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.)