From as far back as I remember there have always been pets in the family. My grandmother loved her cats (both my father's mom & my mother's mom). My grandfather breed and raised horses and my uncle did the same. My great grandmother (father's side) also loved her kitties. She always had a persian or 2. My father was the only one of the lot who was not an animal person. He liked his hounds for hunting but that was it. He was a mean little monster when he was young with the cats until my grandmother caught him. When she did she was mortified and broke a broom across his back as he started to run off and she couldn't get her hands on him. I think he is lucky it was the broom and not her hands.