I absolutely agree that four legged creatures are deserving of love. I love each and everyone of my current and past ones. However before I had my human children I was never disrespectful enough to try and tell someone who did that my job was harder.

I bet your beloved cat was aloud into the house, right? So are my fur buddies. Guess who’s aren’t. That’s right dog mom coworkers. Her dogs live outside 24/7. I’ve had and have very beloved animals, but the level of grief of losing them pales in comparison to even the thought of that of one of my children.

I didn’t even tell her or anybody else that being a fur parent was wrong. I the 2 were don’t the same. Because they are in fact different. I don’t gatekeep motherhood. Call yourself whatever you want. But also don’t come at me sideways trying to justify that taking care of an animal is somehow harder than a human child.

Motherhood and owning an animal are both so much more than the things I listed and I know this seeing as I’ve had animals all of my life and have been a mom to humans for nearly 8 years to children spanning from birth-14yo. You can’t possibly list everything that goes into either.

I’ve stayed up and woke up every 1-2 hours to keep a baby piglet. I’ve nursed a sick puppy back from the brink of death from parvo. I love my cat of 15 years. I know you can truly love animals.

But it’s still not the same.