Yesterday we had family over to tea, and I was sitting in the living room chatting with my mum and my fiancé's stepmum.

From my fiancé's stepmother - "Would you not think of getting rid of those dogs? You're always having to mop up their muddy pawprints and looking after them on top of looking after the baby seems too much to me. Would it not be better for Joey if you got rid of the dogs?"

And from my own mother "Never mind the dogs, what about those cats! Ugh cats! They would crawl over that baby and suffocate him, and their hairs! They'd scratch him! God, they make my skin crawl! You have to think about the baby Gillian. Maybe you could just drive them somewhere? Let them go? Or maybe they could have a little accident?" To which they both started laughing ...

To which I smiled politely and simply said "My animals are going nowhere".

Joey LOVES my animals. He loves to watch the dogs play and they adore him. Coveu is even protective of him ... and as for the cats, they have no interest in the baby at all, and even at that they only come indoors when my baby has gone to sleep at night.

Why do people think that just because they don't like animals that they have the right to actively tell people to get rid of theirs? It was almost as though they were implying that I'd be a bad mother if I kept my dogs and cats.

lol! Do these look like hostile animals to you?

Darcey with Coveu ...

This is Sasha, my moody moggy ...

And my beautiful Nieko, who reminds me so much of Bono ...

And I can't leave out my perfect Bono, even though he is no longer with me ... Miss you boy.

they are all so cute. some people just don't get it, particulary (and apologies for saying this) your mother, who thinks cats can suffocate infants....it is an OLD WIVE'S tale

if it were me, i would tell them something i cannot post here

What is always worst to me are people who feel they know what is best for you..we see so much of it controlling our daily lives and then relatives and friends chip in with their knowing what is best for you and yours better than you do.

When my mother used to criticize me and I told her what she was doing..her response was... I wasn't criticizing you....I was only trying to HELP you. Her answers never worked for me.

You have to live your own life and do what YOU think is best because only you know.
If someone has a suggestion, you can listen but the remarks you heard were not really suggestions...they are the kind of words that hurt animal lovers and those that say them don't even realize just how they sound.

Your pictures are really beautiful and I can see why you love them all so much.
Good Luck with your move.

I can just see it: you look at them and excitedly say,
"You know, I HAVE been thinking about what you said. You're right, it is a lot of extra work to take care of all five. And to have a baby that's so sensitive to claws and hair and nails... It really would be so much simpler, wouldn't it? But I think instead of displacing four, it would be better to get rid of only one. And since Joey has the least seniority, I'm going to take him down to the fire station and leave him there. He'll have the best chance of being placed in an adoptive home anyway. What do you think?"

They'll look back at you in stunned, shocked surprise, and very likely never bring it up again.
~Kimberwicked

Warmest congratulations at your restraint. I doubt I would have that strength of character. But, my mother liked animals, and my father grew up on a farm, and my mother-in-law was a Cat Lady with too many of them, so I never had to deal with anything like that.

Why, they even (grudgingly) accepted Fab, my boa constrictor. I said to them, "It helps if you think of her as:

1: A cuddly vaccuum cleaner hose with eyes.
2: An unfortunate pet with no arms or legs, bravely living with her disability."

Funny. A phrase went through my mind when reading, to the effect, "Don't let the door ------------- on the way out".

I am glad it was just not me...hahahahhaa.