Tell me about your pets

elsien

bugslet wrote: »

But he's very handsome Elsien!

Ruby, a black and silver 8 year old mini schnauzer. Top dog, defends me from pigeons and spiders.

Ruby has the look of a dog with attitude!

toffifee

I don't want pets - I had cats previously but now I don't want the expense or commitment - but my children do.

As a compromise, we were dog holiday hosts for Barking Mad for a couple of years. We could pick and chose the dates and dogs we wanted to accept.

We're now foster carers for Cat's Protection League cats who are waiting for a new home. It's lovely having a feline about the place again, but all food, vets, cattery etc. bills are covered by CPL and we can stop fostering any time we want. (If we fall head over heels we are also allowed to adopt the cat.)

Just thought I'd let you know, in case a 'temporary pet' option might work better for you at the moment.

SensibleSarah

I have 4 rescue cats (moggies aged between 2-12) and a rescue dog (dalmatian) of my own and I also foster kittens for a local rescue (with the occasional mum cat if kittens are too young) which keeps me more than busy! I'm half looking for another rescue dog to add to the fold but keep changing my mind about upsetting the status quo

My life is ruled by the pets' routines to some degree, early rises to feed, lie-ins are a thing of the distant past with my cats, at least 2 walks a day for the dog whatever the weather, no socialising after work as I have to rush home and feed the hordes and I haven't been on holiday abroad in over a decade, or on holiday at all for 4. But I wouldn't change a bit of it!

Faith177

I have Molly May Brown the Siberian husky she is stubborn, argumentative, sweet, loyal all in one stroppy little I'm Alpha package

Then there is our boy Mr Codey Bear he is a malamute Siberian cross and fricking huge! He's like a little 3 year old boy in dog form naughty, playful and loves his mum. He was our first rescue dog he was brought for someone to get over her fear of dogs and she locked him in a shed :-(

Then there is my first black cat Hades she is boss and mum in the house. She goes into kitten mode every chance she gets and despite being 8 she shows no signs of slowing down

Then we have Megan black and white and very fluffy with an attitude to match! She was born in the rescue centre and was the last of the litter left

Then there is our ginger and white polydactyl Sophie. We saw her in the centre the day we went to get Megan and OH fell in love with her. She had pneumonia and wasn't expected to make it. She was left in a box in an inch of water over the weekend on our vet surgeries door step and was in a pretty sorry state. Since then she has cheated death 2 more times to the point of needing very expensive emergency surgery no wonder she always looks worried!

Then we have our second black cat Lucy-Fur she is tiny and kitten like despite being five. She LOVES cuddles and so affectionate. She was found in a cupboard with her two kittens about 6 months old when the police raided a drug den she was near death from malnourishment hence why she is still so tiny.

Abby and Ziva come next they are Lucy's kittens (how could we split them up after all they had been through??) they are tabbies but Ziva also has a lot of white.bshe is the bigger of the two and a very nervous cat. She only goes into the front garden for 2 minutes and then shoots back in. Abby is small and the baby of the house and let's us know it by being very vocal. Her and Megan patrol the neighbour on a daily basis keeping everything in check.

Lilith is our third and final black we had her sister Eve too but she was hit by a car. They were my husbands cats that he found in his works car park when he worked away for a year. They were found by a regular eating the wrappers from the chip shop to survive. She is a silly girl and very playful she is also my husbands little shadow and curls up with him in bed most nights sod Mummy lol

And finally we have the ginger boys Sam & Dean (their brothers) these two are little monkeys! They love crisps to the point we have to lock them away or they will eat them all. Dean is smaller than Sam but is definitely the leader lol Life is never dull with them two about but they are so sweet and loving especially to their mum They were taken in when someone on my local FB group decided that she didn't want to keep them anymore after her cat had them because she was too busy with college

Madbags

We're a bit pet mad so we have a few.


First pet me and my partner got together was a Tortoise (Mediterranean Spur-Thighed). Terri is her name although we are quite certain it's a him, in which case it's Terry. Lives in an indoor enclosure and always seems pretty happy (and not as slow as you think!). Probably about 6 years old now.


Then we got a green cheek conure which is a small parrot. Similar to before we didn't know if it was a him or her at the time but it's called Bob. Called it Bob because it likes bobbing up and down. It's a very lovely, loyal and friendly bird, loves just sitting on your shoulder and it has it's own language. It doesn't quite speak English well like a normal parrott but you can understand him, it's like muffled speech.


After that we got some budgies, we now have a total of 4. My god they do not shut up, like, ever, even when you cover them at night. Like a feathered broken record player. Lovely birds though and we have one of them hand tame and they have very silly personalities. They are very funny to watch.


Then my partners sister decided to buy some guinea pigs and that we'd look after them (since we have our own house and she lives with her parents). So we have 6 of those now in the back garden in a hutch. They aren't super sociable towards us humans but they certainly come to you begging if they think you have food.


We also have two rabbits, male and female, who are both due in the vets Monday to be castrated and neutered. Once that's done they can live together in a couple months time outside in the other hutch. Stew (the male rabbit) is lovely to handle and loves cuddles and licks you as well though he does tend to attack you at first (bit territorial). Sweep the female rabbit is a dwarf lop rabbit and she has a lovely temperament but doesn't like to be held or handled too long.


We have an Orange Winged Amazon parrot also who is called Jewel. Also another lovely bird who loves to come out and sit with you and lets you rub his head etc. He's always happy and loves to talk. We've just taught him to say "Do you want to explode?" i.e. from Despicable Me, (we're not terrorists lol).


We have a Sun Conure called Chewy as he loves to chew everything in sight. Another smaller parrot. He loves attention and often squawks at us if he isn't getting any. Loves to come out for cuddles and even rolls over on his back for extra cuddles.


Finally we have two dwarf hamsters. There used to be 4 but two died. They are old for hamsters but the 2 remaining seem pretty happy.

rita-rabbit

Cornucopia wrote: »

I have a Degu that I adopted via the Pets at Home re-homing scheme nearly 2 years ago.

Degus are medium-sized rodents that originate from South America. They are like a short-haired Chinchilla or in UK terms a cross between a rat and a squirrel.

They are highly intelligent, social animals. They are strict vegans, somewhat house-trained and trainable in other ways. They have the capability ultimately to respond to voice commands (mine will return to his cage on command).

I think they make a good alternative pet for households without small children (I am allergic to cats), but need to be kept in pairs or more unless you have a lot of time to spend with them. I work from home...

Mia, aged 14. I had 2 but the other 1 died earlier this year of stomach cancer.
Mia is a tabby female with attitude. Quite vocal & fluffy. Vets r scared of her as she's small, v cuddly but once they want to examine her she switches in2 attack scarey mode!
Iive in a 1st floor flat but since the other cat died I've been taking her with me to the neighbouring allotment which she really enjoys: walking around & nibbling grass in the sunshine. I also have been taking her in the car to visit Mum as she's really cool about travelling. She's doing great health wise since her thyroid ectomy & I'm currently still transitioning her to raw feeding. She's a major feature in my life. Note: people with cited cat allergy have found raw fed cats not an issue for them. I hope to get a kitten in the autumn to keep her company as she's not used to being on her own & I work full time

kippers

I have a Jack Russell terrier cross that we brought home from the RSPCA in Oct 2014 when she was three yrs old....she was very thin and scared and unfortunately this came out as barking and lunging. She was scared of everything and we had to screen all our windows off with that sticky back plastic stuff so she couldn't see out ,,.she would go mad if a bird flew past outside or the wind blew our tree.
She barked and lunged at the TV, washing machine, any little noise from next door the hoover, food mixer etc etc and outside she reacted to men, hats balaclava's walking stick, litter pickers, all traffic, birds, prams, ladies in dark coats etcetc....it was a nightmare walking her.... but worst of all if there was a dog in sight (even if it was right the otherside of the park) she would go mad! I had so many people shout at me when their dogs when ran over to her and she barked and lunged at it ....it was horrible.

She also wouldn't sleep on her own and wet at the frontdoor when I went out even for a few moments. If I went in the garden she would just pace round and round the living room table until I came in, even though my husband and teenage daugters were with her.

We had plug in duffusers, collars, kalm aid in her food and nothing worked and we muzzled her after she bit dog.

In Nov 14 we got a fully qualified behaviourist who by Feb 2015 said she was untrainable and we should give her up, it was then that vet put her on doggy 'prozac' as a last resort, which apparently would take 6 wks to work fully......we never did notice any difference from this.

In April 2015 we found a trainer that didn't use treats to train and just used lots of praise. He had dealt with lots of reactive dogs and since then thankfully my dog has gone from strength to strength. It has been a long (and expensive) journey, but she is so much better now. The trainer 'trained' me rather than the dog and we have sorted nearly every issue she had.

The vet has since picked up from her vacination card that we were her fourth owners, as he showed us the four times she had been vacinated by the RSPCA and as soon as he pointed it out to us we could clearly see the four name and address stickers on the card!....the RSPCA certainly didn't tell us that ....they also never mentioned any of the problems she had-all they said was she was a little bit nervous and she could live with another dog! .....though we certainly knew very quickly she couldn't go anywhere near another dog at the beginning. I know if someone else had taken her then she would have ended up at the RSPCA for a fifth time, bless her.

Now: She has hadn't the doggy 'prozac' for a long time and we no longer have screening on our windows thanks to our new trainer (Havers Dog Behaviour). We walk by traffic and she now has doggy friends on the park...and she is no longer muzzled. I think she will always be on high alert but I can now deal with this and no one shouts at me anymore on the park and we walk with lots of other dogs. She no longer wets when I leave her and she sleeps soundly in her bed next to my bed (though she does still have reoccuring bad dreams).

She is a good weight now and healthy and enjoys her walks (she used to run and hide when I picked up the lead, but she runs to the door now wagging her tail). She still cowers if you go to stroke her when she isn't expecting it (we think she must have been hit in her past), but mostly she loves fuss now.

We all adore her and we are so glad we perservered with her and put right what the other owners caused or just couldn't put right.

I get lots of compliments from dog walkers on the park now as they have seen my dog change over the last 20 months and one lady even told me "I had given my dogs life back to her" which meant the world to me.

Would I have a rescue dog again?....My first answer is a definate no.....but then I have learnt so much that it would be a shame not to help another in the same situation.....but for now I'll stay as I am

mellymoo74

Kippers that's fantastic you could also be talking g about my two
Froo came from a family. The child threw her around she HATES boys once they start walking.
She is dog reactive as she wasn't socialised
Wees herself if I leave her for more than 10 mins

Boo cowers and hides if there are any raised voices or you move to fast.

I would bring them both back here in a heartbeat despite not even going to the toilet alone lol

gettingtheresometime

Spot the beagle is in charge of our household and has been since we got him as a pup 5 years ago.

Have kept the knicker and tv remote industry going since as well.

Has selective deafness.

Wouldn't be without him though