QOTD: 07/22 Pets
 

Do you have any now? Did you have any family pets as a child? Do you wish you did have one or planning to get one?

Sadly, no pets... I'm a huge dog person...but my husband has severe asthma. He loves dogs and has offered to try the hypoallergenic ones, but I won't hear of it... if he does have a problem and we have to give up the pup, I would be devastated and it isn't fair to the pup to think he has a forever home and then not. Plus we have very different views of the role of dogs... for me, dogs are a part of the family, they can sleep where ever they like... my husband grew up that dogs stay outside.

When we need a dog fix, we go over to my mom's... she has a hearing assistant service dog, Dalton... but he is still in training (my mom has only have had him under a year)... we are the only ones that are allowed to play with Dalton and pet him, etc... my step dad can't even do that (because Dalton needs to bond and give all his attention to my mom).. my poor dad, he loves dogs and it's tough on him. :(

We have our sweet mini labradoodle, Taz. He is such a joy. He is smart and probably is the best well behaved dog we have ever had. It was difficult after losing our retriever, Sandy, 6 yrs ago but Taz came along and healed our hearts. He has food allergies so is on a special diet, which fits him in with our family so well LOL. I'm gluten free, sugar free, have autoimmunine issues, my hubs has Crohn's and lots of digestive problems and my daughters have celiac, thyroid problems and allergies too. So, we totally understand Taz's problems LOL. He's on a limited ingredient diet, drinks goats milk and has a special veggie, seaweed mix to put into his kibble. But he's very healthy now after being extremely sick his first year. Here's a pic of him. We always had dogs when I was a kid so I couldn't imagine not having one as an adult.
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-...3kt8jzz-XL.jpg

Awww... he is adorable! My mom's last two dogs had food issues... two dogs back, Sally, had a grapefruit size tumor removed from her intestines and could only eat boiled chicken and rice... the last one, Lilly, had a lot of intestinal issues, too - and had to have a very specialized diet.

Super cute pooch! But, I love my cat!

I'm a cat person. We've always had at least one cat. Right now, just one - Coconut. She is 13 and is so sweet. We had one dog when I was a kid, but they're a lot more work than cats. My hubby & boys always wanted a dog, but I would have ended up taking care of it, so we never got one.
When I was a kid, I wanted a snake... just a small one, not one that I'd have to feed mice to. My mom & sister are deathly afraid of snakes, so it never happened.

We always had dogs growing up- but since my parents were divorced, we never really were SUPER close to them. After my hubby & I were married, we got a lil chihuahua- Mijo- who was our first baby! ;) We lost him when he was 7 years old in a tragic 'attack from above' accident (it really happens!!) So after that- my daughter, who was almost 4 said our next doggy had to be big enough that a hawk couldn't get. After we moved into our house (we were living with inlaws while our home was being built when mijo died, so we weren't in a hurry to replace him)- we surprised our daughter on her 6th birthday with our current baby- Lucy lou the english bulldog.

Miss Lucy has seriously become a MEMBER of our family. She is our 3rd child & knows it! She is THE best behaved & smartest dog I've ever known. We could train her to do anything with a handful of treats! ;) She is my daughter's best friend. When my son was diagnosed with allergies (to all animals, danders, pollens, etc) she said "If Lucy goes, I go" ;) Thankfully we've been able to manage his allergies/asthma by not letting her in his room & not letting her lick him. He will still snuggle/pet her, but is good about washing his hands afterwards. She too has some allergies (most bulldogs have allergy/skin issues) so she's on antihistamines like the rest of us, but is generally in good health- even when she overdoes it at the lake! God forbid the day we lose her.... we will all be devastated.
https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...95&oe=5DE88245

we used to have 2 cats only sadly one died last year, and the second passed away 2 months ago. For now we only have 1 fish. We also had hamsters and in my childhood we always had a dog. Maybe some day we will take a dog ourselves..

Right now I have three cats and seven chooks.

I grew up on a farm so was surrounded by animals all through my childhood. I had lots of pet lambs/sheep, a pet calf, cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, a couple of horses, chooks, fish, birds, a tortoise and even a pet kangaroo!

I loved them all but I think my special favourite was a dear old sheep we called Poddy who was a lamb when I was two or three years old and was with me until I was 18. He liked to eat toast but it had to be wholemeal/multigrain - he would never eat white bread!

We have a dog, Tiger. He is a shih poo. My husband says he's our first and last dog, but he loves him! Tiger turned 11 a couple of days ago. My kids grew up with him, so I'm sure it will be rough when we lose him.

Rebecca, I understand the allergies! We borrowed our neighbor's shih poo (Tiger's litter mate) before we brought Tiger home. And we had permission to take him back if need be. We do pretty well with him, thankfully, since he's been with us 11 years!
http://i.imgur.com/06CspQnh.jpg

No pets growing up. My parents let us have a hamster each when I was maybe 14?

Before we had kids my husband and I got a French Bulldog. It was the breed I wanted if I ever wanted a dog. His name came naturally before even knowing we would get a dog one day. Gaston (from Beauty and the Beast) fitting for a French dog and having a French mom himself.
He was great as a pup and only child. But when we started having kids he became very protective of them and is aggressive toward other people and crazy with other dogs. So now it's a pain because we can't find anyone to watch him if we ever want to go on vacation...

Currently, we have a Beagle (more like my 4th child), a Cat, and 6 Chickens (gotta love having pets that 'poop' out breakfast lol).

When I was a kid we always had a dog (there were a few, never more than 1 at once), I had two cats (one of which had 42 kittens in her lifetime, so I always had new furbabies to play with, train and then rehome). I also had 2 horses growing up..... I would SO love to have horses again someday, but the more time that passes, the reality of me getting up on a horse without fear of breaking a hip gets less and less, but our goal in life is to someday have a hobby farm, a way to be self sustainable (as much as we can), and to just have some fun while doing it, so there are goats, cattle, pigs, hopefully horses in our future somewhere. :)

We have our two boxer pups, Milo (left) and Charlie (right).
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0f1a5af8_n.jpg

And, our cat, Olivia.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3587da05_n.jpg

We also have two chickens.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...786ee565_n.jpg

No pets. As a child, I had fish occasionally. I had a tortoise for a long time, too. My boys want a dog, but I do not. My son would love a cat, but he's quite allergic.

I love this thread,hearing all about your pets!

Growing up we always had animals but they were kind of treated as disposable. We'd get a cat or dog, have them for a while, and then my mom or grandma would give them away to someone. It seemed like we always had several around but I didn't get that attached.

My husband and I have always had animals together as well. When we first moved in together someone had left a cat at the house we moved in to. The poor thing seemed lost and we adopted her.

Now... we have 6 dogs, 5 cats, 6 rats, 2 goats, a miniature horse, 40 chickens and 21 ducks. We plan to get more goats and another miniature horse soon. We would have a lot more if veterinary care were not so much. I love animals!

Here's a collage I made a while ago of our gang. It is missing some and we've lost some (like the rabbits, sadly) since then. I need to make a new one of our crew. Just posting the link because the photo is showing up huge... Flickr Link

We have 3 cats.
As a jind we akways had cats and dogs.

We do not currently have any pets. When we buy our own place, I will be getting a dog of my own -- hopefully an English bulldog. I know my daughter wants her own pet like a gecko or turtle or something.

After getting married and having my son we were given a black lab and she became one of my kids. She was the best dog I have ever known and she grew up with my son and then my daughter when she came along. Having to say goodby to her broke my heart completely. I vowed to never get another dog again, it just hurt so bad.

Two years later we rescued a puppy we've had for almost 3 years now from a kill shelter in Kentucky. We found out she is lab/great dane. She is a little skittish and has some anxiety but overall she has been a really good dog. Now just 3 weeks ago we rescued a puppy!! I have never as an adult had two dogs at once but I am so glad I did it. Watching my pups play together has made me smile too many times to count.

We have also rescued 2 cats and have had them for years now. My daughter is an absolute animal lover and if she had her way we'd have to live on a farm.

Growing up I lived with my Mom and we always had dogs or cats.

No pets. I had a cat (x2) growing up (if you ask my dad, they were outdoor cats, but my mom let me bring them in at night, shhh! ;) ) We move too much & often overseas to have a pet. We have talked about getting one when military life is over, but not sure. My kids would like a dog, and I've become a little bit obsessed with Portuguese Water Dogs. My husband & I are both more "cat people" than "dog people", but I don't really want our house to smell like cat and/or worry about people's allergies.

We have a dog, a staffordshire bull terrier, she's 7 and is called Suki. I am actually trying to rehome her but her breed doesn't have a good rep so it's hard, I would keep her but my 6 year old has a mild allergy to pet dander.

I'm a weirdo and I am making plans to get a tarantula :D we want a cat but again the 6 year old is allergic so unless we pay big ££ we can't have one which makes him sad.

When I was younger I was brought up with a stafforshire bull terrier too and a yorkshire terrier who was a horror, small dog syndrome :p