So, members of the hardcore childfree group, exactly what are you doing on a parenting site? Don’t you think it’s weird if you hate kids and parents to troll a parenting website looking for things to get upset about? Are you bored? Do you need hobbies? You’re supposed to be busy living your fabulous child free lives and not thinking about children. So go do that, for crying out loud.

Before you ask, I have a friend who belongs to your livejournal group and I saw the post on her friends list and put it together.

There is no justification to give away pets when a baby arrives. Most dog-related issues can be fixed with the proper introduction to the baby or some training. What kind of an example of responsibility would you be teaching your children if you later had to tell them that you gave away loving pets that you had adopted before you had him or her, because it was too much trouble to try to make it work? Adopting an animal is a lifelong respnsibility. The child might think you’ll give him away if you find he’s too much trouble, if he finds out you gave away the pets.

Also, it is very helpful for children to be raised with pets, as they learn responsibility, and they learn how to act properly with animals (so they won’t be hurt by someone else’s dog or cat later on).

Giving away the pets would be cruel to the animals and a very poor example to the child.

This is never a cut and dry situation. Yes you should be committed to caring for them, however I have seen many pets change drastically in temperament and become very questionable around a new child. Separating the pet and child is no answer either, as the chance of an encounter is still great if a door is left open, etc… I have recommended euthanasia for pets aggressive to children.

Most people know whether they want kids or not. If you think you would give away a pet after having a baby, don’t adopt the pet. A pet is a commitment for the life of the pet, possibly 20 years. If you can’t make a 20 year commitment, you have no business adopting.

Ugh, declawing your cat is NOT taking care of it. People who have to do that clearly don’t know how to take care of their cat or are just too lazy. There are many non-surgical options that work just as well, as opposed to cutting off the first joint on every toe. If you can’t even handle cat care, I wouldn’t recommend a baby at all. Declawing is completely inhumane and many places wont even do it anymore. Shame on you lady.

I don’t understand why having a dog lick you (a sweet and expected thing for a dog to do) would make you think daily about giving a loyal companion away. It seems that you are not the type of person who should have ever taken responsibility for a dog in the first place. In my case, my parent’s dog was adopted a year before I was born, and my first word was the dog’s name. The dog lived until the age of nineteen, and we gave her affection and love every day of her life. This was what she gave us, and no less than she deserved.

On the other hand, if it’s a choice between your sanity and your pet, choose your sanity. We gave away a beagle mix about a year ago because she just needed more attention than we could give her after our son was born. We tried to make it work for about 3 years, but in the end decided we’d all be better off if our dog had someone who could give her more attention.

I’m going one further than Sorry – it’s also cruel to the animal. When we adopt pets, we promise to take care of them, even if that includes getting them a trainer to correct problems we caused in the first place, or getting their claws taken out (cats). My vet tried to talk to me about having our cat declawed and I said no, but I did hear her when she said she’d rather see that than us abandon her. If it comes down to it, I will get her declawed. I feel it would be unethical for me just to get rid of her.

I don’t have a dog, so I don’t have to worry about what to do with a dog, and I don’t want a dog at this stage of our child’s life (and since we expect another), but I would have to implore people to find a way to work it out without abandoning the dog. If you give the dog to a good home, that’s fine. Just not to a shelter.

And people without pets who expect to have kids need to take the kids into consideration before choosing them.

So right there with you, just been there longer. We did very nearly get rid of our dog after our daughter was born (and she’s a beagle mix too!). Our cats have proved to be the bigger problem since our son came along –the good news is, the dog’s adjusted to baby #2 without a hitch. And of course now our daughter LOVES the dog and we couldn’t get rid of her without breaking our girl’s heart.