I worked with a "cat lady" once and her only topic of conversation was her cat. For Xmas gifts she would buy cat related things for her friends and family. When "Cats Galore" opened in Petone it was all her dreams come true.

Sadly for her, people don't think "oh, she must love her cat" they think "wow, she's nuts".

My hubby has photos of our pets on his phone that he brings out constantly. I imagine these will be replaced soon with the impending birth of our first child. Poor people in his office...

While I admit to occasionally bringing my (very cute) dogs into conversation, it's usually to combat other dreaded types of conversation. As a single person (by choice), I get the cringe you're referring to everytime I have to hear about babies, childbirth, marriage, relationship dramas etc. I think the point is that we all talk about something that probably makes others cringe from time to time - pet people being no excpetion!

Isn't it always the same- you talk about what you love! I have 3 cats- and I dearly love them - and certainly talk about them a lot! Other people can't stop talking about their dogs. Or about their babys. There will always be people who 'roll their eyes' when others start talking about cats. Or dogs. Or children. I belong to the catgory " cat- talker, baby "eye roller". But that might change once we have our first child.... :)

Guilty as charged.

Like Camilla, I've been known to bring my Labrador Beau into conversation when people have raved on about their adorable John or Jane...

I am a self confessed crazy cat lady, I only have 3 though! I have photos on my walls of my kittys, for my birthday and xmas presents I usually get at least 2 cat themed gifts which I keep on a shelf in my lounge hahaha :)I bore my friends and partner constantly of the cute little things my 3 kittys get up to :) Luckily I work in the veterinary industry so I work with loads of animal crazy people that I can swap cute and cuddly stories with. I think this makes it easier on my partner, I see his eyes start to roll back in his head and think OK he's had enough I'll talk to so and so at work about that tomorrow LOL :)

My take on this is a bore is a bore. It doesn't matter whether they're droning on about their pets, their kids, their exercise regime or pointless rambling anecdotes a la Grandpa Simpson, they are boring and there's one in every office. Some of these folk have genuine conditions like Aspergers or ADD that make it hard for them to pick up on the subtle signals that indicate their listener is bored. Others are egotistical or so carried away with their love of the subject that they just aren't paying attention. It's essentially a breach of social etiquette. A small breach maybe, but a breach nonetheless.

Personally I find the Pet Bore one of the easier types to deal with, because I do like animals. I'm also okay with the Work Bore, because I like work and have occasionally been guilty of Work Boring myself. I most dislike the Child Bore and the Grandpa Simpson, but I reckon Grandpa has to be the worst. This may be a case of getting worn down. As I type this, I'm sitting right across from Grandpa...

my cat is my baby, but i do try not to talk about her constantly. i also have friends whose pets are very close to them and we always talk about what they're all doing when we catch up. when i'm with friends who are less pet-friendly, we talk about other things

I often find myself being a pet bore, realisation usually sets in about three quarters though my cat-loving monogogue...I find it usually happens after work and tiredness sets in and I just ramble on and on, but I cover it up by pretending to speak to the cats (and not the bored humans in the room), about their foibles and other random stuff, like 'no rambo, looking at me like that is not going to get you a second round of dinner...'. I do try to reduce how often I do it, and especially try not to if I know someone just isn't a pet person.

Occasionally though, I do it deliberately just to bore someone (or wind them up) who's just finished boring me about their own obsession

I have a flat that's a no-pets zone but I'm a kid bore. I have no life so the most interesting things that happen to me are at home (where myself and partner are predictable and boring but the 4 year old isn't) and at work (and if exciting things happen at work, and you work for a govt. dept., it's probably not a very good idea to make them known outside of work.)

I sympathise with the people who are bored about the topics they can't participate in... but if we all stuck to a list of "acceptable topics" which everyone had experience in and no-one was *too* interested in, we'd be stuck talking about... the weather. That's what small talk is all about.

Conversations are about being interested in something, and sharing it. *Good* conversations are about being interested in what other people's interests are, and sharing them.

Surely this is just plain commonsense. I try to tailor my conversation to suit the audience, so if I know that the listener(s) don't like/have kids/pets etc I try to avoid talking about my kids/pets etc unless they ask. What annoys me though is when X talks endlessly about "Fluffy", but doesn't want to hear about your pet at all (or kids or whatever), as if only they have a interesting story or viewpoint to relate. However, my qualifier would be that some people are just... well... boring and are hard to engage in conversation. They have no life outside their job or whatever, and if you're stuck in a static inescapable position (ie dinner party) you might find yourself regaling them with endless 'amusing' cat anecdotes until you can safely excuse yourself when dessert comes....uh excuse me I just have to err go....just go talk to err Bob... <points furiously at potplant>