I’m currently reading Some we Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat by Hal Herzog, about the relations between humans and animals.
In a section on pets, he has some statistics about how people treat their pets, so I was curious to find out how Dopers – a notoriously pet-loving crowd, other than prr – line up on these behaviors.
Please check off any of the things that you do. I’m leaving the results hidden by name so the people who dress their pets up in costumes don’t have to out themselves if they don’t want to.
I don’t cook special meals for my dog, but I checked that option anyway. I give her one can of salt-free green beans every night, and those cans are expensive (86 cents!) so I consider that out-of-the-ordinary feeding.
I would totally dress her up if we could find clothes that fit. She’s just too big
Cats can come on the bed, dogs are not allowed. I don’t cook for my pets but I feed them a specific fresh, expensive diet. I don’t buy them presents, dress them in clothes (other than jackets in very cold weather) or otherwise treat them like children.
I have a full bed at night, all 5 dogs and usually at least one of the cats. I buy Christmas gifts for them simply because I don’t have any other ‘family’ to buy for. And I do on occasion, NOT OFTEN, cook for them… for example, about once a month I scramble eggs for everybody and mix it with kibble.
‘Dressing up’ consists of a bandana, or a sweater for the little 'uns when it’s cold, so I didn’t check that one.
I’ll out myself as being the one who dresses up her dogs. We have costume contests at rescue fundraising events. That is the only time I do it. And the last couple of times I haven’t done it, because it was too cold or rainy.
Angel does sleep in our bed every so often, mostly in the mornings a couple of hours before I have to get up and go to work. Angel and Smudge both get Christmas presents, because they are members of the family. No way on clothes*: and the closest she gets to a special meal is wet dog food.
The dog sleeps on the bed but the cats do not. The dog lays down at the bottom corner of the bed and stays there until morning. If the cats are allowed in, they jump onto and off the bed all night, walk across my stomach and try to insinuate themselves into uncomfortable (for me, not them) locations. It’s easier to just let them bitch at me through the door for a couple minutes each night.
I am playing a bit with the verb tense, but picked the first three. My dogs all slept on the bed occasionally (not often and never under the covers) They all got their annual chewie supply wrapped up at Christmas, and a steak or ham on their brithdays. (I just picked the first of the month they were born.) So I didn’t cook special meals all the time, but once a year I did. And I didn’t buy anything they didn’t need, but I wrapped it up and included them in the family gift opening ritual.
My current pets are fish, so the only one that applies is special meals. I do sometimes blanch a bit of fresh zuchini for them, and they get frozen shrimp now and then, and definitely any time we’re having a feast. (T’giving, x-mas, etc.)
They are not spoiled or treated as human, but they are family members of a sort.
I have a gecko so he is incapable of doing most of those things. I laugh to even think of him sleeping on the bed. But then again, he does conk out on the floor of his tank.
I don’t even get him Christmas presents. But I love him as much as you can love a reptile, and when he does his “last gecko in the shop” move I just melt.
I have a dog, but her Christmas gifts coincide with her needs. For example, a new bed will be timed for Christmas. I didn’t mark “prepare special meals” but I did give her canned food for a week (that’s special, right?) when she had sutures in her mouth.
The dogs are occasionally allowed to sleep in the bed, but they must start their night in their own bed which is at the foot of ours. They do get presents on christmas. On occasion they’ll get a special meal, but that is defined as: “any time I am out of kibble and the self feeder is empty, and it is late, and I am tired.”
I laugh to even think of him sleeping on the bed. But then again, he does conk out on the floor of his tank.