Let’s talk for a moment about pets.
I personally am not a big fan. I don’t usually care for wet noses on my neck. Hairy couches require frequent vacuuming. I also like breathing an awful lot. Animals tend to make that simple act a bit difficult for me.
I grew up on a farm. You’d think I’d be more of a pet lover. I wish I was.
At this point in my life I really can’t handle the thought of bringing anything else into my home that I would need to take care of, feed, water, love, nurture, discipline, train, tell to be quiet…
And don’t suggest that we get a fish. They have tanks that get dirty and sometimes they float on top of water because they’re dead. And then you have to have fishy funerals. I don’t have time to hold a fishy funeral.
I know many of you feel differently about pets. I’m very much okay with YOU having pets. I know those of you with pets love ’em like crazy! I actually think it’s pretty neat that others love their pets so much. Way to go, animal lovers! Me not enjoying pets is simply my own personal opinion.
So tell me…do you have pets? Love pets? Kiss your pets on the mouth? What kind of pets do you have? Take a moment to brag on your pets.
OR are you like me and leave the pets to someone else?
Our two puppies (well, not really puppies anymore since they’re 7 1/2, but y’know) have taken a bit of a backseat to the human child in our lives, but we still love them just as much. Lucy sleeps at the head of the bed with us, and Rerun usually finds the most comfy spot on the couch. They don’t shed, which is WONDERFUL, and besides the occasional gift of a dead bird or frog, they’re not too much trouble. Oh, they’re mini-schnauzers…thus the no shedding. =)
We have pets and we love them :-) we have 2 grown cats lillyboy and baby zoop and 2 kittens kitty (yes kitty haha) and smoores then we have a pomeranian dog name noodles and 2 fish and 3 kids and a husband but it is all pretty easy well maybe the husband is not that easy :-) but i love him anyways hehe !!
Crystal
We have… wait for it… two rats. I know, I know, EW! But I pinky swear they are just like little puppies, except quiet and in a cage! They have such distinct personalities and are SO playful! You do have to change their bedding every week or so if you don’t want them to start smelling, but that’s about it. Male rats are way more mellow and better to play with, in my experience. They’re perfect for people who can’t have dogs, because they’re compact but just as loving if you spend time with them! Plus they’re super smart and easy to train. :D We plan to get more when our kids are older, to give them an animal to play with without all of the expenses/mess/hassle. We’ve had four over the years, and it’s amazing how distinct their personalities are!
Seriously, just google “pet rats” to read about all of the little rattie goodness!
Ugh! just can’t get past the tails! A dear friend has two and can’t say enough good about them. Whatever … they have nasty tails. Sure wish I could get over it – but it gives me the shudders just thinking about it. Enjoy yours double for me!!
No pets! No desire for one, either! I have a husband and two children to clean up after, etc, (as per your post), and we go away for the weekend WAY to often to have something that needs feeding, walking, etc. No pets, content, and loving it!
As a lifelong cat person, I’m all about the kitties. We have two in the house, one will hopefully become a shop cat when we move to the farm which will leave my (currently) 10 year old calico that I got at the Humane Society in Colorado Springs. I also have a barnful of kitties, and I expect we’ll add a dog to the mix someday. Don’t think I’ll count the chickens as pets, though. I had a couple of fish that I got really attached to, and would like to have an aquarium again when Goose gets a bit older (and can help in a good way). Before I was able to have cats, my plants served as pets! I have to admit, my cats were much more important to me before I had a daughter to care for . . .
Well, we ahve one puppy, who is now 2 1/2 months, named Wyatt. He is a registered Catahoula Blue Leopard, our state dog..he has a “painted” coat, so he doesn’t shed..it is very close to the skin. He is a large puppy for his age, and loves to pass out on his back all throughout the house. LOL.
He sleeps in his on bed by the door in the kitchen, unless I go to sleep earlier in the day, in which case he gets in bed and sleeps with his head on the pillow on his back under the covers, which Dad( hubby) is not a big fan of.
And, no, I don’t kiss him on the mouth- how gross. :P
There are pics of him on my myspace- myspace.com/lexileonard
no pets, just kids. although my FIL does have a milk cow that we are responsible for milking twice a week — that’s enough of a pet-committment for me!
THANK YOU! I feel so bad for not being a pet person. I just plain don’t have the time or interest for taking care of another living thing.
I also have had some bad experiences with other people’s cats and dogs — been bitten and scratched and generally scared.
I do not believe our family will ever get a pet like that.
A few years ago, we had some hermit crabs. Those are the pets for non-pet people! They don’t need much at all, their cage doesn’t need cleaned often, and they’re entertaining! Our crabs loved to climb on top of fake palm trees and whatever was the highest point in their cage.
I love my German Shepherd, but I do NOT kiss him on the mouth! I would like it if he slept on our bed, but he wants the bed to himself, so when we get in, he gets out! He is a guard dog who knows what his job is.
We’ve had ferrets in the past and they have always been my all time favorite pet. I’ve had 7 over the years (not all at once). It was really hard for me losing them – one had diabetes and another had stomach cancer.
I thought for sure you were getting attached to snakes and were considering having one or more as a pet : o )
Ha! I’m not a pet person either. I never have been. I like to look at and pet other people’s small animals. But I have a problem with anything that could knock me over. Or anything that barks at night. Or naptime. And anything with claws.
That said, I have three betas and four chickens. My fish are easy. The kids help change the bowls. And they get excited when I feed them.
The chickens are great because they are OUTSIDE, and they provide me with quite a few eggs a week!
I have said I could *always* have kitten around … as soon as it/they started to get a little bit bigger I would get another one and just keep going till I was that weird “cat lady” that has 100s of cats. I also love my puppy dog – but NO kisses anywhere near the face!! Preferably no kisses – but never on the face – yuk!
As a side note – my hubby commented that I am currently feeding and maintaining more things on my counter than I do at the table (kefir, kombucha, etc) :) So, if you need something to take care of that’s not a child or an animal you might take on a scoby – it’s very quiet!! :)
oops – meant to mention that my husband is the balance in this relationship and the number of cats and dogs in this household is strictly limited. Since I love him more – I guess I will never be the weird “cat lady”. I probably should thank him for that!
I DO NOT WANT pets! Every place we visit that has pets….leaves my babies SO dirty! YUCK. Now…maybe outside animals…like the kind you can eat…that sounds ok to me :-)
God has not given us any children yet so I give all my free attention to my cat. She is my “baby”. And yes, she sometimes gets a kiss on the mouth!
I have two dogs and a cat. We have another kitten already picked out who will be joining our household soon, much to my own personal dismay. I’m not a fan of cats, but my husband and daughter are, so there you go.
However, the other night I saw a mouse (strangely – I live in a clean house close to downtown and I’ve never seen evidence of a mouse inside before) run through my dining room. It was nice to “sic” the cat on it.
One dog is an Akita/German Shepherd mix and the other is a full blood pitbull whom we rescued.
My husband is gone A LOT. Currently, he’s in Afghanistan. Having my dogs gives me the peace of mind to fall asleep at night, knowing that if anything happened, they’d put themselves between me and – whatever – giving me enough time to get to a phone or a gun or – whatever. One sleeps in the hallway in between the kids’ rooms, and the other sleeps in my room. They even alternate their sleeping arrangements – as if they have a strategy to protect their family or something.
I do not kiss them on the mouth, but I ply them with love and affection, because they do their job and they’re good at it.
We got rid of our dog about a year and a half ago because he kept losing his liquids on the floor and on the kids beds. It was making the floor smell and I had a baby that was about to start crawling and it was gross. He was a basset hound and otherwise the best dog for me- he’d eat and sleep, and eat and sleep and sleep and sleep. Turns out he would also get up every now and then and keep the floor vacuumed for me! I had no idea my kid dropped so many crumbs at meals! You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone!
A dog and fish but the dog is not allowed anywhere other than the porch and has a new run outside which I’m trying to get him used to (he’s 1) He’s a collie with a bit of spaniel and very excitable hence the no entry rule. He also needs loads of exercise which can be a bind. The fish get fed as and when I remember them – notice it’s all about me three kids, hubby and pets don’t do it!
I love reading your blog, but I thought your post was really short-sighted. It listed what you thought were negatives and put up a wall to any suggestion to change your mind. (“Don’t suggest fish.”)
We have a dog and a guinea pig. Would my life be a little easier without them? (Emphasis on “my.”) Yes.
But there is so much more to gain for our family (three kids 8,6,4)that out weighs the work. They learn about responsibility, training, and our capacity to love. There is laughter and running and playing and who gets to feed the dog. (Because that is actually really fun for them.)
They know Arrow (dog) will protect them, we will never be not aware that someone is coming up the drive, and our house is safer with him here.
We have horses too. The dimension the animals add to our lives and the memories my kids will have, is really priceless. Just my two cents!
I agree with you that having animals around for my children would probably add a lot to their lives. I’ve seen it work out beautifully with my friends who have animals on their farm.
I was just sharing my opinion on how I feel about it at this point in my life. Even though it sounds short sighted…and you’re right…it IS short sighted…I’m pretty sure nothing anyone would say could change my mind right now about having a pet. I have SO MUCH on my plate right now that the idea of bringing ANYTHING else into my home or schedule (animal or not) makes me want to pass out. I can not keep up with ONE more thing.
This is the reason I ask these questions. I love reading about how we’re all similar and how we’re all different. It’s fun to get to know my readers more this way!
I am so in your camp – I just can’t imagine willingly accepting another being to join the group and then care for. But there is another part of me that wishes my children to have the responsibility and fun that pets provide…. so I sometimes roll around the idea of an outside pet… but then I snap back to reality and fully know that the responsibility would fall back onto me (or the nagging anyway) and I say forget it.
Very much like you!!! And, I grew up on a farm, too. And now my kids show goats, but I don’t do anything with them much. I’ll help the kids and my husband when needed, but they usually don’t (thankfully :)!)
My kids and husband like animals, but not enough to want them in the house at all. We have a dog in the back yard, though.
We have a growing animal farm here it seems! Now have 3 dogs (Sampson-13, Lily-3 and Drew-1 yesterday!) Drew is Lily’s pup – she had 10 of them last year and it was a blast – but TONS of work! We also have a guinea pig, 7 chickens and yesterday got 3 kittens which will stay outside (hubby is allergic) and hunt mice! I have triplet boys and these are our triplet kittens! Hubby wants a dexter cow – maybe this Spring and that should be it. It is a lot of work for sure, but I love them. I do not allow the pups on furniture which helps.
BTW – the boys do many of the animal chores and are truly great with it. :-)
Sometimes the fish don’t even have the decency to float to the top when they die. You find them wedged halfway underneath a rock and you have to ‘fish’ them out with a net. We now only have two fish, as two of ours died in a one week span. We also have a cat that sheds a lot. The good thing is that my son is old enough to clean the litter. When this cat is gone (probably not for a LONG time), no more pets, I swear. Except for the fish. Probably. Maybe. We’ll see…
On the plus side, the cat eats most of the bugs in the house. She draws the line at beetles, as she has no clue what to do with them when she catches them.
I didn’t want any pets when my kids were younger–too overwhelming, but when they got to their teens, we got a boxer and I just love her so much. She doesn’t really shed too much and is very loyal and protective. She loves people, but we did have a guy come to check our water heater once that she didn’t like. She cornered him in the basement. lol Found out later that he really was a weirdo. She is such a smart dog!
All righty, I have four kiddos under 8 and a VERY NAUGHTY dog, Scout! If I could turn back time we NEVER would have gotten a dog. However, since we are stuck :) I am looking on the bright side! My favorite feature of having a pet is the security he offers. My hubby is an RN and works nights so having Scout makes me feel safer.
PS: I feel your pain about the allergies, without meds my son is VERY allergic to dogs (and everything else). Anything that makes you wheeze, you have a right to be short sighted about!!!!!! (in my opinion :)
I forgot to mention that Scout kills snakes! For that service alone, I will forgive a percentage of his naughtiness!!!!!!
Pets… I would like to have a big dog, but it’ll have to wait until we have more land, because I don’t want any dogs in the house. At the most, he could come into an inclosed porch, but mainly he’d have his own dog house outside. I don’t like the smell of dogs, and I don’t like to be licked, but I like the usefulness of dogs.
Currently we have no permanent pets, but we catch the occassion turtle, snake, or lizard and keep it for a few days to a few weeks, then let it go.
If we get a pet, it’ll probably be a king snake. Their cages are much easier to clean than fish aquariums, they don’t have claws and fur, and they are pretty and fun.
I grew up on a farm, and we had dogs and cats growing up, but for cows and mice. We just got a dog, but it is for the 4 kids and hubby. I put my foot down and said it has to stay outside all the time. No kissing on the mouth, yucko, and it eats DOG food, not off the table like my brother-in-law’s dogs do.
We are a household of 7 who all love pets. We have 4 dogs ( blind basset hound, black lab, and 2 mini dachshunds )1 cat, 6 chickens, 6 fish, 2 hermit crabs and 1 snake.
Yes they are work and add to the cleaning and they smell and need vet care and all that other stuff that can be a pain…BUT they love you! Some would do anything for you! They protect your family. They know when you are down. And even if they don’t know they are still there for you. I also think they help children learn responsibility, tenderness, and compassion.
I was so sad to read your comments about pets. Yes, they are a lot of work, but so worth it. We have 2 dogs and oodles of cats since we live on a farm. Our dogs offer so much unconditional love and are excellent companions. They are house dogs, which means extra work, grooming, vet visits etc. However, when I have a bad day at work, they always greet me with enthusiasm, and I feel so much better, even if it is only for a while. Pets have been recognized for their health and emotional benefits. Also, there is no better way to teach children responsibility than taking care of a pet. I feel like your children are missing out. Please reconsider!
I am 100% NOT a pet person. I have never wanted one, and I never will. We had animals growing up, and I tolerated them, but barely. I have the whole breathing problem – cats make me sneeze, wheeze and cause asthma attacks, and dogs are almost as bad. I’m not into creepy crawlers, and I’d rather not clean fish tanks… and rats/guinea pigs? NO WAY!
Now, my husband is totally a dog person, (German shepherds to be exact) and he is planning to get one in about three more years (when our youngest is five). It will probably be the hardest obstacle we’ll face in our marriage. We’ve actually discussed the idea of me getting my own apartment because it will be so traumatic for me (ok, not really…but kinda!) :-)
He can’t understand why I’m so opposed to the dog idea, and I can’t understand why he wants one so badly. I guess it’s just one of those things – you either ARE or AREN’T an animal/pet person.
And how nice that God made us all different… (except, why oh why did he my husband an “ARE”)?? :-)
I always grew up with pets and loved them. Then I was on my own and missed them. I got married and got my MILs cats left at my doorstep.
Then I had a baby. Those cats literally started destroying our house. Scratching up the walls with their claws even. The WALLS! I had never dealt with indoor only cats. We had outdoor cats that got to be indoor when it was nasty cold outside.
I am now glad to point my toddler (who loves animals) toward the neighbor’s pets. My house is much cleaner without them and I doubt I will get any until I no longer have children at home.
Well, as a fellow asthmatic, I am rather fond of breathing too. That said, I’ve pretty much always had some sort of pet my entire life. I know, I’m a glutton for punishment (and my inhaler) LOL. We’ve had cats, fish, two small lizards, and dogs. I don’t do rodents or birds.
Currently, we have a yellow lab/husky mix. Definitely not the small-ish, hypoallergenic dog that I wanted. He’s a lovable mutt, so I put up with him. Funny story about our dog. My husband didn’t want a prissy lap dog. He wanted one that went “woof” with a manly bark, so that’s why we have the dog we do. Well, our dog doesn’t bark! Oh, he is capable of barking and does on rare occasion, but most of the time he just takes it all in with those soulfull brown eyes of his.
I have six children. 16,15,7,6,4,and 2. I have never wanted a pet..but my children were ALL terrified of others’ pets…weird..so we decided we should get a puppy….to help them overcome their fear…and it worked…unfortunately it was about the end of me and we did end up giving him up after 2 months of REALLY trying to make him part of the family…
God is SOOOO good though..the little neighbor girl behind us loved our dog and asked her parents to go get him from the pound and they did..so he lives in the backyard behind us and we never have to worry how he is or if he is being treated right…we know he is well cared for :)
and I can tell you ..there are many times my family is running in circles trying to get out the door and I am like “CAN YOU IMAGINE THROWING A DOG INTO THIS MIX???” I am glad I was blessed with the short time I had to KNOW pets are NOT for me.
We have two dogs; Clancy a mini dachund and Gideon a 6mo. old German Shepherd “Puppy” (He’s huge)! But he is great. We also have fish and Kitty our cat. My husband and I hate the cat but the kids love him and take care of him (except I get litter box duty so I don’t care if we ever have another cat in the house again) I grew up on a farm and we had BARN cats which in my opion is where they should stay! ANyway, with four kids and three pets it’s nuts but it could be worse. I’d like to get chickens and a cow but hubby says “NO”.
I love my dog and our 2 cats! We’ve always had some kind of pet in our home. However, they are outdoor animals because we have members of the family with asthma. And you’ll never see my dog or cats licking anywhere near our faces. I’ve seen where their mouths have been….ewww!
We had cats and dogs growing up and I never ever wanted to have one of my own when I was an adult. Until my roomate was away on a short-term missions trip to Mexico over Spring Break and our apartment (2nd floor of a big house) had a mice infestation. I quickly brought over one of my parent’s cats for mouse duty!
My husband had a Westie growing up and really wanted one after we bought our house. After our foster sons moved on, my parents gave Sport a playmate named Sprockett. The “girls” are great because they also rarely shed, are great companions and are so cuddly too. Now if we could just get them to not be so hyperactive! :)
I totally agree with you on everything. I’m sooooooo not a pet person at all. But, guess who is? My wonderful hubby. He loves them! He and his siblings grew up with them. And now he wants our 2 sons to have a pet. But, it’s just too much work dealing with that. I’m already running around here trying to get 3 boys together who need a lot of prodding and encouraging to want to take a bath. lol
Growing up my family always had 1 or 2 golden retrievers…they were members of the family – so loyal and loving and fun. We all pitched in on care and my parents were adamant that my brother and I learn how to properly (with kindness but firm rules) take care of them. I would LOVE to have one, but both my husband and I work full time (no children yet) and I definitely do not feel like that is fair for a dog. Hopefully some day in the future!
I completely agree with you that God has made everyone differently and feel that NOT all families should have pets. Despite all of the wonderful blessings that come with them, the DO require extra work and create additional expenses. So many families get a dog without realistically assessing the challenges and the dog is the one who suffers.
We currently have 3 pets – a dog we adopted earlier this year, a hamster (who lost his mate two months ago – that was devastating to our daughter), and a bearded dragon (my son’s baby). They are a pain in the behind, quite honestly. But I love them all… if it weren’t for the kids, though, we wouldn’t have pets. In the last 8 years (since our oldest was born) we’ve had dozens of fish (they all ended up floating), 4 hermit crabs, two cats (which I became allergic to so we had to give them away), two dogs (which couldn’t integrate into our family so we had to give them up), and the aforementioned dead hamster (who was very much alive for 10 months).
I, personally, want some outside pets – chickens, goats, a turtle for the yard – but hubby has said no, because he thinks they would be too much work. Uh, yeah, as if the three indoor critters aren’t too much work… but, he’s the boss… and I’ll keep working on him. :-)
Well, I am an animal LOVER. I won’t want to have any other PET than a dog or two or three. We have one pooch – my fur-baby Roberta. She is a flat coat retriever/border collie mix. DH relented to let me get a dog to help quiet the ferocious baby bug I was fighting at the time. Turns out, he loves her to pieces. She was our one and only baby for about 7 years and now is the instigating “older sibling” now that we have our son. She is forever getting him in trouble by coaxing him to areas where he is not allowed. She is fantastic about helping me clean up the myriad of finger foods dropped all over.
My husband is NOT an indoor animal lover, but having a large family and living in the country, he has learned to “tolerate” the outside coming in! We currently have a Beagle, named Maisie (who does not know that she is a dog), a chocolate lab/huskie named, Molly Mahoney, a rodent (a.k.a hamster) named Jelly Bean and some Beta fish left over from daughter #3’s wedding this summer. At one time, (before I knew any better) I convinced my wonderfully patient hubby to allow us to have a pet pig indoors! The pig would lay in front of the woodstove, “warming up”, until we would have to physically drag her away…pretty sure we could smell bacon! That only lasted a couple of weeks! My hubby had to build a ramp off of our front porch so the little “porker” could be free to root around outside! (You know, the chicken coop, doghouse, garage, used motor oil, etc…)
I, too, have a pit-bull who may be the most supportive animal I have ever owned. Quickly, a new dog breed will arrive together for the media to blast, as they have done rotties and dobies in previous years. Unfortunate that media sensationalism breeds so much inaccurate information.
My husband and I had three cats before our son was born (I actually “inherited” them after my mother passed away). After our son came along, I remember sitting in my rocking chair nursing, and in front of me (on the carpet no less) was cat vomit, and to the right I noticed that the cats were ripping up the back of our couch. The cats were relocated that evening. (No worries, they are still well cared for.) Having a baby and trying to keep a reasonably clean house is enough work without animals running around!