How many Pets ?

Nearly forgot (how could I) we also have a peacock. He just wandered up the drive about 4 years ago, we fed him, and he's stayed ever since. The cats soon learned to respect him.

Hi sheena
We had a ginger moggy first, then our first retired greyhound. When we came to the kennels to collect him, my DH was astounded at his size he imagined a greyho0nd was the size of a whippet

Having gone through the formalities I opened the door, he jumped in and stretched out. He took up the whole of the back seat. Our then current joke was born, "Where does your dog sit? Any where he wants." Unfortunately 5 years later he developed cancer.

Our second was enormous. I swear he was part greyhound, part fox hound. He was white with tan patches, well muscled and carried his tail above his back as fox hounds do. He couldn't be trusted with any dog,
which made walking him past another unsuspecting dog a trial. He'd lung at an unsuspecting collie or any dog. Unfortunately 14 months later he died quickly from a heart attack in my DH's arms.

Our third and last greyhound was an absolute darling. His insides were truly up the creek, so we fed him a diet of rice, yoghurt and boiled chicken. Gradually his stomach and bowl calmed down. I still miss his
nose pushing its way gently into my hand and his wagging tail and pleasure at our return. He was sadly missed. there are parts of the forest we haven't walked for years.

Not wanting to walk the street at night we bought a male Maine Coon. We were warned by his breeder "Main Coons are like 2 year old toddlers. We were sceptical, but know her words were true. now

At two years he was behaving like an old cat, so we looked and bought a splayed female MC who has kept him on his toes ever since. He's a lovely, gentle cat and makes his feeling known by growling especially when I remove3 him from a chosen sunny window sill, in order to comb his coat, clean his teeth, gums and tongue. He makes his feeling felt by growling, but no teeth or claws are involved.

He's twice the weight and size of our female MC but she often out-thinks him .

How do your dogs or cats surprise or amuse you?

I've had pets all my life apart from a few years in early 20s. Mainly cats, but once a dog and 2 cats. I have been tempted to get a dog again to make me exercise - but I did find my previous dog much more of a tie than cats. You know they are waiting for you to come home, and feel guilty if I stayed out later. Cats don't care so much if you're late home, as long as they have some shelter and food.

Whn we moved to our current rural home 18 years ago we asked the local farmer if they had any spare kittens. He rang me to say one cat had had 3, come and choose which 2 we want. He would drown the other!!! Of course we insisted on having all 3. Flash, Candy and Rosie.

Just a few months later, one cold October afternoon, torrential rain, I thoguht I heard a faint miaow. It was a tiny tabby kitten huddling under our car, so cold, starving, wouldn't have lasted much longer. So then there were 4, Lucky came into our lives. We asked everywhere and no one knew where she'd come from.

We had many very happy years with theses loving cats, growing up with our 2 sons, part of the family. Then they gradually all have died over last 3 years. After 2 went, we got 2 rescue kittens, and have just got a second pair, so we are 4 again! No doubt they will be the last kittens we have, so are making th most of them.

We have two retired racing greyhounds, called Crystal and Harrison. We were enticed up the the Retired Greyhound Trust sanctuary just up the road to us, where we fell in love with their gentle ways and daft characters! Crystal is the elder at 7, she's the mastermind and Harrison (4), who's a bit of a thickie, is her henchman. Both very lazy and their favourite visitor is the Tesco delivery man!

We have 3 dogs at the house, a german shepherd, a mongrel (part maremma part who knows what) and a pure bred maremma! Down at our land we have a stray "hunting " dog (who's afraid of loud noises) and a puppy of indeterminate breed, ie. another mongrel, plus 4 hens , a cockerel, 2 ducks and 2 geese! Keeps us busy!!!

Hi Sheena We have three rescue dogs 2 exbreeding shes both Cavs and a mistreated Westie a he also another cav who was an unwanted Christmas present another he, ages 5 to 8 year, have to say they all have medical problems except the last one (the unwanted one) and the shes were hard work to get them to trust again but we have had one 4 years one 3 years one two years and one 1 years no more well I dont think so, but when you look at them its worth all the hard work for the love they give you even if your up at 5/6 am to feed them. So the answer is if you can afford them and have the room the skys the limit.

Oh, we do have fish in the pond. But they're self sufficient and look after themselves so I don't count them.

While we had kids at home we had pets. I think the most was six at one time - one pony, one springer spaniel, two cats, one rabbit, and one guinea pig. That's not counting the pair of gerbils which were kept in an old fish tank half filled with peat which kept producing babies every few weeks (they were supposed to have both been female) and the stick insects which were eventually released into the wild (the ivy clad trees at the end of the garden) to enjoy a last summer's freedom before the frosts saw them off. And the pond fish. Goodness knows how many of them there were. They kept breeding too, to such an extent that we had a Herons Welcome sign.

Now we are pet free. We'd love a dog or two but as we like to travel while we can and take ourselves off sailing occasionally it wouldn't really be right. So we content ourselves with dog sitting the DCs four dogs when they go away.

Being a cat, our Pepper didn`t have a lot of "things", but after he died, I put his 3 dishes, his favourite toy, his documentation from the rescue organisation he came from, and his vaccination records from the vet`s, plus the flyers we sent out when he was missing, all into a shoebox, and put away in a wardrobe upstairs. When Mia came, she had her own new dishes and toys.

merlotgran...I know just what you mean..we did much the same when we lost our first greyhound....as soon as we got back from the vet we cleared her room, put everything of hers away out of sight and sat and wept. I felt as though I was almost trying to remove all of her from our lives, it was awful. It was so painful just to see her bed.

We lasted just a week of coming downstairs to an empty house, and so little Minnie came into our lives...and she completely helped with the grief and filled our lives and home again.

When my beloved Rhodesian Ridgeback died I redecorated the kitchen as soon as I got back from the vet's. I removed her bed from the corner and painted the walls a different colour. It was nearly midnight when I finally finished but I couldn't bear to see her things in the room where we had spent so much time together although her collar and lead still hang in the utility room

She was my companion and protector and I still miss her

I've never been without cats and dogs and I never said No to any pet my children wanted. Now I have two little dogs and one cat and as I get older they are more important to me than ever. They cost a lot to keep and it's difficult to go away even for a night or two but they give me love and companionship every day.
Each time I've lost a dog the worst thing has been returning to a silent empty house. I never want to live without a pet to love and care for, even though I have a large family.

The vet scans it when the dog or cat has it's vaccinations.

Tegan, there`s been a sign on the park gates in Boston for several years now, saying no loose dogs, but nobody seems to take any notice, whether it`s actually law or not, I don`t know. And if a rescue animal has been chipped already, how is the new owner supposed to know where the chip is?

I think it is lovely that so many take rescue dogs we have 3 and one unwanted at the moment our last rescue who we have had for a year is in pain going for xrays Tuesday the vet thinks its the way she was treated before could be spine trouble we will wait for the outcome.

Can you let dogs off in the park now? Someone at the vets last week told me that it is now illegal to let a dog off a lead in a public place such as a park; also that an owner must know the exact place where a dogs identichip is and could get in trouble if it's migrated without informing the powers that be [whoever they are].

Once again I have to say how I am enjoying reading all your stories..goodness some of them tug at the heart strings too....I wonder if, like me, writing about your various past pets has brought up some lovely memories? and for those of us who have pets here and now...well I truly think we are blessed... and I don't mean that in a syrup -y sort of way ...

For all of you who have three or four dogs...how do you find it walking them all? As you know I have the two greyhounds who are always on the lead, and little Penny who we can let off in the park with no worries...she's a very good little girl despite her terrifying Romanian background.
I did foster dogs last year and would love to do so again, but it's the walking them that I find hard..I run out of hands !!

I hope you keep the stories coming....it is amazing the different sort of pets we have all had .
whenim64 you mentioning your African greys..... brought back childhood memories for me...my uncle had one called Cocoa...and oh boy could he talk (and swear !) and sing "oh I do like to be beside the seaside" I can hear him now ! Mind you I was terrified of him when they let him out of his cage !
downtoearth I'm sure we will all be thinking of Ellie on Wednesday..please do let us know how she gets on .

Ells is also very long suffering she is pillow n blanket to an active 2 year old god bless our doggy family x

Our bassets were brilliant with the children when.

We had a really long sofa bed in the playroom which the dogs would lie on, end to end. It was nothing to find a child using the front and back legs of a sleeping basset as 'arms' whilst using the dogs tummy as a back rest. The dogs never took, or attempted to take, any food the child might be eating. On the other hand, my mother made a chocolate and orange cake and, mindful of the dogs, put it in the middle of the kitchen table. She came back to the kitchen a short while later and found both dogs ON the table but no cake!

I agree with everyone who believes children should have pets in their lives. We have had some real characters living with us as the children were growing up, particularly the two African Grey parrots who mimicked all our voices and household sounds and would drive the dogs potty by telling them in my voice that it was 'walkies time - where's your lead?'

We've had tropical fish, pond fish, two cats, two clumber spaniels (one rescued), two cocker spaniels (one rescued), a German shepherd, a couple of rescue Heinz 57s, and now my basset hound, who is adored by all the grandchildren and is written about and drawn in schoolbooks and on the classroom walls. Yesterday, she spent most of the afternoon playing on the stairs with my two grandsons, happily sitting between them and wagging her tail at me when I invited her to come down - not interested!

When my children were little we had a succession of small rodents, hamsters, guinea pigs, but none of them lasted very long. The best one was my DD's hamster, it was nearly 3 when it died. We had a black toy poodle named Coco by my 3 yr. old DD. We lived in the country but moved into a small market town when he was about 10. He never learned any road sense, and hated cats! One night my DH let him out in the garden for the usual reason, he spotted a cat and was off. He ran into the road and was killed by a very upset lady in her car. Wevthen were given a parson Russell terrier. He was beautiful to look at, but a very angry dog. When he hit puberty he developed what the vet thought could be "rage syndrome". He was certain the house belonged to him. We couldn't move around, or sit on the floor! With regret we had him put to sleep, the vet thought this was the only solution. We found out later that all his siblings had suffered the same fate. We now have another Parson, a bitch called Weiser. She has been a fantastic dog, very gentle and loving, would let all my grandchildren fuss about with her, very longsuffering. She is 16 now and getting rather doddery and incontinent. I think she is nearing the end of her life. We want to move next year, into a retirement property of some sort, and mist of these stipulate no pets, so I think she will be out last dog. Oh! I nearly forgot about Magic. She was a cockatiel we had for a few years. Very loud bird, better than a guard dog! She gave a loud squark one day and fell dead in the cage. Must have been a heart attack we think. We buried her under a tree outside our house. Well that has been our pet saga.

GA

I cannot imagine a home without an animal sharing it. I've four small dogs here at the moment having agreed to look after next door's and my granddogs as they are all away this weekend. They seem to have bonded as a small pack and there's only been one fight - at feeding time.

I agree with all the people who say that children should have animals in their lives. So, we have had an Afghan hound, a beagle, a cocker spaniel, two basset hounds and two miniature schnauzers, probably 25 cats, guinea pigs, gerbils, rabbits, gold fish and tropical fish.

Currently, we have one black cat, called Kiwi! We are debating getting another dog but are not sure we want the commitment. I'd love a couple more cats but DH is neurotic about them scratching the furniture!

popped in yesterday quickly before my littlest GD was delivered to my care while mum was at work to say thank you for Ellies good wishes ,only to find this morning that it didn't send....so thank you all..
its true as was said earlier animals take a piece of your heart with them when they go,we have had rabbits,guinea pigs,ducks,chickens,all with personality...we got Ells shortly after my daughter died those of you who remember me as Nellie may remember I had posted several times about this,my GD was then aged 4 and I believed that children should grow up with animals hence all the above,last two of the litter Ells chose me and she has been with us as a constant friend,confidante,for the last 10 years,especially during the early years with the 2am screaming ab dabs that happen sometimes....so poor old lady now we will see what comes forth Wednesday/Thursday...animal lovers and doggy people are so friendly,when I am out and about can never resist stopping and asking to stroke all the lovely furry friends out,and enjoy a quick chat with their human family as well,I feel for all of you that have lost beloved pets xxxx

I still have photos of me with a sheep I met on holiday in Greece when I was @ 19; she used to follow people around like a dog...I hadn't realised till then how sweet they could be.