Family Pets - question for all Pet Talk people

[kittycats_delight]

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.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

My Grandad was a great one for taking in stray dogs - Mum has clear memories of all sorts coming home on the end of a bit of string

[joycenalex]

my mom grew up during the depression in detroit ,she didn't have any pets, times were too hard for her family. while my mother did adjust to the idea of her "granddogs"-alex first them lady (brothers' beagle) she didn't know how to pet or cuddle them. 5 years ago, my sister, who lives with her got a very small mixed breed- stuart- and mom finally fell under the spell of dogs. she now carries dog cookies in her pockets to share with the dogs in her senior apartment complex.

[Ginger's Mom]

Interesting thread. Joyce's post about her mother reminds me very much of my grandmother. Although my Mother did have a dog when she was a teenager (an Eskie as a matter of fact), it was she and her father that took care of the dog. Grandmom never really knew what to do with the dog, but when she got older and moved in with my parents she started carrying dog biscuits around in her pocket. My father never had a pet growing up, and even when we were children his rule was no four legged pets. Actually, when I was young we had a rabbit, then we had a dog for about a year and a half (all when I was under 10 years of age). But after we got rid of that dog (my father was worried our nasty neighbor, a police officer, would hurt the dog), my father said no more four legged pets, so we had birds and fish. It's funny, because they were in their 60's my parents adopted a beagle from the shelter, and spoiled her like a baby.

[Medusa]

I wish I could say 'yes' but my parents didn't have pets. My father spoke of a dog that he knew of when he was a boy who used to chew gum and spit it out in a corner of the room and go back for it later but it wasn't my father's dog, I don't think. I'm not sure how I grew to be such an animal lover. I was always dragging some cat or dog and said that it followed me home. I think it might have something to do w/lack of money when they were growing up, although I'm not sure about that.

[Killearn Kitties]

All my Dad's family were animal lovers. They always had dogs and cats at home while he was growing up. There are photos of several of the animals in amongst the old family photos.

My Mum's family had a few cats over the years, although my Mum herself was not a big animal person when younger. She is more fond of them now. Mum never really wanted me to have animals when I was young, because I'd be upset when they died - big believer in prevention rather than cure my mother.

[Freedom]

My Mum was the huge animal lover. She grew up with cats. My grandmother (her mum) would walk around with one draped over her shoulders. For YEARS this was how grandma walked around when home and in the house.

My Dad grew up with animals as well. Times were different. Mostly, dogs did not come in the house, the exception being my Dad's dog, Tago. Dad was the youngest, so he finally got the 'rules' changed, te hee. They had cats, semi ferals who lived in the cellar and went in and out a cellar window. Mostly, the cats could not be handled. Kittens were disposed of in the river. Pets were not spayed / neutered, that just wasn't very common at that time in the area.

For many years they had a chicken farm; at its peak, over 28,000 chickens, For both eggs and eating. The chickens were better cared for than the kids, was the joke in the family. It was free range, with coops, for nests. Dad and his siblings went daily to gather eggs. The chicken farm got the family through the Depression; tough times.