I’m not sure why people have a problem with this. If a person owns a pet and takes care of it properly, obeying laws and not mistreating it, I’m not sure why anyone should care how much a person loves or spoils their pets. Live and let live, right? Most of the time when I hear this question, it’s from a new person that has entered into the life of the pet owner – a new boyfriend, girlfriend, or some other new relationship. These people usually just don’t understand human/pet relationships, and some are even unadmittedly jealous of the attention the pet receives. They start judging and making demands, asking the person to choose the person over the pet, or creating some condition that forces the owner to sacrifice the relationship with their pet in some way.
If you are that person, you need to just stop. There is nothing wrong with a person loving an animal. I’m not very familiar with other animals, but when you live with a dog, actually live with one – become its “person” – you quickly learn that you are the center of the dog’s universe. That is just the way dogs are – a person becomes the only important thing in that dog’s life. A dog only wants two things in this world: Your attention and food. When you leave, they just lay around waiting for you to come home. When you get home, the dog will follow you around just so they can keep their eyes locked on your presence. It’s kind of hard to not to see them as family, and it’s hard to not want to spoil them. And it’s also a bit cruel to the pet to ask someone to suddenly break that relationship. It’s their life.
When a person treats their pet like it’s “their child,” it is because they receive loyalty, companionship, and affection from that pet. It brings them joy in life.
Life is too damn hard and even lonely for a lot of people, to make a deal out of such a stupid thing. Let people find joy where they please. What I think is that the person has found something that makes them happy. You should embrace it.