty referrals in the summer? My immediate thought it how much is that linked with the increase in alcohol abuse in the summer

My area has reports of a gsd horribly abused and when dead, dumped in an area popular with dog walker

Just wondering from the tone of some people here, if I’m allowed to call our much loved dog, ‘A very lovely boy’. Or is that frowned on as well!

Anyway, I’m not going to get ‘my knickers in a twist’ (!) over the phrases that some other people use!

I regularly tell my spaniel she’s my best girl
The dreadful boisterous lab gets who is my best boy then, is it you

Call your much loved dog whatever you like BazingaGranny, no one's business but yours.

In winter my whippet suffers from seasonal alopecia so I call her baldy bum. Albeit not in public...

Smileless2012

Each to their own. I don't see why how anyone refers to their pets should be anyone else's concern.

Exactly! And I love my fur babies 😂

Nanny27

There's something about that awful phrase 'fur baby' that i think completely strips an animal of its dignity. My beautiful labradors are fully grown dignified creatures that we treat with love and respect.

But neither your dogs or the fur babies know that you think they have or haven’t been stripped of their dignity. Attributing human characteristics like dignified or baby (fur or not) are types of anthropomorphism. Is one really better than another?
You like one, but not the other.
Dogs only care that they’re well looked after and loved by their owners (though they only know how that feels, not what it means. )

👏👏👏Mollygo so true

Mollygo
But if you believe that an animal has dignity (not a sense of dignity) then why not treat it as such. The term baby is somewhat demeaning surely. My opinion only, I understand that others don't think the same.