Some Mothers And Dog Trainers Have Objections To The Term "Furbabies"

Aug 31, 2019 by apost team

You have probably heard the term "furbaby" before. If you haven't, let us explain. The term refers to a pet, usually a dog or a cat. It implies that the owner thinks of that pet like their child. Sometimes, that pet is even treated just like a parent would treat their child. They get their own clothes and maybe even a stroller. Let's take a look at why this term "furbaby" can be offensive to others.

Some mothers, like blogger Elizabeth Broadbent, are saying that it really isn't right to compare a pet to a baby since there are so many differences between the two. After all, you don't have to get up in the dead of the night to change a diaper if you have a cat, and you certainly aren't feeding them every two hours on the dot.

Your cat or dog will never speak their first words as a child will. You can also leave the house for hours while your dog stays in a cage. You couldn't do that with a human baby! It is so much easier to leave the house when you have a dog or pet.

You don't have to pay enormous amounts for babysitting. Even if you have to pay for doggie daycare, the emotional toll is so much less. You are not in a constant state of worry over your pets as you would be if you have to leave your kids behind.

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It is not that the motivation for calling pets "furbabies" is hard to comprehend. Most people who don't have children often don't understand the enormous responsibility of being a parent. It is easy to think that we could never love a child more than our precious animals. But once those same people become parents as well, they often see the difference.

Even many dog trainers turn up their noses at the word "furbaby." For instance, one dog trainer named Melanie thinks we are actually doing our animals an injustice by seeing them as human. They also have a point. After all, we usually love our pets because they often don't act like humans at all.

They provide us unconditional love and are always there for us. This certainly isn't the case when it comes to humans. Pets will never actually need the level of care that a human baby will and should not be referred to as such.

Parents and dog trainers may have different reasons for disliking the term "furbabies," yet they both arrive at the same conclusion: You can love your animals without having to think of them as "your baby." Phillip Tedeschi, executive director for the Institute for Human-Animal Connection, sums it up like this:

“I personally don’t love the term ‘fur babies.’ I really want them to be able to be a dog or a cat, not comparable to a human child. In some cases, there are similarities, but there are differences too ... I think, in some ways, many people could have a deeper relationship with their pets if they allow an animal to be themselves.”

Do you call your pets this term? Leave us a comment with your thoughts below, and then pass this on to other pet owners when you are done.