It is easy for pets to feel like our children sometimes. We have such a big responsibility for feeding, watering, bathing, and walking them, they rely on us, and together we can grow a very deep, relative-like relationship.
Fittingly, Mother’s Day is just around the corner, celebrated on Sunday, March 30, and mums are gearing up to be lavished with gifts from both their human and fur children.
Incredibly, new research by greetings card marketplace thortful found that a third of Brits admit to favouring their pet over their children, and almost half of Brits see their pet as a child.
As a result, the greetings card marketplace has created a range of pet mum cards to gift on Mother’s Day, which you can see here. Options include everything from touching sentiments to witty, tongue-in-cheek messages.
So why do we have such a connection with our pets and why are people preferring them to their own offspring?
Award-winning dog trainer and dog behaviour specialist Rachel Rogers from Nose To Trail explained: “Pets can be, when we choose a suitable species and breed for us, very easy companions that like to do the things we like to do.
“Guinea Pigs for example can be a very low maintenance pet, that if you gain the trust of will happily sit and watch Netflix with you at night without needing long walks and early toilet trips like a dog.”
Pets come with health benefits. Stroking, sitting, and interacting with pets lowers our heart rate and blood pressure. That’s partly why pets going into hospitals and care homes as therapy can reap so many rewards.
“Dogs live in the now,” Rachel went on. “They don’t worry about what happened yesterday and with the move towards more mindful living over the last few years, many of us benefit from that type of attitude.”
The most stark takeaway is that people see their pets as children. Of course, treating dogs this way can lead to problems, but there are a lot of similarities between dogs and children which plays a role in the new dog mum era.
“We have bred many breeds to have neonatal like features which add to their appeal – the big widespread eyes of a French Bulldog and Pug for example are exactly for that purpose,” Rachel continued.
“They may not appeal to everyone but for those who do, they adore them. Smaller breeds that can be carried around and easily taken on days out to dog friendly coffee shops, shopping centres and even dog swimming pools.”
Interestingly, some pets are better than others in giving the most human interaction and joy. Rachel reckons them to be dogs, cats, guinea pigs, ferrets, and rabbits. The latter three we may not associate so much with love and affection.
However, according to the most recent pet population survey, 1.2 percent of households in the UK owned guinea pigs, and the SSPCA regularly appeal to the public to home overlooked ferrets.
Dogs need us just like a child, Rachel believes. They are reliant on us for their care, their food, their entertainment. Having something that is reliant on you in order to survive is for many why they become their “fur babies”.