Saying "no" to pets - Page 2

We have a house full of animals. Mostly cats and two dogs. We have a ferret but after he passes we will not get another one. Great pet but just not with all the cats and dogs. I want another dog and have been waiting to find the right one at a price we can afford. Pets here are expensive even from the newspaper, and the shelters rarely get puppies. When they do they go so fast. We want a puppy so he is raised with the other two dogs and all the cats. The last time we got an older dog from the shelter he attacked one of the cats and we took him back the next morning. He was way to aggressive. After that Dh said the next dog would have to be a puppy so it could be raised around the cats.

I do understand about the clean thing. I could never maintain an immaculate home with all our animals. We close doors for rooms we don't want them in but for the most part they have free run of the house. Trips and vacations are out of the question for us as a family. Dh stays home and takes care of the animals while Ds and I go to visit my Dad, he is a little sad about staying home but he does not trust the animals with anyone else.

This is me too. We always had pets growing up too. The ONLY time I didn't have pets was probably during college and the 2 of 3 years I lived in an apt afterward. I did have a cat that was "mine" during that time (her name was "precious baby" ) but she was still at my parent's house. As soon as I got out of the apt, I got a cat. I would MUCH rather have an animal to love me and snuggle with me than an immaculate house.

We are a no pet family.  Dh had a cat which he brought to the marriage and we loved her, she was around 18 when she died. We all loved her.   We had a kitten (at the same time) and it was awful, this is just before we moved.  They fought constantly and I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown (not really).  Moving didn't help, it made things much worse.  She totally ruined our brand new carpeting for our house (I don't blame her...too much stress with all the moves - we didn't know we were going to move when we got her).  It was Awful.  We had to pay Another 6K to get all new carpeting for the entire house, she really was a huge reason that contributed to our finance problems - we spend hundreds on stain cleaners, everything we could think of to re-train her to use her litter box, got new litter boxes, vet visits, etc.  Nothing worked, so we had to take her to a shelter.  There was no way we could afford Another 6K after already spending 12K on carpeting!!

 

I'd be mentally open to another cat if we didn't have this problem in this house.  We got all the smell out (yeah, that was another at least $300, if not more).  But I can't - Will not - take the chance another cat will mark around here.  I will not go through that again!!

 

So at first we had a no pet policy for a year.  That year is past, and really the only pet I'd consider if I wasn't going back to work would be a dog.  Now don't get me wrong.  I was all for having gerbils, hamster, etc. but dh said a definite NO rodents of any way shape or kind.  He made me get rid of my guinea pig when we got married.  He just hates rodents and is very mild mannered in other areas, so if it bothers him that much, I have to respect that.

 

I won't do fish because we had awful luck - we bought ds two goldfish years ago and they died the very next day!  He was so horrified about it all I have put a permanent NO kind of any fish around.   We kept lizards at our house at spring break from school, but even though we kept it really clean, that reptile smell lingered months!  It got into the carpeting (new, but at our old house), curtains, and generally the air.  I can't take that smell and I'd wretch if I went around that room.  So no reptiles!!

 

So,  am going back to work part time, and dh and ds jokingly say they would like a dog because they know I would take care of it.  Frankly, that has me really miffed.  Ds doesn't ask, he knows he would need to share in the responsibility, same with dh if we were to get one, and they are not interested, so I am not either!! 

 

Though, when ds goes to college I Will probably get a little dog I can carry around in a purse and take with me.  It will be my midlife crisis dog!  So no I don't think you are selfish.  My friend just got a dog and told me if she knew how it was going to be (they had two previous dogs) with no one but her taking care of it, she would never had agreed.  She told me to think long and HARD about getting one and I've taken her advice well.

Edited by Stormy - 7/30/12 at 4:25pm

We have no pets, but we aren't anti-pet. My husband grew up with a very loving small dog, and we always had tons of cats.  We took one of my mom's cats in after she died, but the cat didn't live much longer - it died before M was born.

 

We are definitely waiting until M, first of all ASKS, and secondly, can care for a pet.  I'd much rather have a cat because they can be left alone. A dog really ties you down, or else you have to pay to board it.

It is a horrible thing to say but 4 more years til our dog reaches her life expectancy. Really we need to be catering to our kids needs and the average $500 spent on the dog drives me crazy. The having to take her with us or board her. Every time she knocks over the baby.

 

No we are done with pets. First it was a cat, than a fish tank, than another cat, than a bird, than the dog. Down to only the dog. But Really I would love to take the $500 a year we spend on her and spend it on fixing up our yard that she has ruined. So 4 more years.

We currently have a dog, 2 cats and a fish. Our dog is starting to have joint pain and is slowing down. Even though we love our dog, when he moves on, we are not planning on getting another one. We are a very busy house and like to have the flexibility to go somewhere for a night without major planning and that's hard to do with a dog. I will miss the security as I am home alone with the kids a lot, but the kids will be older by then. We will probably always have 2 cats, that way they have each other when we are gone and I do love seeing how special our pets are to our kids.

 

Even with a dog and 2 indoor cats, I don't have pet hair everywhere. I find it's pretty easy to keep it under control with the usual maintenance cleaning.