Are there any dog moms on here who was a dog mom before becoming a mom to their human child?
I’ve always read about mothers hating their dog after giving birth or feeling sort of resentment but has anyone felt guilt about not being able to spend as much time with your furbaby as before? Felt guilt that taking care of your furbaby meant you weren’t taking care of your human child?
Ever since my 16 month old daughter was born, I had/have so much guilt for not spending as much time with my fur baby. My fur baby of 15 years unfortunately passed away last Friday due to what might have been kidney failure.
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Wow… this is literally my story. Had him for 5 years since 4 weeks old. Shepski mix, he was so sweet and cuddly. Best demeanor. 5 weeks after my baby came home, he suddenly couldn’t stand one morning after stopping eating for just 2 days, which he did all the time. He apparently also had kidney failure due to leptospirosis.
I feel like I had to trade to my fur baby for my human baby, tbh. That’s my dark secret of guilt.
I didn’t in the beginning as an infant they are sleeping and stationary. So we still had lots of walks and pets etc.
As my son has grown into a toddler and is more active, I feel like we bring them less places. For example, I can’t bring them (2 big dogs) to the park with us and run around with my son. I can’t watch them all at once by myself. Or even going for walks, it’s hard to push a stroller with two big dogs by myself. We used to bring them to breweries and patios and stuff, but again, watching my son run around and what not leaves one person tending to the dogs and one person chasing the toddler. It’s hectic.
But I make sure we make up for it in other places. After my son’s gone to bed we get one-on-one time with the dogs. We try to bring everyone to dog parks (preferably empty or with calmer dogs) so that my son and dogs can run around carefree.
And seeing my son play with the dogs and pet them and give them treats etc makes up for it. I just wish we could bring them
I feel so much guilt for not being able to spend more time with my dog! He also stopped going on walks when I was freshly postpartum due to a combination of me having a c section and things going on that had our safety in danger. Once I moved away I started struggling with PPD and my routine with baby and everything so he still didn't get walks. He has problems with his legs and I feel like some of the progress we made regressed and I feel like it's all my fault. I eventually managed to get a routine into place and we now have daily walks but I still feel so guilty!
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