By MAMAMIA TEAM
Anyone with a Significant Animal Other will tell you that getting a pet is one of the most important decisions they’ve ever made. Maybe even the most important. NO EXAGGERATION.
So whether you’re thinking of getting a pet, or loving on the one you already have, here are the 11 stages you go through when you first bring a new four-legged family member into your life.
1. Dreaming about getting a pet
You um and ah over the decision for what seems like forever, until it gets to the point where every dream you have looks like this:
Or this:It’s time. You are getting a pet.
2. The negotiation
Your partner tells you they want a labradoodle. Your reaction is the following:
You go back and forth for months, fighting about breed, colour, sex, names… Eventually you make a suggestion that maybe everyone can agree on. There’s a tense pause. Wait for it…
You’ve been given the pet-go-ahead.
3. Actually, finally getting a pet.
You visit every shelter, look on every website, hold every single available dog/cat/armadillo in the world, and nothing feels right. But then, just when you’ve given up, you lock eyes with the most perfect bundle of animal joy you’ve ever seen and it’s love at first sight.
You’ve found them! It’s true love.
4. The first night
Any time your new pet does anything, you react like this:
Every single thing they do is impossibly cute and/or genius. You have clearly brought home an animal savant that will also win first prize in all the cutest pet competitions on earth.
5. The third night
As the first-night novelty wears off and you try to lay down some rules, things start to lose a bit of their sheen. You’re all like this:
And they’re all like:
This is when you officially realise there may actually be some work involved in this whole operation.