How do you feel about people that dislike animals or pets?

It is ok to dislike them.Some people are actually afraid of animals.
The people I have a problem with are the ones who are irresponsible pet owners or who treat animals cruelly.

@lucillelucillelucille that’s a good point. I tend to be more sympathetic to people who express fear, and I always wonder if that is why someone claims to dislike them, but I seem to be less accepting of people who just express disgust or a general dislike for pets.

If I say I like rabbit and squirrel, roasted to a golden brown, are you going to hate me?

@Adirondackwannabe no. I eat meat, and I don’t have a problem with anyone that eats meat.

@ANef_is_Enuf -They haven’t met the right one ;)
@Adirondackwannabe Yuckadoodledo! I’ll take chicken

HA! “Yuckadoodledo”

Isn’t there a saying to the effect of “never trust a person that doesn’t like cats?” That sums it up for me.

I agree with you. Eact to their own and all that but I find it difficult to relate to people that don’t like animals.

I think there are indeed some people who just hate animals for no reason and more so as pets. They also disapprove of pet owners, wondering why they would even bother. But there are those who merely dislike because they are allergic to a certain animal or had bad experiences with them as a child.

I have a hard time understanding why some people have no compassion for animals in general, or even nature. Some people really would benefit from a more natural, universal view than just thinking humans are the dominant species that is here to shit on the planet and then die.

Just because we can do a lot of selfish stuff as a species doesn’t mean we should. It really vexes me when people have the attitude of “make money and screw trees, we need all this land for a reason, animals don’t do shit anyways blah blah blah…”

Someone who is afraid of them doesn’t bother me, I just think it’s too bad. Someone who has almost no experience with animals but dislikes them because they’ve decided that pets are “dirty” across the board, or don’t deserve the resources that people use for pet care, well, I’m like you Neff, that just bothers me. I noticed when KatawaGrey was little that there was a correlation between the compassion levels of kids who had pets in the home and kids who didn’t.

Until four years ago, I was animal-neutral. Although I enjoyed petting my friends’ dogs, I would not have wanted to own one.

And as for cats, I never gave them much thought since they never seemed to be anywhere near me.

You know the rest, dear reader. The vet just gave me a thumbs-up for Milo’s health and well-being and named him poster-cat for August.

Everyone I know, here in the country, has at least one pet, including horses, llamas, geese, and snakes (that are delivered via the post office).

I don’t give them much thought. It’s their life. Hopefully they aren’t the type who would intentionally hit an animal in the road. I’m not going to get rid of mine so a person like that will feel better about coming in my house. Trust me, there are things in here that would be way more off putting than my cat staring at them.

I’m ok with people that dislike animals as long as they don’t abuse them. It’s their choice. I think it takes a little effort to understand animals and if they don’t want to make the effort that’s ok.

I’ve known many people who dislike children. They think children are loud, messy and obnoxious, and there’s nothing you can do to change their mind about it. I think it is the same for people who don’t like pets. They think they are smelly, messy, and noisy. I’m not going to think they are any less of a person because of their dislike for children or pets.

The only person I know who has said that they do not like pets is my SO. He was attacked by a dog while delivering newspapers and has had a fear of them ever since. It hasn’t helped that his town doesn’t obey the law of cleaning up after dogs while out walking them. It’s bad enough that I haven’t seen much of the town because we have to watch for landmines on the sidewalks.

The statement “I dislike pets” is probably a blanket statement for not only phobias, but allergies as well. I’ve witnessed a few people have reactions to visiting a house with a cat almost immediately.

It doesn’t bother me one way or another. Other than the allergic, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around how anyone could actively dislike cats (I understand not really liking them because they’re “boring” in comparison to dogs or whatever, but an active dislike? Whaaaat?). I personally don’t really like most dogs, mainly because I don’t like getting jumped on or licked, so I can understand that one. But I don’t think I’ve ever really made a judgement about it. I can see where you’re coming from though.

I don’t think I know any, but I wouldn’t trust them.

I am OK with it. Some people are severely allergic to animals and can’t even be around people that own certain pets.

I try hard not to hate them. But i’m not too fond of them.

Some people are kind hearted but just don’t like boisterous unpredictable animals that jump up on them with their muddy paws and chew the furniture. I can understand that and don’t have a problem with it. It doesn’t mean they are cold hearted or cruel.

Before we equivocate, I understand people have allergies to animal fur etc. I would hate that

Allergy is not the same as dislike.

I am a little suspicious of people who do not like cats and dogs. Especially dogs. What is to dislike?

I can understand how somebody would have good reasons not to have a pet, But I distrust anyone who actually dislikes dogs and cats.

I have a more favorable opinion of people who love animals as much as I do.

I can understand certain dislikes based on their past bad experiences. My best friend wouldn’t come to my house just because there was a cat in it. Over the past 10+ years, I’ve gotten him used to dogs, cats and snakes, lol. I don’t think anything bad about people who dislike animals. I think worse things about people who claim to love animals but ignore anything I say about animal cruelty related to meat and dairy consumption.

I feel like some people may not like pets because they like a clean house. I have cats myself, and it’s very hard to keep the house clean with cats running, fighting, and just this summer I had the pleasure of the cats bringing fleas into the house. Some people do not care for cat fur on their clothes or cat litter smells or whatever. I am not saying everyone with pets has those issues, some people are very fastidious regardless. I think that some people are into their house being clean and that’s their perogative. To each his own.

I assume people who really dislike animals are self centered. I’m usually justified in that.

That, or they have allergies to everything, and are therefore miserable.

One might think that I would say yes to this, but I have a cousin who does not like animals and she is a perfectly nice, caring person.

I do have a thing I call the evil test, though. If someone does not say aww when they see a kitten, that person is certifiably evil.

I also think cats are a very good judge of character, more so than other pet animals. One of my cats went up to my dad, smelled him and then ran away. She has never done that to anybody else, ever. If I wasn’t convinced before…

I can’t quite understand why some people don’t like animals. I can understand that some people are afraid, and some people love animals but don’t have pets because of allergies or whatever, but those people who just don’t like ‘em? I don’t get it.

I love animals. I have no problem with people who don’t. Why should I? I have yet to see anybody actually back up why they don’t trust/like someone who doesn’t like animals.

I think the dislike/distrust issue stems from the way that we humanize everything, especially animals/pets. While may seem misguidedly noble it is actually another symptom of just how far removed we’ve actually become from nature.

Yes and no. I was scared for years of pets (and especially cats) because I wasn’t raised with them (no, I’m sorry, but those 3 years we had a Yorkie don’t count as getting someone used to dogs), so I just didn’t know how to act around them and what to do with them, especially in homes that didn’t train them that much. And then I got a cat, and now I love both cats and dogs. I do judge some people, but it really depends on why they don’t like pets; my mother doesn’t like them because they get things dirty (and she likes things more sterile than an operating room), and they require loving attention, and she really is cold. More people than not, in my experience, do seem to have some issue and that’s why they don’t like pets, but the ones who don’t are fine. What does really get me is when a) people judge pet owners, and especially cat owners, and go on rants about how cold and selfish and manipulative and evil cats are (but dogs they just don’t care for) and b) when someone who has a pet but really only likes the pet, and doesn’t feel much love for the pet, assumes that’s how it is for everyone and says stuff like “Well, if you do move to Europe, you can just get rid of the cats – they’re just cats, after all”. Them I judge, because why are you spending so much resources taking care of a creature you find to be so disposable?

@Aethelflaed that irks me, too. People who treat them as disposable. Something about that attitude really affects the way that I believe they treat people. Whether or not it is true, my knee jerk reaction is to feel negatively toward people who express that.

@ANef_is_Enuf The woman who said that specific quote is also the one who lets her cats out all the time to roam the urban streets (because cats are outdoor creatures and can’t be happy inside), and I worry all the time not just about them getting into fights and getting diseases, but also about accidentally being run over by yours truly. It irks me less when people do it and they both take care of it properly and do it for someone else (maybe the kids love the pet or something), because then at least the animal isn’t suffering much from their disinterest. But I don’t really get pet owners who then sneer at pet owners who love their pets and would go to great lengths to see them safe and happy (and god forbid anyone love them like children, then all hell breaks loose).

It really depends. My mom always said that she didn’t like animals but really she just doesn’t like the idea of living with an animal. She’s a germaphobe and animals don’t bathe regularly, plus she has phobia of hair in her food. She loves my dog and treats him like a baby when she visits but she would much prefer not to be with any animal under the same roof.
She grew up as a kid on the farm and always figured out doors are for animals and indoors are for people. She especially doesn’t care for cats because she dislikes that their hair just gets in everything because its so light weight.
She would never be cruel to an animal and has even fed strays but she doesn’t want to live with one.

I try to be open minded, after all, I don’t like spiders, yet some people do.

I could never be real close to anyone who doesn’t like animals since I have a dog, and a cat lives in my house.

Most people who don’t like cats are Sleepwalkers! ;-0

@Brian1946 Liked that movie!

@faye Me too, and I love the kitties!

It’s their life. I don’t get along with some of them but I can’t force them to change nor say we can’t be friends just because of it.
I don’t smoke and you do… we can’t be friends.
I drink and you are not .. we can’t be friends.
etc

If they don’t like animals I ask why but not from the first but after a time.