You might be surprised, but a lot of things you do to show love to your pets are actually the OPPOSITE of what they need.

Cracked.com just put out a list of some things almost all pet owners do, which HURT pets instead of helping them.

1. Hugging your dog. According to Cracked.com, dogs actually HATE it when you put your face next to theirs. Supposedly it's a claustrophobia thing, so hugging or kissing them can freak them out.  (I know some dogs who love to hug!)

And if it gets REALLY stressed, or you're not THAT familiar, you might get bitten out of nowhere . . . even by a dog that has never bitten anyone before.

2. Staring into a cat's eyes. People like to do it because cats are so good at staring back. But cats see it as a sign of aggression. They're more affectionate with people who DON'T stare. When you look at a cat, blink slowly so it knows you're not a threat.

3. Feeding them people food. Believe it or not, cats are lactose-intolerant. They're not supposed to drink milk. And dogs should never have bones or raw meat . . . for the same reasons we don't eat them ourselves.

4. Buying pets from a pet store. The ASPCA says 99% of the puppies sold in stores come from puppy mills, where they're usually horribly abused. If you bought your pet from a big place like Petco, you probably rescued it from the worst experience of its life.

But on the other hand, supporting that store is helping to doom thousands of other animals to the same awful fate.

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