they probably cant love me back in a human or even mammalian sense, but my goldfish with their smooth pea-sized brain have learned to trust that i will make them better when they are sick. i feel like crying about this often

Maybe Princess the tarantula never had anything resembling what we as humans know as emotions, but she still came out of her burrow and up to the glass when we’d talk to her and used to stare at the drawing I’d tape to her terrarium. Maybe she couldn’t even comprehend what we were, but she knew we were there to take care of her. And even if she never showed that sort of curiosity or trust we’d still love her.

Idk if Munchie the praying mantis felt love for me, but I do know he trusted me enough to climb onto my hand when offered and was comfortable with allowing me to carry him places despite me being absolutely massive in comparison to him. So that's close enough in my book.

This also applies to wild animals/birds you might encounter in your garden. The feral city pigeon with the distinct white spot on his head will never love me, and will probably never be brave enough to eat from my hand. But I don't feed him in the hope of making him love me. I feed him because I love seeing him, doing his little spiny walks on my balcony, cooing up a storm, and not flying away immediately when I open the balcony door to bring him some seed. His presence brings joy to my heart, and I'm blessed to see him every day.

I'm not naïve enough to believe an animal can love me the same way a human can, but to know it trusts me enough to feel safe in my presence is an honour I strive to maintain as a sentient human.

My tortoise who is older than me just ran up to me when I was bringing her lettuce. Head and forelegs as high off the ground as possible looking at me like :-} I don’t know if she loves me but she recognizes me as the source of food and she lets me scratch her head

We need bees🐝🐝🐝

quick heads up to pet owners out there that some of these plants are toxic to dogs, cats, etc. (lavender, geranium, catmint, and borage off the top of my head). you can do some research on the aspca poison control website if you want to help bees without putting your furry loved ones at risk. (i have a dog that loves to “graze,” so some of these were right out when i planned my bee-friendly garden). local garden centers are also great about recommending bee-friendly native plants. happy gardening!

Animals have the right to set boundaries about when and how you pet them and if they don’t want to be touched you have no right to force yourself on them. No exceptions.

I constantly see people complain about how cats don’t care to be around humans and merely tolerate us for food and I honestly consider that to be a red flag. Cats develop deep emotional connections with humans but not when said humans do nothing but physically assault them with unwanted touching.

hope your pets stay healthy in 2017

Pre-T, I could mimic my cats’ meows perfectly.

Post-T, my voice dropped approximately a fuck-ton (metric) and I can no longer do that. Lil'y has responded by making her own meows as gravely as possible, so I can meow at her again.

So if there are any other guys or non-binaries out there who are worried that their pets won’t recognize them after they start hormone-therapy or something similar, don’t worry. Your pets will love you. They already know who you are.

I am dead of the cute

IM DEAD THIS IS SO CUTE

This actually was a concern of mine

Forcing your pets to spend time with you by closing the door

your dog needs meat and your kids need vaccines. end of discussion.

Also your dog needs vaccines and your kids need meat.

Also your meat needs vaccines and your kids need dogs.

what these are all true

I liked this photo that someone shared on my Facebook feed :)

This is really important! A growl is a dog’s way of saying, “Please stop, you’re making me uncomfortable.” If you don’t stop when the dog growls or actually punish the behavior, the dog will learn that growling doesn’t help her, and so she must find another way to defend herself. Here’s a good article on the subject: http://www.nj.com/pets/index.ssf/2015/05/how_to_handle_a_growling_dog.html

People look at me like I’m the most ignorant dog owner EVER when I tell them to stop correcting their/my dogs for growling or snapping at each other. It’s really no surprise that dog bites and fatalities are so copious. People teach their dogs not to given any warning before biting. You had no idea your dog was going to attack your infant climbing on its back? Well…

I cannot stress enough how harmful punishing growling is. It’s typically a dog’s  way of saying that it’s uncomfortable with the situation it’s in. Don’t punish a dog for being over threshold, remove them from the situation

It really pisses me off how people get dogs but don’t do any research on their behavior. Only like 10% of the kids I work with know how to approach a dog and it scares the hell out of me.

watch this

Omg I am in love

taaaaa

OMG. So cute. I’m dying.

Getting the kids helping to bring in the groceries, so cute! 

Pet beds were on sale AND I had a coupon so Guts got a new bed.  It’s very plush he likes it a lot.

that’s a weird looking dog but he’s still a cute dog

its nice you bought a bed for your croissant.

In a study, dogs refused food from people who had slighted their owners

this is the kind of groundbreaking scientific research I want to see

It gets better—the guy is deaf, and he taught his cat the sign for “food.” So the cat’s not just saying “put that in my mouth,” it’s actually signing

Not only that, but if you notice at the beginning, the cat *gets the man’s attention* as any person who wanted to talk to a deaf/hoh individual would (well, and vice versa IME). I’ve done sign since I was 5, and generally, w/o eye contact initially, you wave a hand or lightly touch the arm (if that’s ok with the person you’re trying to converse with, of course).  Generally, adult cats meow mostly to humans, but this cat has figured out that’s not going to work and has adapted. Animal companions! They are INCREDIBLE.

Amazing.

EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND LOOK AT THIS CAT.

AND THE WAY IT NODS OMG