Re: [pyrnet] Anthromorphizing animals

["Jessica @ DaVor" <woods@davor.com>]

I also grew up in a house with a lot of animals (although not a farm).  We
had Mom's dog and guinea pigs, my cats and hamsters, my brother's rabbits
and gerbils, my dad's birds, and the fish.  And the bonding pretty much fell
in those categories as well.  I got close to all the animals excepting the
birds--I have this thing about beaks near my eyes--and I cry like a baby if
anything happens to them.

At the moment, I have two cats, because that's the limit my lease and my
fiancee have set (quoth he "more cats than humans makes you a crazy cat
lady, and crazy cat ladies don't have fiancees.")  I don't think I treat my
cats like humans in fur, although we do tend to call the elder a "grumpy old
man," and things like that.  I do refer to myself as their momma, but then,
I don't have (and will probably not ever have) children to distract me or
require my attentions.

My parents treated their pets very well, and taught my brother and I to do
the same.  My father was perhaps more likely to attribute human
characteristics to all of our pets--but then, when you have a pet that talks
to you, it's easy to do that.  It's hardest of all with the fish, since they
don't cuddle and we've only ever had one that liked to be pet.  But all of
our pets have had nicknames, have had behaviors that we just had to say,
"Well, that's Gizmo, he does that.  Weirdo." or some such.

Certainly I would never dress the cats in cute little outfits--I outgrew
that when I was 14 or 15--or have them eat at the table with us, etc.  But I
do say things like "Tooki's holding a grudge" when we come home after being
away for the weekend.  So I dunno.  I would think most people catch
themselves doing it on occasion.

Jess Woods
Levittown PA
woods@davor.com


on 2/23/02 09:11, Susan Christensen at sue@hoodel.com wrote:

> So, is how you treat your animals in part how your parents treated
> theirs?Your psychological makeup/needs?  A function of how many
> others you have?  Whether you have kids at home? Am I likely to be
> more involved with my guys (Anthromorphing) when my kids grow up and
> move away? Or does that also have to do with how many activities one
> involves oneself with (outside pet related activities like showing,
> etc. which can reinforce anthromorphing sometimes). Also, if you are
> married, is one of you more likely to anthromorph than the other?