because they stay smol!
I can hold onto many feelings and ideas at once.
My orange baby boy is an old man.
Mama Trump, is it you?
I have a little man cat, he’s my little guy.
Speak for yourself. I’ve got two brother cats and I refer to both of them as little kitty cat mans.
I’ve read a lot about how dogs have evolved to hit some of the same triggers that human infants do. I’ve also read about how we tend to view pets as children in our minds. I imagine that that all plays a role in it.
We totally do.
You can address a pet like you would politely address an adult, but only in a jokey way. Like “oh, and who’s this handsome gentleman/lady?”, same as with kids.
I dunno. I view my dogs as companions. Yeah, they need me to look after.them like they’re children, but I need them to take care of me in the wilderness, protect the house, cheer me up, entertain guests, tow me on the longboard.
There’s no association with them and a human child for me. If anything dog ownership has shifted my mentality into the symbiotic relationship of a pack. I think being stuck thinking of them as children would make for some very miserable times and bad behaviour from both the owner and the dog.
IMO:
Boy/Girl cat implies gender.
Man/Woman cat implies anthropomorphism.
Man animal you say? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3OzAfcPb3A
Same reason I refer to my 14-year-old dachshund as a puppy.
Because he’s my puppy.
The only true man cat is Idris Elba in Cats
“And that’s where you’re wrong, buddy. Damn I look good.”
Fishy fishy
I’m gonna eat you little fishy!
Because they get neutered/spayed
Because that would be a cattasrophe!
One of my cats is a man cat. We always call him a man unless it Big Bubba Boi for the alliteration. The other cat is a demon.
My 16yo cat is definitely a prim and proper old lady. Oddly, I call the 4yo Maine Coon “little man” even though he’s easily 4x the old lady’s size
I’m probably forever going to call my dog “bestest girl”, but she’s starting to get a grey muzzle too
My friend had a a cat that as a human would have been a balding, neurotic man with a mustache and glasses. A very high strung cat tbh. His name was Mr. Pappy.
I think for most people the answer is that pets are not considered peers. They have gender but we will never consider them on a level with human adults - maybe on a level with human babies or young children. We love and prize them, but we don’t give them equal rights and respect. Just like with children.
It probably doesn’t help that we also spay/neuter them at birth, which not only prevents them from ever becoming reproductively viable adults, but also affects their hormonal development permanently. I’m no biologist but it may be accurate to say they never fully mature, even if they do eventually age.
FWIW I personally have two human kids and I refer to our German shepherd as the 3rd grownup in the house. I do say “good boy” but I also say “hey man” and call him “old man.”
Probably the same reason my six year old dog is still my puppy. She is just a baby after all.
