Disclaimer: There are a lot of bios on my Instagram feed where someone has listed themselves as a dog-mom, and I must admit a do a little eye-roll every time I read them.
As in: “Hi, I’m Cindy. I’m a wife, interior stylist and dog mom.”
OK, Cindy. Or maybe you just have a dog? Funny, people with cats or goldfish or hamsters tend to be less likely to call themselves a “mom” to their pets… Don’t hate me, dog mamas; I’m just pointing this out. I think puppies are as cute as it gets, really.
Anyway, an Australian woman has taken the animal mothering a bit further and caused a bit of a stir online this week by claiming that PETernity leave should be a thing when you welcome a new puppy (or kitten!) into you home.
Fleur, 35, spoke to Mamamia.com about how she and her partner, Mark, are never going to have children and therefore will never avail of any type of parental leave, but that there should be a similar type leave for pet owners instead.
“There should be peternity leave. When you get a kitten or a puppy, I always say that you should spend the first two weeks with them so that you can really bond with them and socialise them, and so they know you’re their owner and you strike up a better relationship – like having a baby,” she said.
When she recently added some kittens to the family, Fleur ended up using some of her annual leave to allow her to stay home with her new pets.
“We both took two weeks leave but we overlapped the second week. So we ended up having three weeks overall that the cats had with us. But we only got to spend one week of that all together,” she said.
Fleur believes there should be allowances for her family to spend time together – especially because she is not planning on having kids and taking actual any maternity leave.
“We should have peternity leave because if you get time off to have a baby why not have time off when you get a pet?” she said.
“Having a pet is like having a child. You have them long-term. Cats can live 18-20 years, that’s like having a child and raising it, they’re more a part of the family than a child is. You love them unconditionally, you have to feed them, they’re dependent on you – unlike a child, they’re dependant on you for their entirety of their life.”
Well, guys, what do YOU think? Should you be allowed designated leave when you bring a new pet home? Or is it a bit too much to compare welcoming a new pet with welcoming an actual human child? Let us know in the comments or tweet us at @Herfamilydotie
