Pets anyone?

brooken · Joined: 26 May 2006 Posts: 13

So, who here has pets? Me personally, I have two dogs, some cats, some bearded dragons, and a mouse.

Yes, I live in a zoo. Isn't that the American way now? I would love to hear if I am in the minority with having so many four legged critters sharing my home or if this is the norm.

We recently sold our house, and our biggest obstacle was that people did not want to see that we had pets. We took all of our pets out of the house when people were doing a walk through, picked up litter boxes, things smelled good, but I had one real estate agent complain because our cat food dishes were sitting out and the family did not like pets!

Any thoughts?
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Keep dreamin!

Brooke

Lynn · Joined: 17 Apr 2006 Posts: 273 Location: Cumbria, UK

I am not in your league, I had two German Shepherds and two cats.

I sold my house and the new place got held up and me, the fella, two dogs and two cats had to live in a four man tent for two months - FUN!!!!

Unfortunately we had to have one of the dogs put down.

sheenwhit · Joined: 26 May 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Florida

I have only one little one. His name is Yoshi, a Shih tzu. I never thought I would own a tiny dog. I do not have any children but I definately see what it feels like in a small way to have a kid. He is constantly getting into things. Yoshi has a bell on his collar that constantly jingles, when that bell stops jingling I automatically know he is getting into some devilment.

heatherw610 · Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 4

Oh I have my very own zoo as well! I have 2 Shepards outside who are about 75 pounds each. Then inside I have 3 yorkies. They are 6, 5, and 1. I have 2 boys and one girl. My girl is only 3.5 pounds but she tried to be tough with the big dogs.

Do my son who is 3 and my daughter who is 23 months count as pets? Razz

Trigs · Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 7

I have 2 dogs who are like kids to me. Rags is a poodle-mix and I found him about 7 years ago. He was in very bad shape when I found him. Someone had beaten him so badly that he ended up being blind in one eye as a result. The vet operated on him but couldn't reverse the damage to his eye. This was when Rags was a puppy, so he's adapted to only having sight in his right eye. You would never know he had such a rough beginning to his life. He's happy and full of energy. I call him my little angel because he brings me such joy.

Trixie is a black lab mix and she was a shelter dog. I adopted her in December 2003 when she was 3 years old. She had lived in shelters for 2 1/2 of those 3 years. She has extreme anxiety and trust issues, so I suspect she had been abused in her life too. She has bonded very closely with me and is usually by my side no matter where I go in the house. She's got a very sweet, shy disposition but she's probably the smartest and most loyal dog I've ever seen. Adopting her was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

So those are my 2 "kids". I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.

Trigs

Rosetta · Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 9

I have two dogs, both mutts from the pound. They are SO spoiled. We feed them organic, human-grade dog food, and let them run around where they want. ( We live out in the country, so it's ok for them to do so) Because of that, they're really healthy. When we started feeding them organic, the one who had arthritis started being able ot run around again. I was so happy for her! Smile

She had just been laying around all day. The food is not cheap, though. Sad

brooken · Joined: 26 May 2006 Posts: 13

Rosetta,

What kind of organic are you feeding. I have tried just about every single kind of pet food on the market, and I am wondering what kind you use.

I used to feed Flint River Ranch for about a year or so.. EXPENSIVE! At over $40 for a 15 pound bag (cat food) I wanted to see real results. Truth is, it gave all my cats the runs (Ewww!) and when I did a stool sample my vet saw alot of plant material. Cats are carnivores, so I didnt like seeing that much undigested plant being passed.
_________________
Keep dreamin!

Brooke

brooken · Joined: 26 May 2006 Posts: 13

Oh Lynn, I dont envy you one bit. I know that the transition moving is huge.. I CANNOT even imagine living in a tent! You must have either come out of that situation a whole lot stronger, or a whole lot more insane.. ROFL!
_________________
Keep dreamin!

Brooke

Nogard · Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 45

Yes I have 2 cats and a bout 5 fish. LOL the cats go crazy on the fish. They sit there with their faces to the glass. I know they are thinking " I wish I could get in there and have some fish". LOL

ladylibra · Joined: 31 May 2006 Posts: 3

I do. I labpointer who loves everyone, even the mailman Laughing

She is so friendly and loves chasing birds and squirrels.
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Rosetta · Joined: 27 May 2006 Posts: 9

brooken: I've used the brand Newman's Own for about a year now. It's pricey, though. About the same as you described the food you got before. My dogs haven't had any digestive problems, but if you're going to change a pet's diet, you need to do it slowly. They're just like people in that regard! Newman's Own makes a lot of different kinds of organic foods: I love their spagetti sauce. Also, all of their profits go to charity. They're a good organazation. Try looking at http://onlynaturalpet.com/

I think right now it's a trend to try and put vegetables in animal's food. My insticts go against that (after all, all my dogs care about on their own is bones and roadkill, haha) so I just ignore it. I think the important thing is the nutrients. The dogs I had before the ones I do now, they weren't getting enough nutrients from the food I was giving them. They even ate grass.

olivine · Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 16

This thread reminds me of my ever loyal bestfriend --- BROWNIE! I lost him five years ago and it was a heart-wrecking experience. He had been with me since my grade school years until I graduated from college. I missed him a lot!

luvbug06 · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 5

Oooooo, I'm with you!

We have a veritable smorgasbord at our house.... always!

Right now we have two doves, two parakeets, two sugar gliders, four dogs, and two guinea pigs (make that most likely three pigs... mom is preggers).

In the past we have had pets such as frogs, rats, brine shrimp ("Sea Monkeys"). Once we even brought into the house a wild baby rabbit which had fallen down our window well. We did let it go after a few hours though, since we understand you can't keep wild animals.

Dolly · Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Posts: 109 Location: Scotland UK

Mmm, leaving cat bowls out because potential buyers may be offended - I can definitely beat that one!

When my last house was on the market, somebody kindly dumped two very young piglets in my garden and I had to keep them in the house for the first couple of weeks.

Then a young couple who had viewed the house before wanted to come for a second viewing with their dad because he was an 'expert' on building work. I shoved the piglets in the bedroom (it was a single storey cottage) while the bloke prodded and poked around outside.

Then he came into the kitchen to give me the benefit of his experience and ripped the place apart. The bloke was a complete pain and talked rubbish to boot.
Meanwhile, somehow the piglets had managed to escape out of the bedroom. They came bowling down the hallway, grunting and barking, and ran straight into the man's legs. He looked like he was going to faint, the piglets had scared themselves and shot off back up the hallway and I kept talking like nothing had happened.

Nope, they didn't buy it!

trader1499 · Joined: 09 Jul 2008 Posts: 26

My wife and I have four cats. It started with me buying our first one from a pet store. His name is Tito and he is named after one of my favorite boxers. He's a black cat. Our other three cats, 2 boys and 1 girl, were all kittens that we "saved" from the streets.

They are all attention junkies and it is tough to keep up with the affection they require, which is odd considering the cat we had growing up basically kept to himself most of the time. We love our cats and I'm just glad we got them fixed because I got tired of being the target of our black cats humping stage while trying to go to sleep at night. I thought only dogs did that but I was wrong!

John

bina · Joined: 10 Jul 2008 Posts: 13

I have pet .It's name is Tommy.I love it very much.

Crunch · Joined: 11 Jul 2008 Posts: 8

I have a cat named Tommy! 2 other cats and 3 newborn kittens. I used to have a dog, but I had to give her up. Sad

hamba · Joined: 12 Jul 2008 Posts: 5

I don't have any pets. My brother used to have a couple of fish. I think he bought it more for aesthetic reasons than for anything else - he felt a large fish tank would look good in the living room.

When he did buy it and realised what was involved in the upkeep, he mostly left it to me to maintain (which I thought was unfair).

I think anyone who wants to get a pet should really think about what's involved, maybe talk to other pet owners to get an idea of what it's like. I'm sure there are rewards, but there are also responsibilities.

ekmallette · Joined: 14 Jul 2008 Posts: 30

[quotetwo guinea pigs (make that most likely three pigs... mom is preggers).

.[/quote]

Awww...baby guinea pigs come out sooo cute! They look like mini guineas!! Carbon copies of momma and dad, but little! Have you had them before?

We have three cats, two spayed girls and one little kitty prince. A couple of dogs...neurotic chihuahua and an overly friendly cocker spaniel. Oh..and three girlie bunnies who have a hutch plus a big fully fenced in bunny pen outside! Spoiled things...all of them!!

Peace!

Bosoxy · Joined: 14 Jul 2008 Posts: 7

I have one dog... and he is a handful!

Honestly, while I would love to add another dog to our home, financially it just isn't feasible for us. My dog has several allergies and eats top of the line grain free food and treats... which is expensive.

He is definitely worth it though!