How My Pets React To My Being Transgender
Animals are a lot smarter than we give them credit for.
Since the age of 4 years old I knew something was off in my head. I told my mom I didn’t feel like a boy. I felt and still feel the same way 46 years later.
Over the years my family has had many cats and dogs. When I couldn’t take the distress of gender dysphoria anymore and bought a women’s wardrobe and all I needed to present as a woman, the reaction of my pets were very interesting.
My cats looked at me like who’s that? But then soon realized it was me and everything was back to normal. Cats are not transphobic from my experience.
I have a dog now. The way my dog looked at me was a lot different than how the cats treated me as a trans woman. Like he knew it was me but acted very shy. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye with caution and concern. Every time I get dressed up ultra feminine my dog gets that look in his eyes. I assume it has something to do with wolf pack behavior.
I came out to my wife as transgender back in July of 2021. After 14 months of my dog seeing me regularly dressed as a feminine trans woman he’s gotten used to it. All is cool with me and my dog. So it might take a year or so for a dog to accept that his person is trans. Not bad at all!
I came out to my lifelong friend, Mickey, back in 1999. It took him about a year or two to understand what I was feeling inside, but he gets it. He doesn’t fully get it because it’s so hard to describe your gender being off, but he’s accepting of trans people and very supportive. Not to compare my best friend with a dog but you get the point. It even takes time for pets to get used to seeing you as the opposite gender.
I talked to my buddy about the right wing media and their extreme push to erase LGBTQIA+ people and their history off the face of the planet and he didn’t know that it was that bad for us. If you’re not inside it every day, then it’s hard to see.
I don’t feel safe leaving my townhome dressed as a feminine trans woman. The area that I live in is slightly sketchy. My wife worries, so I remain in masculine mode. We’re moving to Cancun, Mexico in March of 2023. My wife and I will be semi-retired. We hope to make enough money with online hustles to pay the bills and not touch our saving unless we need to. Hopefully we can find a nice area where I can be myself more freely. A fresh start in one of the most LGBTQIA+ friendly parts of Mexico.
Without a doubt we want to take our dog with us. But it’s not that easy to relocate to another country with a pet over 20 pounds and of medium/large size. We thought it would be a simple thing. But it isn’t. Traveling with a pet requires quite a bit of planning and arranging. Also, it can be expensive! We found not only with all of the red tape involved, that the dog’s plane ticket will also cost us $800. All said and done this whole moving the dog thing might cost upwards of $2,000. That’s crazy! I thought it would be much easier.
We will do what we must do to get our furry baby relocated to Mexico with us. Having a pet is like taking care of a child in a way. The dog has to be considered in every aspect of your life. Cats are much easier. Or small pocket puppies. Only get a big dog if you don’t ever want to travel.
My dog sits pressed up next to me as I write my stories for Medium. Dogs are so good at comforting you in times of need. When my dad passed in 2019, my dog was there for me, always by my side. Now that I’m presenting more as a transgender woman, he sees when I am frustrated and angry at the system for punching down on us, and sits with me and calms me down.
My dog has become such a huge part of my life.
If you like my stories and you want to read more of my upcoming adventures of getting ready to move to a new country, my battles with gender dysphoria, sign up to Medium today! Hopefully, we can work through these issues together! : )
Use my referral link below. Your yearly subscription helps support writers like me and many more!
If you like what you read, please give us some claps! Don’t forget, you can clap up to 50 times!
This story is a response to the Prism & Pen writing prompt, Queer Family Pets: Comfort During Calamity?