Is it 'normal' to get extremely attached to an animal?

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I mean normal as in is it something people do? My betta fish is sick and I'm afraid it's going to die and I'm already worried and have been crying my eyes out the whole day. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to go to school tomorrow because I'm so depressed and I don't know what I'll do if he dies. But when people I know get really sick, I don't have as much of a reaction. Am I being callous even if I can't help it?

No one else seems to understand that it's not 'just a fish'. In fact, most of the time I think that the fish understands me more than people do, and I'm pretty sure that it's better company than most humans. I even spend a lot of time when I'm out wondering what the fish is doing, and I can't wait to get home to just sit and watch him swim around. I don't know if this is particularly healthy behaviour, but I just can't connect with people the way I can with a fish, and sometimes it makes me feel a bit silly.

I understand your pain.

When my cat died I could not even go to work. I think I have never cried so much in my life for anything or anyone.

It is very normal. I have always thought of my pets as my children.
I hope your fish gets well!

1st Off: I hope your fish gets better; I really do. Whether it's merely the result of anthropomorphism/projection, the unconditional love I derive from animals is nevertheless very real to me. And sometimes, "real to me" is real enough.

As to whether or not it's normal, I cannot comment--as I've little business assessing what is/isn't normal--, but I certainly get very attached to animals. My last experience with a pet's death included me falling to my hands and knees while at the animal hospital, uncontrollable sobbing... pretty much a break-down, basically.

So, while you may not be 'normal,' you certainly are not alone. I feel as though I get along easier with animals than I do with many people, often. And yes, I regularly distance myself emotionally from what others are going through. 'Cause if I start to seriously reflect on the sadness/illness/what-have-you of another, I cannot stop. It is as if I feel it too much. And there's so little I can do, I just feel helpless...

Yeah...

I'm an emotional guy. If I were to show my heart on my sleeve to the extent that I might like to, I fear that I would be perceived as abnormal. Guys aren't supposed to be emotional, according to some. So I keep to myself, mostly. But when I do get emotional, I tend to "go all out." I could say that "it sucks." A better, more constructive and realistic thing to say would be that "it is."

Once more, I sincerely hope that your fish's health improves and you can return to enjoying one-another's company.

Kind Regards to All.

Yes, it's normal. People form bonds with animals, just as they do with other humans. Fish are less common--most of the time we form bonds with other mammals, I suppose because mammals are more like us--but I don't see why a person should not bond with a fish.

I hope your fish recovers.

It's completely normal, even if there are people who think it's stupid. I get more attached to animals than people. I also feel like animals understand me better. I had this homeless cat coming to my house every morning to feed her because no one cared about her. Sadly, she was eaten by a neighbor's crazy dog and I was really sad that she had to meet her death in a violent way.

I hope your fish gets well, hope for the best!

That's terrible! I've helped care for feral cats before, and it was always so scary watching them out there with no owners--and too wild to ever be adopted, at least the ones that were grown up--and you never knew how long they were going to be around, and when they might just disappear and never return. We got them neutered, and fed them; they were healthier than most ferals, and caused much less nuisance around the neighborhood--but there's only so much you can do.

Honestly, I feel sorry for the dog, too. A dog that's poorly trained and allowed to attack other animals like that can't be a happy dog. There are some breeds that have such a strong hunting instinct that they will indeed attack smaller animals--even smaller dogs--but even they should be supervised and not let to roam around where they can prey on the neighbor's pets.

You would be abnormal if you didn't get attached to your pets. I cried and cried when the cat I had as a child died. Then again, so would anyone with a heart. So yeah, you're "normal".

As far as it goes, I hope your fish gets better soon!

Yes, it can be normal. A lot of people get upset when their pets die. My mum felt very depressed when her cat got killed by a car, and felt upset about two weeks after that. Even my dad had a tear in his eye. I was very upset too.

But I also get emotionally attached to moths. I love them, and I nurture them in my room, and even put a male and a female into a box together so they could breed and make more moths. I keep a bright light by the box so that the moths go towards the box more, and I put old bits of cloth in the box so that the moths can breed and feed their babies on the cloth. And I cry when a moth dies.

I'm not sure if fish understands you.....

It's normal, I've seen NT men break down crying when there pet died. I was the same though when my cat died, I couldn't work for a week. I do get more attached to animals than people but that's probably because animals love me. I think some personality types become more attached to animals than others NT or AS, especially when you get so damaged you can no longer relate to people (Just happens to us more often).

PS Hope the fish gets better.

Well, yeah. Fish haven't got very big brains. They can learn, though; and they can understand that the hand that always floats above their tank when food appears is a friendly thing. But we're not talking about a fish's ability to cuddle here; we're talking about a human's ability to get attached to a fish. And that definitely exists.

I don't know if it's 'normal', but I am very attached to my cat and my puppy. I see them like my children, most especially the puppy. As my kitty's older, she doesn't behave so much like a child anymore. The puppy, though is always getting in trouble.

You sound like my creppy grandfather
I can never forget the silent plea for help reflected in the eyes of his dog
it's traumatic

Yes it's normal. There are people that even view their pets as their children.

My husband grieved for three days when his dog was put to sleep because she had cancer. He is too afraid to get another one someday that is the same breed as that dog because he doesn't want to go through another loss again and suffer the same feelings. I learned that was why some people don't get another pet again when theirs dies.

But I don't think I get that attached to pets because I didn't cry nor grieve when my cat died. I was sad but she was old and in bad shape and I knew she wouldn't live much longer, I guessed maybe another year. She died a month later. When we had our neighbor's cat we were watching, I didn't cry nor grieve when she never came home one day. She was confused and viewed her old home as her home still and our home as not her home so she always be there and didn't like two cats, the new people had, living in the garage. I am not sure where she went but my dad guessed someone else may have found her and thought she was a stray and kept her or she was eaten by a coyote.

I also remember other cats we had in my teens and several of them took off and I didn't cry nor grieve.

but yet when my cat would take off several times and be gone for days, I would worry about her and would wonder where she is. We even go to the animal shelter to see if she is around. Then she would always come back and after a while I stopped caring about when she be gone for a few days because I knew she always come back. Then in my teens mom told me the kids on the other side of the block would lock her in their garage for days and then let her out. Maybe that was why she be gone for a few days sometimes. I thought they were mean to her because she was my cat but mom told me they were not mean to her because she belonged to me, they did it because they were mean kids and their parents didn't supervise them and they didn't care either what their kids did. she told me they were mean to other cats too in the neighborhood that lived on the block. They were even mean to our former neighbor's cat (the one we had for a while). I think I was more attached to my cat than I was to my other ones I had. But yet I did not cry nor grieve when she died. Probably because she was old and in bad shape so I was expecting it.

I think it's pretty normal.

A friend of mine once told me that he admired how I viewed and related to pets, and that he could never relate to a pet like I do. I think he was overstating it, but it was an interesting observation to me.

I think this was mostly because he was my moral support and thus present when I had to have one of my cats euthanized. I have rarely broken down like that.