Do you play favorites with your pets?

I am curious, I know parents aren't supposed to play favorites, but we all know that if asked most will say they have a favorite child or child that was much easier to raise. As pet parents we are no different, we have to raise, train, and discipline our "kids."

I will be the first to admit I have a favorite, BUT only because she is 3 years older than the rest and we have a special bond due to personal hardships we have survived together; my favorite is Kotton. I do try not to treat her any different but I know she gets more attention and more or prime "mommy real estate" on the lap (even though she is the smallest). As far as non-furry favorites I would say Scar, also because we bonded over our similarities (we both have a bum left leg and a weak right).

So who's your favorite and why?

Like in your case, it's not actually a case of favoritism but more a case of who came into the household first. However, I try my best to be fair to all my dogs.

Interestingly, my dogs have their own concept of seniority. Candy was the first of the pack and Benjamin came very much later. However, Benjamin was already an old dog when he came to me and he assumed his senior position automatically. Candy did protest for a while but Benjamin exerted his seniority status without even a bark. Very interesting, indeed.

(07-29-2012 09:40 PM)pugskjj Wrote:  I am curious, I know parents aren't supposed to play favorites, but we all know that if asked most will say they have a favorite child or child that was much easier to raise. As pet parents we are no different, we have to raise, train, and discipline our "kids."

I will be the first to admit I have a favorite, BUT only because she is 3 years older than the rest and we have a special bond due to personal hardships we have survived together; my favorite is Kotton. I do try not to treat her any different but I know she gets more attention and more or prime "mommy real estate" on the lap (even though she is the smallest). As far as non-furry favorites I would say Scar, also because we bonded over our similarities (we both have a bum left leg and a weak right).

So who's your favorite and why?

You have to start mention who or what is Kotton in each new thread. You can't just mention a name and not the species. Not everyone had seen your introduction thread. They would have absolutely no idea what pet species you are talking about.

Is it "Kotton, my dog", or "Kotton, my cat", or "Kotton my gorilla", or "Kotton my panther"?

Yes, I have my favorite tropical fish too. It is not because I don't give fair attention. It's rather because I have several groups of school fish and I can't tell who is who since they all look alike within their own species and there are so many of them. Therefore, my favorite is one of those loners I picked as "center piece" for my community tank. It is a Dwarf Gourami, because it is pretty and unique in a tank full of other fish species.

Sorry Thor LOL I am so used to talking about my girls on the dog threads that I forget not everyone has heard about them. Kotton, my chihuahua.

I admire anyone who can keep fish. They are such beautiful creatures!

Since I only have one dog, I don't really have this option, but if I had other animals I still wouldn't play favorites. For me, I would give my love to each pet as a whole and not try to ostracize one over the other. In my opinion, the balance between how much love I give, is the deciding factor on if I would play favorites, and considering that I would split it evenly, means that no I would not play favorites.

Yes, I'm guilty of having favorites! I have a Bengal cat who is the oldest (she was our 4th cat, but the previous three are long gone. I'd had my favorites of those original 3 too! My all-time favorite is my first cat), a Tonkinese cat and a domestic short hair cat (DSH). My favorite of these three is my Tonk. He's my little shadow and very demanding. He's extremely jealous if he sees anyone other than him getting attention. The DSH has learned to not come near me if the Tonk is around because he'll get viciously attacked for it. I take the Bengal into a separate room to hang out with me & to keep her from the devil Tonk. She's my 2nd favorite.
I'm not sure about my parrots. On some days I'd say my Quaker is my favorite because he's so smart and amusing. On other days I'd say my Eclectus is my favorite because I can DO more with him and he is a very gentle, relaxed bird.

I dont like to think I play favorites, but I'm afraid I might from time to time. With two dogs, one the father of the other it's sort of hard at times. Gizmo gets his pick of comfy spots to lounge around and I always call him first for treats or to go out. I might do this because Gizmo has been with us longer. They have a team work thing working for them though. Gizmo leads and Gix follows. They don't seem to mind and because of that I may have fallen into the playing favorites trap. I think I owe Gix some extra loving tonight.

This is a really unfair question! Answering it is actually a lot harder than I would think. My cats are very different in personality, but it actually evens them out in my eyes. My older cat, Nell, is everything I ever wanted in a cat. She's very low-maintenance, doesn't want much attention, comes to demand petting sessions herself, even plays by herself sometimes! She's the kind of cat that acts as a master of the house, she likes to find a high spot and look down on us disapprovingly. My younger cat, Heathcliff, cannot be more opposite. He only wants attention, every minute is petting time, and he won't even come himself, he sits/lies around and meows until I pick him up. I would normally choose Nell as my favorite, but when Heathcliff puts his paws around my neck like he's hugging me, and starts rubbing my cheek in my face, I just melt inside.

I actually feel pretty good that I don't seem to have a favorite! We have two cats...one I raised from a kitten and she's 15. The other my husband brought with him when we married last year. She's 12. It would be easy for "mine" to be my favorite and "his" to be his favorite. Although we each defended our own at the beginning of our marriage, when things with the girls were pretty rough, we have each made an effort to love on the other one as much as possible. This is way easier with my hubby's cat, as she is very demonstrative and rather an attention hog.

My girl doesn't like outward shows of affection (doesn't want to be picked up, rarely sits on our laps, etc.) I LOVE how my hubby's girl like to jump into my lap and snuggle me, purring loudly. And it would have been easy for me to soak that all up and look at my moody girl as not as loving. But the fact remains that, like pugkjj, my girl has been through SO MUCH with me, and for many years SHE was my only affection. She was loyal and faithful and true. How do you forget that just because her personality differs from someone more outgoing and able to tolerate attention??! So, I love each of them for who each is, and I give and get attention from each as fits her personality. Someday I think I will put my time with Tia ("my girl"), and what she has taught me about interaction, down on paper. She has taught me so much about how to interact with others!!!!

As some of you already said, it's about who was there first. I love all my pets equally and I try my best to treat them all the same. My mother on the other hand, has favorites. She would keep the best treats for one of the cats and 3 of the dogs. I don't give my pets special treatment unless they are sick and it's mandatory. Sometimes the thing that gets me through the day is a big 'hug' from all my 15 dogs (Caniche, Bichon and Puddles). I try to play with all of them but they can get very jealous! You couldn't imagine how cocky one of the girls gets when she goes inside the house because she is the only one allowed! Watching animals doing their routine in the evening is the best part of my day.

I definitely have a favorite, and that is Chipper, my Yorkiepoo. He is totally different than Red and Tootsie ,my other two dogs. Both of the girls are just dogs, and that is all they even want to be, but Chipper has always acted like he thinks he is a little human, and he thinks and acts a lot different than the girls do. He listens to everything that I say, even when it is just my husband and myself talking, and you can see him puzzling out something when he doesn't understand it.
If I say the B-word (bath), then he is off the couch and is hiding underneath something immediately. At bedtime, the minute I close up the iPad, he jumps off my lap, and runs for the bedroom.
I treat the dogs all the same as far as their care, but Chipper knows that he is my special baby .

I do have a favorite. We have 5 cats of different ages. I always pet Beh, our black cat. He has grown really big and weighs more than 10 pounds. He is very affectionate and always there for me especially when I'm under the weather. He will choose to stay beside me all night, and sleeps between me and my husband. My husband is also crazy about him since he claims this is the biggest pet cat he has had. Just last week, hubby was down with the flu and Beh was there for him while he was recovering.

During the time when I had several cats, I had a favorite but I always made it a point not to show them that. I would cuddle each cat a few minutes at a time. Some of my cats didn't like cuddling though. What I would do is sneak my favorite cat inside the house and I would play with her all day in my room. I know that it must be silly to think that the others might become jealous. For all I knew, they probably didn't care. But I was careful in giving them equal time so just in case they could tell, they wouldn't feel bad. Jealousy in dogs are more obvious. When I was playing with one of them, the other would always try to jump right in my arms so he could be played with too. I would always make sure to throw two toys when we played fetch so the one who was not able to get the first one could get the second one and not feel bad.