Pets vs. family

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How many of you would truly rather spend time with your pets than your family? I need to know b/c I feel a little guilty about this.

I personally would spend more time with my dog, than with my family. Chico understands me more, and he's a dog.

I am guilty of this too. My cats make me feel more calm. I also feel connected to them mentally more than people.

I grew up an only child. I was undiagnosed and had a lot of problems at school so I stayed home a lot. Since friends were few and far between, it was only me and my cats.

These tendencies are ingrained so I can't say I feel guilty about it even though I get in trouble with my wife. She is always saying I love my cat more than her.

I consider my cat to be family, like an adopted child or something. I enjoy spending time with my sister sometimes though. She can make me laugh and that is something my pet cat cannot do.

i find that pets are better than family because they don't seem to judge you on what everyone else is like and what is 'normal' but just accept you for who you are. Pets don't make 'helpful suggestions' about your condition.

I definitly prefer my pets to anyone else. i think a lot of people with autism are like this, because animals are just a bit simpler than humans. i personally would rather be alone with my dog or cats than be near humans any day.

I generally prefer my cats, they don't complain to you about the way you are. My brother and my friend accept me as I am, so I enjoy being around them too, but I don't see them every day like I do my cats.

Yes. I can relate.

Sure. I see my family only during the weekends (and not even all weekends at that), so I end up being alone most of the time with my dog. I don't mind though. She's excellent company! In the words of Lord Byron, she possesses

Thanks for the replys. I have three poodles who I am very close to. I also have a husband, three children (15-21) and two step-children (20 and 22). I enjoy spending limited time with my family (honestly, some more than others). I really enjoy it when they are interested in something that I'm interested in at the moment. I love them dearly in the sense that I want only the best for them and to see them blessed and successful. But when I'm with my dogs, I feel a different type of connection (almost primal) and I feel very content in a more solid way. I am going to try to not feel guilty any more.

How does that joke go?

The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.

I liked pets more as a kid. Now I have no pets.

I much prefer my dog to my family, talking to her is relaxing and I can actually make eye contact with her, talking to a labrador is much easier than talking to my family, even talking to my fish is easier than talking to people, and my plants, I grow a lot of plants. It's one of my special interests.

That is, when my dog isn't trying to wipe her eyes on me...

I have had dogs through much of my life but not now, I did everything with my dogs when I was a child. My dogs went everywhere with me and when I did my homework they laid nearby, They slept in the same room as me. And I called each of the four dogs I've had throughout my life, friend. When I got older I kept company with other people's and visited more with their pets with them; they knew it and it was OK with them. Three years ago my live in best friend's daughter wanted a cat they saw at a shelter. I was against it and shunned the cat for almost a year because I hate change and anything new that disrupts my routine and because I've had bad experiences with cats who unpredictably bit or scratched me. This cat was prematurely separated from his mother and nervous but playful. After seeing the cat every day and having him visit me to play or hang out, I started to warm up to him. Over the past two years I can saw that I count him as my friend and not as merely an animal or a pet. I talk or meow to him frequently every day. When I feed him I meow to him and he meow's back in a very pleasing way. He stays with me when I sleep, and often sits on my computer desk while I work. At night when I sit and watch some TV with my friend or her daughter the cat usually joins us. We perfectly understand him and he perfectly understands us. This relationship with our cat, Bounce has been simultaneously exhilarating and relaxing which my friend and her daughter approve of because it has visibly calmed me. I also enjoy the company of ferrets, rats, macaws and African Gray parrots and would have some or all of them living with me if my cat would only tolerate it. But he's marked our apartment as his turf and he doesn't like strangers.

I tend to prefer the company of my animals more, though I don't believe it is due to a closer attachment to them over my family. It is simply a matter of comfort. I can be myself around my animals, they expect nothing from me. I am never comfortable in the presence of other people, regardless of how close I am to them.