Passing down our love for animals...

[happylabs]

One thing my friends and family know about me is that I have been a major animal lover all my life.

I just have to smile when I see my daughter Rachael interacting with my cats. The first thing she does in the morning when she comes down is talk to Buddy or whichever cat is closest. She sits down on the floor with him, pets him and pets him, talks to him and tells him she loves him. If I do nothing else in my lifetime I think I have given her a huge gift.

I think the best thing we can do for our children is raise them with pets. It teaches them many things.

[krazyaboutkatz]

That's wonderful and I agree. Although I don't have any children, I'm so glad that I was able to grow up with many different kinds of pets. Both of my parents are animal lovers and so are my brothers. We had cats, a dog, guinea pigs, rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils, fish, turtles, snakes, frogs, toads, lizards, and even a pet squirrel for a little while.

Unfortunately both of my SIL's are highly allergic to cats and one of them is also allergic to dogs. My brother in CA has a dog and I think that my nephew still has a snake. My niece and nephew are both in 4H so they take care of farm animals in their spare time. They both have lambs right now and I think that last year they had cows. My nephew is a huge animal lover and I can see him doing something related to working with animals as a profession.
My niece and nephew who live in Texas don't have any animals. I think it's sad when children can't grow up with at least some kind of a pet.

[Cataholic]

I believe my son has a huge appreciation of animals, cats especially. He is very attached to one, and semi attached to two more. He has learned to be patient, kind and loving with them. One of our cats, Dakky, wouldn't let Jonah near him for at least 4 years. Not because J did anything to him, but, he was just too fast and darty for Daks. Now? Daks is usually lying inbetween us, comes up to J for pets, and J is thrilled with his 'growth'. He is still trying to get Gus'sers to allow him free pets. Gus'sers runs from anyone. No one sees Gus. But there have been several sucessful petathons with even Gus!

J is now learning more about dogs, and handling them. I love watching him interact with animals.

[3Catcondo]

Amen!!!! I cannot imagine life w/o animals and althought I don't have children now, if I ever do they will grow up with an appreciation for them. Both of my nieces are animal lovers and I am so proud. I think it's ashame when children are denied the chance to grow up with a pet. Life isn't the same w/o animals IMO.

[Sonia59]

I agree. My daughter loves cats already and probably all other animals too. I just have to be careful in the street because she always wants to pet dogs. she is very excited when she sees one! Of course, I always tell her that she should not touch a dog she does not know, we never know. She is too young yet, but with time she will learn not to do it. She also loves when we bring Peppito to her bed to wake her up in the morning. She gives him kisses and pet him

[Pembroke_Corgi]

Let's just say my daughter learned "cat" and "doggie" before she learned to say mama or dada!!