Do you ever catch yourself playing favorites with your pets?

One thing is for sure; a lot of animals have their favorite person or people. Their human(s). My cat, Scarlet, for example: I am her human. She likes the rest of the family but she wants to snuggle with me all the time, she loves being in my company, and she sleeps with me every night. Haru, my dog, on the other hand, is a three-person dog, who gives love equally between the family but doesn't care too much about anyone outside of us. So this family is his family. We are his people.

Pet owners with more than one pet on the other hand have a bit of dilemma on their hands if they pick favorites. Having more than one dog I've found especially can be hard, because I find myself wanting to devote attention to a specific pup at a time and the others get jealous. I try not to play favorites between Haru and Scarlet, but my lap is only big enough for one, so one or the other ends up having to sit beside me while looking longingly at the lap or find another place.

So pet owners with more than one pet - do you ever find yourself playing favorites with your animal? Is there one member of the family that you feel gets more attention than the rest sometimes, or do you always give it out equally? Share your experiences!

Oh yeah I do that, although not intentionally. I have a big black and white cat named Oreo. Recently, he's been very ill, and I've been spending lots of time with him. Our other cat, Inky has been acting all pouty and huffy about it, so I have been trying to spend more time with him as well. Oreo has been with us for many years, and Inky is the new kid on the block. I love both of them, but obviously Oreo's illness has taken precedence.

I'm sorry to hear that one of your kitties hasn't been doing well! I think in a case like that you are absolutely doing the right thing in putting Oreo's health as your priority. I hope that he gets feeling well soon; it can be hard to see a sick pet going through a hard time.

I've had cases like this where I've had to put one as priority over another because of illness. When my sweet Kikyo got sick, he went from being very energetic and chasing around outside all day long to not wanting anything but to cuddle in my lap and be taken care of. Kikyo was always my little baby; he had been abandoned as a kitten before he was even old enough to leave his mother. I felt like I was truly his mama, and he loved to suckle on my ear lobes for comfort while wrapping his paws around me. He grew up bigger than any other cat I've ever owned, and my grandma was terrified of him! He was harmless though, just liked to play a lot.
He got ill when a disease that was affecting a lot of cats spread through my area. We kept our two cats, Kikyo and Ruby, indoors in hopes that they wouldn't have come into contact with it, but they both fell ill. Ruby was more independent, and wasn't too bothered so long as she was left alone to rest up. She was quite old at that point, while Kikyo was still only 2 years. Old Ruby managed to fight it off, but while we did our best to look after Kikyo, he just couldn't fight it off. It was a very sad time...
That experience, though, was definitely the most time I had ever spent with him, so I am confident that he passed on feeling loved.

It's funny you say that. In our household I would say my husband prefers the cat more, and I prefer the dog. Not overly, of course - but our cat was his before we got married, and our dog was a dog that I chose.

We often find that if the pets are being naughty, my husband will stand up for the cat and his bad behavior, and I will stand up for the dog. For instance if the cat is scratching the furniture he will say that the cat is only doing it because he is bored and that's our fault! Or if the dog is chasing the cat I'll say that the cat was antagonizing him. It's little things like that which show our bias, I think!

(07-03-2015, 05:25 PM)niightwind Wrote: I'm sorry to hear that one of your kitties hasn't been doing well! I think in a case like that you are absolutely doing the right thing in putting Oreo's health as your priority. I hope that he gets feeling well soon; it can be hard to see a sick pet going through a hard time.

I've had cases like this where I've had to put one as priority over another because of illness. When my sweet Kikyo got sick, he went from being very energetic and chasing around outside all day long to not wanting anything but to cuddle in my lap and be taken care of. Kikyo was always my little baby; he had been abandoned as a kitten before he was even old enough to leave his mother. I felt like I was truly his mama, and he loved to suckle on my ear lobes for comfort while wrapping his paws around me. He grew up bigger than any other cat I've ever owned, and my grandma was terrified of him! He was harmless though, just liked to play a lot.
He got ill when a disease that was affecting a lot of cats spread through my area. We kept our two cats, Kikyo and Ruby, indoors in hopes that they wouldn't have come into contact with it, but they both fell ill. Ruby was more independent, and wasn't too bothered so long as she was left alone to rest up. She was quite old at that point, while Kikyo was still only 2 years. Old Ruby managed to fight it off, but while we did our best to look after Kikyo, he just couldn't fight it off. It was a very sad time...
That experience, though, was definitely the most time I had ever spent with him, so I am confident that he passed on feeling loved.

I'm so sorry about your little Kikyo. I am quite certain from the tone of your post, that your baby knew he was loved. Our pets are truly a part of our family, and it's hard to let go.

Chipper is definitely my favorite, and he knows it and so does Tootsie. Since animals all have a "pecking order", she totally accepts that Chipper is the number one dog.
He also gets special treatment, because he is an old doggie now, and so I feed him special food. Even the tiny kibbles of hard dog food has gotten hard for him to chew, and I also give him canned dog food once or twice a day.
I realize that she doesn't understand why he gets that and she does not; but the other side of that , is Tootsie gets to chew on all of the bones, since Chipper cannot do that any more either.

Both of them get lots of attention, and I think that they are both fine with the fact that Chipper is treated as a favorite.

your pets are funny, I think this phenomenon is there just like everyone else, there is always a favorite and second favorite, but the better way to give love to animals equally at home, because I feel that animals are sometimes like children, if their getting love are not the same, and their heart there will be little lost.:blush:

I always try to treat both of the dogs the same way; but because Chipper is older and needs more care; he always gets more attention.
In the morning, when I am having my morning coffee; Chipper gets a small dish with coconut oil and heavy cream. Then, if I have a protein bar with my coffee; he also has some of that. I usually give Tootsie a little bit of it, too; but since Chipper has more trouble chewing and eating his food, he actually needs the exprea protein, and Tootsie does not. That litttle dog can scarf down anything.

I also give Chipper canned dog food because he has trouble eating the dry dog food, and I want to be sure that he gets enough food that he can actually eat.
Tootsie stands patiently waiting to see if Chipper leaves any little bites of canned dog food in his dish.
But, the other side of that , is that Tootsie can still chew on a bone, much better than Chipper, so she is the one who gets the leftover dog bones.

I try to treat both of my cats equally. Harley is older so sometimes he may require more care but that is to be expected. Merle being younger gets more attention when it comes to.playing because he enjoys it so much. He loves to play fetch. I love them both equally so I do my best to show them that. I think animals know when you favor one over the other and I just couldn't do that much the same way as my children. I never picked favorites.

I have only had cats, and some cats are more assertive than others, thus getting more of the attention. For example, my two 25 year-olds are twin sisters from the same litter. From the start, Cutie was always eager for attention while Lydia, even when she was still in the boot box that mom insisted on keeping them in, would hiss at me when I came up to them. It turns out that she was fearful rather than unfriendly, but the end result is similar. For some reason, Lydia always thinks I'm going to kill her or something, taking care to walk clear around me. In fact, in twenty-five years, Lydia has only come up by once that I can think of and that was only a few weeks ago. On the other hand, she has safe zones where she feels comfortable being petted, and enjoys it very much. When she is in her cat bed, or in one of the cup-type beds that are on one of her cat trees, or on the top shelf of the cat tree, she very much wants to be played with or petted, and is quite affectionate. When she's on the floor, couch, or anywhere else, she seems to think I'm going to kick her or something. Cutie is friendly pretty much all the time. She brings me cat toys as payment for time, she lies next to me when I go to bed, and she likes to lie behind me on my desk chair, which leads to some painful contortions on my part. But she is always there, so naturally she gets more attention. On my part, I take pains to give Lydia attention whenever she is willing to accept it. Overall though, ever cat is special in their own way.

How can I make the choice.... Cats and dogs both are my favorite!!!

When I was growing up, we had two cats in my house. My mom had hand raised them from kittens because their sister got eaten by a raccoon. So they always viewed her as mom and preferred her over everyone. Drew ended up being more her baby than anyone else because he was friendlier. His brother Tony, was the shyer brother because he was the beta. While he was supposed to be my sister's cat, he ended up being more my cat. I liked Drew but Drew would want to crawl up on my shoulder and expect to be held like a baby while I was doing homework or on the computer. Tony, being shyer, would simply scratch at my door to be let in and then amble in to lay on my bed or in the corner. As he got older, he became less allusive and would either sleep on my feet or in my lap. I probably preferred him more because he could be in the room with you without you having to pet or pay attention to him. So he ended up being more my pet than anyone else's pet. It wasn't intentional but I did to tend to favor the less needy pets in my household.

I raise my hand. Yes, your honor, I am guilty of that crime called favoritism. But please hear my story first.

I was so enamored with our first dog because it seemed that she was the one who taught  me everything about dogs. When our second dog arrived, the first one was 5 years old. However, I noticed that I was treating them fairly, at least when the puppy had grown. By the way, our first dog is a medium size female mixed mongrel while the second is a male pure pekingese. Even my husband could attest that I loved our first 2 dogs in equal level.

Now we have 3 dogs - Tisoy the 8-year old spitz, Pipoy the male pug who turned 4 years old yesterday, and Barbie the female pekingese who would be turning 4 on Saturday. Admittedly, the female is the apple of my eye and everyone knows that. Maybe because she is cuddly and more affectionate than the boys. Tisoy is quite big to be cuddled while Pipoy is hyperactive who even hates to be cuddled. From that information, I rest my case.

When you have multiple animals all at once, this is more of a problem because the pets will actually compete for your attention. They will look cute, beg, cry, scratch at you, jump up on you, and perform a million other behaviors as well. A single pet doesn't have this problem so much and therefore, doesn't have to put so much effort into adoring you. When you have multiples, it usually depends on YOUR personality, as to which one gets the most attention. For example, if you are the quiet, unassuming type, you might prefer the pet who acts that same way. Or if you're outgoing and boisterous, the noisiest, most bouncy critter might be your preference. It has been said that people and their pets start to look alike after awhile... well, if that is true, then this may be the reason for it, for the most part. My current cat is an only 'child', so she can act aloof all she wants and still get all the attention she craves, but in the past I've had several cats in the house all at once. Even with all different personalities those cats still had to compete and see who could get the most attention, and yes, quite often, animals will pick out one person over another. Dogs always try to love everyone, but cats are a bit more finicky than that. They pick and choose, usually doling out adoration and petting permissions to only one or two people. However, I've had cats who would make the rounds, spending time with all the people, one right after the other. One would sit on one person's lap for a while, then wander off, only to jump up on to the next available lap. If a lap wasn't available, he'd hop up onto a shoulder and give that person a little cat 'massage' for a few minutes before wandering off to the next person. I think I have always preferred the pet who gave love freely but could also look after himself for a few hours too, so I could get things done around the house.

I've taken care of my aunt's dog longer than my own dog and I am guilty of preferring my own. Sandy was often left in my care and I've learned how to take care of a dog through her. Two years later, I got Clio and I became more attentive to her and did not play with Sandy as much as I used to. Sandy became irritable because of another dog in her territory. She'd attack Clio for no reason and she started peeing in my bathroom when I got Clio as a puppy.