Musings: Fur parents are claiming raising pets is as expensive as raising children and I’m sorry what?

I'm going to need to see some receipts?

When it comes to deciding whether or not to have a child, a big factor is the cost. Between nappies, baby clothes and bottles to school books, braces and further education, raising a child today can cost annually anywhere from €12,000 to €13,000 a year! Generally speaking, most of my friends that have decided to opt for a pet rather than raising children have done so because of this. Of course they have other reasons too, but a big one is not wanting to spend all their earnings on childcare and child raising, and that's completely fair. Recently though, more and more pet owners have started to say that owning a household pet is just as expensive as raising a child and I'm sorry but I'm going to need to see some receipts. A recent survey of 2,000 dog and cat owners found that two in five think having a pet is just as, if not more, expensive than raising a human kid. Unless their pet got into Harvard University, I'm really struggling to figure out how they've come up with the idea that owning a pet is more costly than a child. I feel like the people who came to this conclusion have never looked up the price of nappies, baby formula, school uniforms and of course childcare. Even aside from childcare such as creches, if as a parent I want to pop out for a few hours alone I need to hire and pay for a babysitter for my child. I do not on the other hand have to pay for anyone to mind my cat while I go to the hairdressers or to the shops. She'll be grand, in fact she prefers having the house to herself. Another thing that I don't think was considered is fertility treatments like IVF and or costs incurred when using surrogacy or adoption which can go into the hundreds of thousands. While I can completely understand a person being in love with their pet and seeing them as a child, I do think it's silly to say that financially it is the same. Of course you can have a close bond to your pet and there may be medical expenses as they get older, but all in all children are always going to be way more expensive. That's not in anyway a brag, you should be delighted your pet is cheaper.