Fur baby or pet? How do you label your furry friend?
I believe there is no right or wrong answer. It’s completely up to you and how you feel about the terms and what you want to use for your furry friends.
First off, what is a fur baby? Or fur babies? A fur baby is a term given to a furry animal that you have. It is usually referred to a dog, cat, or other furry creature that lives with you. The term fur baby gives a more familial name to the animal that you have. Fur baby can simply be a sweet term for an animal that you have adopted into your family. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you are giving it human qualities and making that animal a top priority as high as a human baby or child.
This is how I use the name fur baby. It is simply a sweet way to call our pets. I use the term interchangeable. By saying fur baby/fur kids I’m not giving them the high standard of meeting the same hierarchy as humans/kids.
For example: When we go on vacation, I set out plenty of food and water and anything my cat will need but she doesn’t need a sitter. Animals that just need the simple basics such as food, water, and a place to go potty can take care of themselves for a certain period, like my cat. I may have someone check in on her here and there. If my human kids were the same age and I left them home alone while going on that same trip they wouldn’t be safe and could be seriously injured, or starved and I should be turned into Social Services. There is a big difference between an animal and a human.
Some do take the term fur baby to the extreme and try to treat their animal like they are a human baby/kid. Especially people that do not have human kids.
Pets and fur babies I believe can be used to mean the same thing.
To some pets can mean just an animal that they have on their farm to eat the field mice or keep mice away. Or a pet just to have to keep burglars away from their house. To other a pet means an animal that they have adopted that they truly love and care for.
I believe there can be a negative connotation for either the term pet or fur baby. If you don’t go to either extreme and you treat your pet/fur baby with love, and attention, and provide for their needs you can use either term. You can feel like your pet/fur baby is part of the family without giving that pet, human hierarchy and status.
With all that said, my fur babies do not have the hierarchy as my kids and shouldn’t. But we do treat them with love and meet their needs.
Meet our fur babies!
Along with 2 kids, now in their twenties, we also have two fur babies. I call them our fur kids now as they are getting older also.
Meet our fur baby – Carter
We adopted Carter when he was only 7 months old. My son wanted a dog so badly, and he said all that he wanted for his birthday was a new dog.
My son previously had a dog that passed away several years earlier. He had a good bond with that dog and really loved him. And was then ready for a new best friend.
We adopted Carter from a local shelter. Carter was a very scared and shy dog; he really didn’t even want to be near us. I remember when we were trying to meet him for the first time, and he would just hide under the table. It was sad and took a lot of time but soon he decided we weren’t so bad and started to trust us. It was a slow and hard process as we just wanted to love him, but he just wasn’t so sure. When he finally built that trust with us it was great. And great to see that my son had a new buddy.
Carter is a sweet dog. There’s not much that he does besides sleeping and barking at people walking by our house. He does have a good nose and when my son is home, we will have him hide and then tell Carter to use his nose and find Bubba. He will run all around the house following his smell till he finds him.
Carter gets majorly excited when he sees someone’s car pull up in our driveway and goes crazy when he realizes that it’s one of his family members now home. His tail will whip around in a circle fast and you can almost imagine him lifting off the ground with that tail propeller.
He knows how to sit, shake, give hi five, give ten, touch, lay down, and park it among other things. It took a lot of work, patience, and consistency but he has learned a lot. One of the best things we did was to train him to ring the bells when he needs to go potty.
I’ll have to share with you some suggestions I have on training a dog and other tips that are helpful/have been helpful for us.
Carter is a lab mix. He has the cutest white patch on the back of his head/neck. My son thinks it looks like a dolphin. He likes to wear sweaters when it’s cold outside and doesn’t mind costumes on Halloween.
Meet Our Fur Baby – Kilee
She is our sweet and sassy cat. At times she is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Well, maybe not to that extreme. But she can be very sweet and enjoy you petting her and then quickly turn to hands off me now!
We adopted Kilee at about 4 months old when my daughter was ready for a new cat. Her previous cat of 12 years passed away a couple of years prior to getting Kilee.
Kilee doesn’t like anyone outside of our immediate family to touch her. Especially doesn’t like strangers. She won’t go hide when others come over, on the contrary, she will stand her ground. She wants to see what is happening, but no one can touch her. If they try, she will hiss and swat their hand away.
She is the boss, at least to Carter. I think she likes to imitate me or help me out as the mom of the house.
Every time Carter is looking out the window and barking at people walking by our house, I’m always trying to tell him No! Quiet! And trying to get him trained not to bark as people are outside on the sidewalk or in the street. It’s one thing if he just growls a little but he goes insane and loud abrupt barking. So, now Kilee will go to him when he’s barking and hiss at him and use her voice to tell him to shut up. It can sound like a circus in my house when someone comes to the door. Carter will be barking, and Kilee will be yelling in her cat language. I’m sure people think I have a vicious dog and cat in my house.
Kilee loves to cuddle, or I should say her version of cuddle that is. She likes to sit on my lap in the evenings but only if I have a blanket on my lap. She’s not the hug-and-love-on type. But her way of love is to be near me. As I’m writing this blog, she is right beside my laptop on the desk.
She and Carter seem to follow me all around the house. I always feel like I’m the leader of the band or we are playing the follow-the-leader game.
Kilee is a female cat, and she loves to carry her “babies” around the house. We got her some stuffed mice, they are big and with long furry tails. We often find them in her food bowl or near it and various other places in the house. When she carries them around, she talks to them. We always wonder what she is telling or asking them.
She’s a very smart cat. I told my husband one day that I could train her to do commands and my husband just laughed in disbelief. So, it was a challenge. I then started to train her. It was easy to train her since she loves food so much. She now knows how to sit, shake, give hi five, touch, and choose which hand the treat is in. I will share videos soon so you can see them for yourself.
She is also an avid workout cat. Yes, you heard that right. She loves to scoot her little weights around the kitchen floor. Doing it in the kitchen while I am busy cooking, washing dishes, putting up groceries, etc. I will share videos of this as well since most won’t believe it. It started with her scooting grocery bags around on the floor after I’d emptied them. After that, she soon moved on to boxes that I would flatten and put on the kitchen floor that I’d move to the recycle box after unpacking groceries. I guess she’s building up those muscles to keep strong to defend herself from strangers and intimidate Carter. No, in all seriousness, I think she likes to be busy and maybe she thinks she’s helping in some way. After all, she thinks she is the second mom in this house.
Those are the two fur babies we have now.
We have had other sweet fur babies in the past.
My daughter had a cat named Lilo that we adopted from a shelter where they had found her roaming the streets. Our daughter was 3 years old and already loved cats. Cat was one of her first words. Lilo was so great with our daughter, and they really bonded well. It got to where if my daughter would cry Lilo would come running and find her to be at her side.
They had the cutest ritual where my daughter would be laying down and Lilo would come up and do a little somersault landing right next to her.
Unlike Kilee, Lilo would hide when strangers would come over. Many people didn’t really think we had a cat since she would never appear while they were there visiting. She would have some good hiding spots, so she wasn’t found.
She was a very sweet cat and is still missed.
Mazzey, my son’s first dog was a dachshund. He was a small dog and was cute. He was so good to our son. As I have said in a blog before, I really do believe pets are a great benefit to families. We adopted him from a family member when my son was 5. He instantly had a playmate and buddy.
It really is fun to watch that bond form with your child and pet. A pet can help kids in so many ways and they were great for my kids. The love that they share and receive is priceless.
With all that I’m sharing about our pets just remember if you aren’t in a good situation and can’t properly take care of a pet then it isn’t the right time to adopt one.
It’s hard to hear about all the animals that are adopted and then just given back because the family couldn’t afford it, changed their mind, wasn’t ready for a pet, or the kids wouldn’t take care of it.
Realize that if your kids are young or school age they can talk the talk about walking, feeding, and taking care of the dog. But there will be a day when they may slack on their responsibilities or decide it’s too much work. If that happens it will become your priority. And, if it’s your kid’s pet it is still ultimately up to you to take care of that pet and give it what it needs. Just as your kid is your ultimate responsibility.
So, if getting a pet for your kid make sure that you are ready for that responsibility too. I’m not trying to talk anyone out of getting a fur baby but for you to really think it through and be ready for that responsibility. If you and your child are not ready for that responsibility then get them a stuffed animal for their pet. They may be happy and content with that or at least for a certain time. That also would be a great way for them to learn what it takes to take care of a pet.
Whether you call them fur babies/fur kids/pets, they will become part of your family. And will need the attention, love, and nourishment that they should have.
Just don’t go overboard and give your pet/fur baby human hierarchy.
Have fun loving your pets/fur babies and make wonderful family memories to cherish.