Did you grow up with pets?

[sirocco]

I just wondered how many of you grew up with pets in the household and how many adopted their first pet when reaching adulthood (well, now, I don't want to discuss what adulthood involves !! I just meant when you live on your own, or are able to make your own decisions!)

I'm sure everyone has a special story on how they became attached to pets, but maybe (just maybe) owning, loving a pet means different things to a child or to an adult.

In my case, I had Sirocco (for those who don't venture the cat zone, he's my 10-months-old cat, yes the one in the avatar !) just when I moved from my parent's home. I wasn't allowed to have pets as a girl , for my Dad doesn't like cats, and thinks dogs should live in large houses, not in flats (as we do!). I took Sirocco in cause I longed to have a pet since I was a child, and everytime I look at Siro I can say I don't regret at all! It makes me feel like a child when we're playing, but also makes me realise I have a responsability now that I an on my own, and this is not the least of the joys Sirocco brings me!

I believe there isn't any difference in the love we have for our animals, having had them when we were children or getting to know them when we are older (another point is that when we are with our pets, we all are young at heart!!) but I thought it would be nice to share our experiences here (is there a better place in the world for that than this ?)!!

Nita

[Former User]

While growing up, we always had pets. At first, we had a cat, can't remember much of it because I was so young. After that, we had only dogs. In my childhood, we had 4 dogs, the last one died in 1996 (see pic), and he was completely my dog, I took care of him. When I moved out from my parents place, I didn't take pets, as I first wanted to live a bit on my own...then I ended up moving here in Belgium, and now we have 2 cats

[Gio]

My parents tell me I started pestering them to get me a pet as soon as I started to talk! A cat or a dog was the same to me, one thing I was sure of, I wanted a huggable pet. We had a circus visiting the neighbourhood once(OK guys remember I was only 4-5years old then) and the lioness just had cubs, well guess who exasperated the owner in letting me hold one of the cubs. There is a picture of me holding it, my mother told me that I just did not want to let go and wanted to take it home. For me it was just a slightly bigger cat

My parents both love animals and had some most of their lives so it's not quite clear to me while they were hesitant back then. I guess I was rather convincing since they promised me that as soon as we found an abandoned one we would take it home. My prayers got answered (I think someone up there was getting quite fed up with me as well) and this tiny kitten was found in a box on the road. The other kittens were dead but this one just wanted to survive. Someone took pity but placed it in the elevator room and just fed it milk and sugar . WHen I got home from kindergarden and found this out I told my mother "You can't get more abandoned than this..." And the rest is history!

That's how it started with cats, excpet from the years I lived in the UK, where I used to hold parties for the neighbourhood cats , I always had some.

I can't wait to be able to have a dog as well. The thing is I would also like to have a rabbit (just like Sophie bun), Logan's Roger made me want to get a bird and the list could go on.

Oops, sorry I went on a bit

[sirocco]

Originally posted by SpencerTheLion
It turned out I liked the cat a lot better than her.

... So that was it!! You promised to tell us about how you started loving cats... I'm sorry you had a tough time, but well, I'm glad you ended being such a great owner for all your fur-kids !!

Nita

[Edwina's Secretary]

We always had animals. Dogs -- there was Mr. Honey, Amy, Heidi, Sancho Panza(we were readers), Miss C, Matt. Cats were Cleo, Newton, Annie, Albert, Callie. When I was 14 my mother got her dream and we moved to the country and added horses to the mix -- not to mention a slew of wild animals my mother would feed. To this day she has a flock of wild turkeys that basically live in her yard.

Not surprisingly, my brother became a veternarian. I had a dog, Sam, briefly when I lived in Mexico but he needed children to play with so I gave him to a family that loved him dearly and let him come and visit me.

A bit "commitment phobic" I did not get another animal until I met my husband and he begged and begged (I had a bit of the "C" phobia about alot of things -- I was 39 when I met my husband.)

[momoffuzzyfaces]

GASP! YOU MEAN THERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO GROW UP?
We always had dogs and cats together with sometimes a parakeet, fish, hamster, mouse, bunny, turtle, lizard, frog or chameleon thrown in.

[lynnestankard]

Yep I grew up with animals we always had cats at home, I remember (when I was quite tiny) taking one particular cat out in my dollies pram and dressed up in all the dollies clothes!! He loved it - (yes he was a he) or made a good job of lying back and enjoying the ride!! Then we rescued a dog, Lassie, from the Dogs Home and she was lovely for the many years we had her. Then there was the budgie and the tortoise. But through them all the over-riding memories were of furbabies
Lynne

[Fuzzy317]

I grew up with pets. This first one I remember is a Fox Terrier, Ashes. She got injured while outside and had to be put to sleep.

Growing up, I only recall 2-3 dogs, a hamster, and some fish. But I am making up for my pet shortage, right now We have 4 dogs, 4 cats, and 4 people in 1 house.........LOL

[wolflady]

What neat stories!! I've loved animals as long as I can remember, and my sisters and I begged and begged for a pet. We did this for the longest time, so finally mom and dag broke down and got us a hamster. Dynamite was a teddy-bear hamster and our very first pet. When I was in 2nd grade, my dream of having a family dog came true...and when I came home one day after school...I walked in the door and saw my mom sitting on the floor with the prettiest dog I had ever seen!! Misty was an american eskimo mix, and she lived to be 15 years old. She passed to the rainbow bridge right before my wedding
I brought home our first cat a couple of years after we had gotten Misty...and every cat since then I have brought home! LOL LOL
So, I guess you could say I grew up with animals I'm really looking forward to that time I can bring a dog into my home...but since I work so much and have a long commute...I'll have to wait. Our kitties keep us quite busy as it is! LOL LOL One thing is for sure....there will always be furbabies in my home!

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

I really don't remember him, but we have pictures of a dog named Sparky when I was *real* young. Then we didn't have any pets until we moved to a big house in the country. The people who we bought the house from had some kind of mixed Shepard dog that they didn't want to take with them because they were moving back into town, so the dog came with the house. Us kids were more than thrilled, and I can't ever remember my mom or dad being anything but happy about it. One morning we woke up and Fuzzy (that was her name) had gone to the RB sometime during the night. We never really found out what happened to her. Shortly after that my dad came home with a purebred Old English Sheepdog puppy. She was the cutest thing in the world and we adored her. Since she was a purebred we came up with the fancy name of Lady Fezziwig of Hanson Hill (Fuzzy for short) and registered her. We never showed her, but we did have her bred twice, so we had tons of the cutest Old English Sheepdog puppies around. All us kids were grown and out of the house when my mom finally had to have her put down. As I mentioned before, we weren't allowed to have cats because my dad *supposedly* hated them. Try and tell him that now. All the while I lived in apartments I wanted a pet, but I never could because the buildings wouldn't allow it. So when I finally bought my own house, it was just fate that a girlfriend had to get rid of her cat because she was moving into one of those dreaded no-pet apartments. Tubby and I have been together ever since.

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

I LOOOVE ANIMALS and I was blessed to grow up owning MANY animals.
As far back as I can remember we had


1 bird named Petey (age 2/3)
1 dog named Tuck (the terrible dogs next door to us jumped our fence and beat him to death.....I miss you Tuck)
1 dog named Petey (some terrible person hit him with their car and drove off....I miss you Petey)
1 opossum named Petey (I think we liked the name Petey....my dad's friend hit a opossum with his car and she had babies in her pouch, he gave one to us and we cared for it for about 2 months and then gave it to a vet that said she would check it out and set it free)
1 dog named Delta (ONLY THE BEST DOG THAT EVER LIVED!!! he was a rhodesian ridgeback I was 7 years old when we got him as a puppy we lived on a small farm and had around 80 acres of land, at least two thirds wooded so he got to run and play all the time. He was the most loyal dog ever.....I love and miss you Delta)
2 cows (we got our cows as babies and got to feed them with bottles)
5 goats (six when one had a baby)
2 rabbits
3 pigs
2 chickens (my dad bought more but only two didn't run away)
2 cats (while on the farm)
1 cat (while in highschool)
AND FINALLY...... one beautiful kitten named Tinky and I love her so much.

[AmberLee]

I was lucky growing up with pets (even though Mom complained daily about each of them, she let us have them!...)

Dogs: A sweet, nutty German Shepherd mix female named Killa; a zany terrier mix named Lucky; a huge nutty German Shepherd named Towser; a sweet 'gentlemanly' German Shepherd mix named Modoc; a precious ? mix of a dog - mainly black with 4 white paws and a couple white spots named Bootsie. (Bootsie followed me home from Kindergarten -- do not remember now whether this required coaxing or not...)

Cats: Two Siamese when I was tiny -- I don't remember their names, but the neighborhood kids and I would seranade them with "We are Siamese if you please..."; they ran away very shortly thereafter but this may be coincidental. A gray tabby named Sylvester who was a magnificent mouser (started to list details here, but they are grusome...) who actually put up with being baptised one afternoon when a religous fervor hit our playgroup. Another precious gray tabby was named Oliver; he entered our lives when we were older and less trying for a cat's nerves. He had been abandoned near the ranch where my parent's worked. (Olivia was named in this Oliver's honor.) A tuxedo male named Mercury and his black litter mate named Vulcan.

White Rat: His name was Snow White and I would give him rides in the basket of my bicycle. For some reason my teacher was horrified that he was named Snow White as this is a girl's name and insisted that I call him Snow Ball whenever I'd write about him in school essays. (A point I still puzzle over many years later...)

Hamster! Her name was "Queen Victoria" and she wasn't amused by much of anything... Remarkable how much disapproval she could demonstrate with a wrinkle of her nose!

4 Hermit Crabs: The males were Holofernes and Theopholes; the females were Clytemnestra and ? I don't remember now how I told them apart... My parents said they were glad I got these names out of my system before it came time to name grandchildren...

Goldfish and guppies and seahorses and a jarful of little tiny frogs (and one toad): many, but I've forgotten their names... Except for those returned to the wild quickly, they died young, it seems...

Sorry, got carried away here. Way more than you ever wanted to know...

[LoudLou]

Originally posted by momoffuzzyfaces
GASP! YOU MEAN THERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO GROW UP?

When I was really little we lived in a city suburb of Los Angeles with.......
4 Dogs
2 Koi fish
3 Cats
2 Turtles
3 Crows (Murphy, Jessica, Mugsy)
3 Ducks (Dudley, Dueturonmy, Esmeralda)
Then we raised 2 Turkeys
Some Pigeons
Had 1 Rabbitt (Percival)
Some VERY mean Banshee Chickies

My 2ng grade class took a "field trip" to my backyard!!!
Love for animals is one of the Best things my parents ever taught me.

[C.C.'s Mom]

Oh yes, always surrounded by pets.

When I was a baby, my parents had:

1 dog (mutt) Pascha
1 cat (orange tabby) Kat
1 tame owl Uil
1 parrot Henry
1 magpie (no name)

Later on after these animals passed away, we had
2 boxers as well as twice puppies Astrid & Lindsey
2 dogs (mutts) Boomer & Wiskey
2 cats Daffy & Kleine
turtles
birds
fishes
sheep Vladimir & Igor
goats Louis & Alphons (still alive)
chickens
geese
hamster Hammie & Al

We didn't live on a farm, so you can imagine our backyard...

[Angels3]

Yes, I grew up with pets...dogs & cats. But we also had some other pets, too.
A goat called Buster.
A magpie called Maggie.
A baby kangaroo called Joey.
Marie