Question Of The Day - Thursday 11 October

I had a goldfish (originally I had a white fish as well, which sadly died shortly after I got him) which I got for my fifth birthday. She's still alive, and is now an impressive 14 years old.

 

We had two dogs and assorted tropical fish, gerbils, hamsters and a turtle named Toby. I loved cats, but Mom said she didn’t like them, so no cats growing up. But when I got my first cat—Sara the extraordinary tortie—when I was a senior in college, Mom and Dad fell completely and totally in love and tried to convince me to give Sara to them. I got them their own cat, kept mine, and the entire family became committed cat people!

 

Small turtles that weren't even allowed in our house - they lived at an aunt's apartment down the street.
A dog for a week. Brother was terrified of it. Mom hated the responsibility of it when everyone else was at school/work.
Cheap fish in a tank for a short time.
My parent didn't like animals much at all.

 

Being Navy, my parents didn't want a cat or dog because of the hassle of moving. So we only had birds and fish---easy to re-home when relocating. Until I was 10, and the neighbor had a box of kittens at her garage sale. . .we took the 2 females. They moved with us twice after that, and yes it is a hassle for military families. But oh well. They both lived to be 21!

 

I had dogs, cats, a snake, a mouse (pet, not food for the snake) and a horse. Plus, I worked on my grandmother's cattle ranch in the summer where we had dogs, cats, chickens, cattle and even a tortoise.

 

I had two collies and some mutts, several red-eared turtles (didn't everyone?), an aquarium full of fish that died about as fast as we put them into it, a couple of very chatty parakeets, and a sand fiddler crab.

I'm told we had a black cat that would encourage me to pull its tail while I was in my little jumper swing. Also a pit bull that was a total lover. I vaguely remember the cat but not that dog.

 

When I was a kid we had 3 dogs, 2 cats, goldfish and those little painted turtles.

 

we had cats (always cats), dogs, and various hamsters and gerbils that belonged to school classrooms and were just visiting during school holidays. and for over a year, i had a momma sheep and her baby.

 

I lived with my parents until I was 31, so it's hard for me to separate the pets I had before age 18 with after because I didn't really feel like an adult until I officially moved out. I've had 3 dogs, 9 cats, 4 parakeets, and 1 guinea pig my entire life. The dogs were Bart, Lucy, and Maya (Maya is still alive and lives with my parents). The cats were Casey, Milo, Mistletoe, Willow, Lillias, Fiona, Kirby, Remy, and Maisie (Fiona and Kirby live with my parents, Maisie and Remy are mine). The parakeets were Skippy, Snickers, Skippy II, and Clover. The guinea pig was Tobey.

 

Goldfish. My brother had a turtle for years, but it lived in his room so I almost never saw it. I convinced my parents to let me buy a hamster in high school, but it wasn't friendly and didn't live very long. I guess that's what you get from a pet store.

My parents aren't huge animal people.

 

Cats, of course. All indoor-outdoor. Some dogs. There was a gerbil (Sam) somewhere along the line who belonged to my sister. A couple bunnies. My mom was always a big cat lover.

 

It all started with a stray tortie/calico that showed up pregnant. Kitter gave birth to Tiger, Princess, Playful, and J (named after myself).

We had a rabbit named Thumper that my cousin didn't want anymore.
Then after he died, we had 3 rabbits Trixie, Fluffy, and ?.

Then we got hamsters Chip & Dale.

Then we adopted Mally (Marshmallow) and Caramel from a lady who said they were both girls, but Mally turned out to be a boy and got Caramel pregnant. She gave birth to Butterscotch and Oreo.

 

I did not have pets growing up. We had feral cats around. I would play with the kittens when they were small. But my mom said no cats or other animals in the house, She and my dad grew up on farms and animal belonged outside. They just were not animal people.

But both of my brothers and my sister and myself all got cats and/or dogs when we moved out. Don't know where we got our love of animals - it certainly is not inherited!