Family Pets - question for all Pet Talk people

[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.

[Cincy'sMom]

Obviously, my parents are pet people

My mom had dogs growing up. All of my mom's siblings have or had pets, as do most of my cousins.

My dad didn't have pets growing up. His sisters don't have pets. I only have two cousins on his side, and only 1 of those has pets, but they are recent additions.

I don't know if Ralph's parents had pets growing up or not, but he did have a dog. His parents don't have a dog now, although they love the grandpets and are always willing to watch them.

[pitc9]

I hear stories about when my dad was young and they had dogs, but they were left tied outside and the kids were not permitted to play with the dogs so that the dogs would be "mean" and protect them. Then when/if any kid got snapped at or bitten, my grandfather would. "Take the dog for a walk in the woods with a gun" It's hard to hear those stories and not feel anger towards him (my grandfather) but it's also hard to be angry with a man who I've never met! He died before I was born.

My mom grew up on a farm, they raised chickens but I don't ever remember hearing stories about any other animals.

As far back as I can remember growing up, we always had cats & dogs.
After raising 4 kids, they have the house to themselves now and have one of each now! I'm SURE they wouldn't want it any other way! Between me and my 3 sisters we have 7 dogs and 3 cats!

When I sent Toby to the bridge 11 months ago, my dad said something that I'll never forget. He told me that he misses Toby more than he missed his dad when he died.

[Taz_Zoee]

I'm not sure if my parents had animals growing up. But I do know my mom's mom always had a cat or two around. And my dad's mom had dogs. The two I remember were Bandit the pug and Benny the poodle.
But I ALWAYS had animals growing up. We had cows, pigs, horses, chickens, turkeys, dogs, cats, bunnies, goats (for a short time) and my sister had a bird for some years. Of course we always had a goldfish for a few months after the local fair came through town.
Most of the cows, pigs and chickens we had butchered and filled our freezers. (sorry) We never named the ones we knew would be food eventually. Of course we had the ones we did name and those remained pets.

[cmayer31]

Both my parents had dogs most of the lives, and my grandparents on my mom's side also had dogs. As far back as I can remember most of my relatives have had dogs. I guess I've done a good job keeping up the tradition.

[Laura's Babies]

I don't ever remember there not being a cat in the house. We had Tippy when we were very young, Pretty when we were older. My Grandmother always had a cat that she named from the Bible. You all know I have my Mom's kitty Boo right now, so I guess you could say we are generations of pet lovers. All my kids also have pets and so do my brother and sister.

[shepgirl]

Grandparents had horses and dogs, uncles had a dog and we had cats and dogs come and go as kids. We would drag home strays "just to give them a meal"- they ended up staying...

[krazyaboutkatz]

My dad didn't have any dogs or cats but he did have a few pet rats. His father also had a pet rabbit and I think he let it in the house because it was litterbox trained.

I heard stories that my mom was constantly bringing home stray cats and maybe even a few dogs. I don't think that her mom and dad liked this very much though. I do remember my grandmother telling my mom that she couldn't believe that we would allow our cat to eat off of plates that we would use.

I know that my Uncle,which is my mom's brother, has a dog so he's also an animal lover. My dad loves cats now but he and my mom don't have any animals at the moment because they travel quite a bit.

Both of my SIL's are very allergic to cats so they'll never have any. One of my SIL's is also allergic to dogs so it doesn't look good for allowing my neice or nephew to have any furry animals.

My brother and his family,who live in San Diego,finally have a dog. They also have a snake and few frogs. His son is a huge animal lover and he wanted to go visit a dairy for his birthday so he could see the cows. He did get his wish.

I've always loved animals and I was lucky that we always had some kind of animal when I was growing up. As most of you know,cats are my favorite. I know that in my family, I'm known as the crazy cat lady but I don't care.