Hare-brained Pet Parents

[Malibu Stacy]

Wanted to make a topic where we can vent about negative behaviors experienced from people we know who keep pets. Specific examples or broad observances are welcome. Thinking we might have a few good stories, holiday visiting and all.

I get exasperated by people who essentially teach their dogs bad food habits, then act like it was inevitable "because dogs are just dumb and greedy". I admit quite a bit of this is on me- my mother was a neat freak and I carried over some of that, such as designated pet feeding areas away from any people dining areas, where ALL pet feeding occurs, as well as strict avoidance of giving pets any people food. What brought this to mind was when we visited my boyfriend's mother for Christmas; as soon as she finished eating, she put her plate down in front of her feet and called her dogs to lick it clean.

For a more general example: for the longest time, I thought any person who had a cat as a pet was an odd duck. Took me years to realize I just had the misfortune to only know bad cat owners up 'til then. Pretty much every cat owner I knew thought the only changes to make a no-cat home into a cat-friendly home was food, water dish, and a litter box. And that cats loved just chilling alone in such a space for 12-16 hours a day. Then, when the cats did obvious cries for attention, like relieving themselves everywhere or destroying their owners' property, said cat owners would shrug and laugh "haha, cats!"

['Foretold' Joker]

Apart from a traumatised Guinea-Pig at university (who knew they wouldn't like loud heavy drum n bass ) I haven't come across any pet owners being dumb myself.

[Fade is a CodyCryBaby]

I haven’t come across too many terrible ones myself. My mother has had the bad habit of coddling her pups too much but I know it comes out of love.

[Deleted]

My brother is especially negative towards people who buy reptiles, particularly snakes. Not because he hates snakes, quite the contrary; he's the proud owner of a ball python for the past 13 years and a corn snake we got this past year. It's due to why people tend to get them... so they can look edgy and shit.

Problem is, snakes are temperamental about their feeding habits, not to mention you gotta be careful how you feed some and where you do it, and if you can't get live mice or rats (only one pet store chain in my city does this) you'll have to go frozen, and the process of bringing them back to where the snake can register "body heat" is a bit labor intensive. Also, as cold blooded creatures, they need supervision so they don't get too hot or too cold, and that you don't accidentally burn their scutes, which are the scales they slide on.

And then there's vet access. Exotic animal care specialists are very hard to come by.

Of course, people in general don't think these. You just put them in a tank, throw a rat you found once in a while, and you're good. I'm nor trying to denigrate the average reptile owner, but I've seen some real idiots.

[Long A, Short A]

There are pet guardians and there are people that have pets in their house. My mom is the latter and not only driven me crazy, but it's shortened some good pets' lives. This woman thinks that telling a pet that they're a house pet is suppose to mean more than throwing them out of the house whenever they get on her nerves. We've lost about four or five pets that way.