Neither-they are my lords and masters.
(Anyone who has ever had at least one cat will know exactly what I mean!)
Part of the family. I don’t have to justify it to anyone - its simply how I feel.
I’m probably going to be the odd person out here, but yes, I do treat my cat like my family, and I do think of her as my “baby”. She’s the first cat I’ve ever had; I grew up in a house where there were absolutely no animals. So, when I got my first little kitty six months ago, I was so elated because it was like I finally got what I’ve been yearning for my whole life.
I don’t plan on having any children. People tell me that I’ll change my mind when I get older, but I’m pretty sure I’m not the motherly type. With real live human beings capable of individual thought, they can get pretty screwed up if I were their parent. So, to save the world some crazy miserable human beings, I’ve focused my “motherly attention” towards my cat. At least if I were to screw up the cat’s emotional health, she’s “just a cat”. She won’t grow up and hate me forever.
Anyway, it’s just this first cat that I feel this way about an animal. I’ve gotten a kitten in the recent month, and as cute and cuddly as the kitten is, he is nothing compared to my first little girl cat. In fact, a large part of why I got him was to keep my girl cat occupied during the day with his crazy kitten antics so she won’t be bored. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to make the cat happy.
With all that, most of you are thinking that I’m showing tendencies towards being a crazy cat lady… but hey, if it works for me, why do you care?
It’s no skin off my nose. Everyone has quirks, and I’m all for folks whose quirks don’t cause others any harm.
Now if you bake a birthday cake for the car, or have parties for it, then you’ve clearly gone over the edge and must be stopped. 
Not children. Not pets. Definatly memebers of the family. But more like layabout teenagers who won’t go out and get a job.
How does what you said in any way contradict what Anaamika said? Can’t an animal be both independent and affectionate?
I live in a house that’s just me and my dog. I love my dog. I feel guilty when I have to work late a few days in a row and she doesn’t get enough attention and stuff like that but she is not a person.
Mine are definitely family members - and I refer to them as my “furbabies”. I know that they are not people - I like them much more than I like a lot of people! I am childless by choice, and what vestigal maternal instinct I have is devoted to my cats. I am a crazy cat lady - I enclosed a two car garage and made it into a cat suite (where my office is, and I am sitting now) so my cats would have their own space with carpeted shelves on the walls and their own furniture, so I don’t have to vacumn every day and don’t have cats on the kitchen counters!
I have lost cats in the past - kittens I was fostering, a cat to cancer and several to old age. I do not in any way think my grief compares to a parent who has lost a child, but I grieved.
So they are much more than pets, but I am still sane enough to realize they are animals. Adorable animals, but still animals.
We don’t equate our cats to children, nor do we find the relationship comparable to actual “parents”, but since my wife and I will never have kids ourselves, they are the closest to kids we’ll ever get.
They’re family.
I don’t know why, but some people seem to be infuriated to an obsessive degree with those of us who love animals. I’ve been assailed by Dopers several times, but never with such ferocity as when I mentioned an animal rescue organization and its mission to help both humans and pets who were affected by hurricane Katrina. I got nasty emails for months from people who seemed to truly hate me. That was a shock.
The spouse and I have five cats, and all of them are members of the family. They’re not people and we don’t treat them like people–fact is, we like them better than most people! Each one has his or her own distinct personality, quirks, likes, and dislikes, and we enjoy interacting with them and watching them interact with each other.
I have zero maternal instinct toward humans–I don’t like babies and small children and would never even consider being a mother–but I enjoy taking care of my cats and getting affection from them in return. All in all, they’re a companionable and agreeable lot, independent enough that they don’t require the level of attention that a child (or even a dog) would, but loving enough that they enjoy asking for tummy rubs, treats, and lap time. There’s very little in this world that’s more comforting and soothing for me than a cat purring in my lap.
I really like this. That about sums it up for us as well.
Wow, I’m sorry you had that experience. Eff 'em, I say. They’re the crazy ones!
Nah, just a little detailing. I stopped short of the massage and mani/pedi.
We have an outdoor-only cat. It’s not a pet. It’s not a member of the family. It’s a tool for killing rodents.
Sure, but what Anaamika said was:
I read that as her saying that cats are emotionally independent and do not act like members of the family, and I disagree with that assertion. Every cat I’ve ever known (that was considered a pet) has very much *needed *lots of attention and affection. As much as dogs? No. But cats aren’t “extremely independent” either.
Regarding the OP: my feelings about my cats echoes what scotandrsn said.
Definitely family.
By taking them in, we made a deal to care for them as best as we could - even if it means a couple hundred dollars of tumor removal surgery for the $4 white rat. That’s just the deal as I see it. I try not to judge others by my own standard but it is hard to not feel a certain kind of despair when someone dumps a pet for a frivolous reason. Fulfilling trust is important to me - knowing my own animals get distressed at upheavals of routine, I feel painful compassion for the formerly-loved pets who get buffeted around by careless people. But I always feel like this when bad stuff happens to the innocent and no one can explain to them why. I guess I am distrustful of people who are casual about ditching pets - there’s very little consequence to offloading an animal. It makes me wonder how they’d treat people if there was similar lack of accountability.
I think it’s incredibly neat to have buddies that are creatures of an entirely different species. I never tire of wondering what the world is like to them. It’s pleasing to see them thriving and happy in our care. I feel sometimes like if I can bridge the gap to a dog or cat or rat, people should be even MORE accessible. That’s not always the case, but animals recharge me when people wear me out.
People like showing their little kids new marvelous things, like the first time they see the ocean or taste ice cream or whatever. Maybe it’s weird but it’s fun to bring joy and wonder to the critters, too - even if it’s just a big fat junebug for the aggressively territorial gecko.
Our pets are animals - I don’t expect them to be people. Learning how they ‘tick’ is fascinating anyhow - much more interesting than imagining them as little critter-shaped humans. But I love them for what makes them different AND for what makes us similar. It’s the combination of the familiar and alien that appeals. & the fact that the dogs and cats enjoy hugs just as much as we do? icing on the cake.
For the record, we are childfree. Not cause of hating kids or anything - just that raising a human is pretty serious stuff, I never saw myself as someone named Mom, and when it comes down to choosing, I’d much rather be a friend than a parental unit. We live with a greyhound, a boxer, 3 cats, 4 rats, 2 snakes, and a tokay gecko. Occasionally there’s a tank of tadpoles or something like that around.
Sums it up perfectly!
Family. All of them. Dog, cat and even the fish*, kind of.
*I will breifly mourn Larry and Darryl when they join the other Darryl in that great self-cleaning tank in the sky.
In all seriousness, my cats are indeed family-the dog too. They don’t care if I’m PMSing, or if my hair looks like shit, or whatever. It’s that unconditional love thing.
Family, without a doubt. When you are totally alone in the world with very few friends and no family, and your pets are all you have, they become very much your family.
My cats are pets. They aren’t the most loving cats in the world, they only care to be fed and have a clean litter box and an occasional ear scratching. I do love them but I consider them more like roomies and friends than family.