Pets You Have/Had/Want?

[Moonface]

We had a thread for pets on the old board, but it hasn't seen use since 2012 so I'm sure there has been a lot of pet related happenings since then. I know I've got a lot of new stuff to share since 2012. XD

So the only pets I've ever owned are all cats, the first of which was a black and white cat called Lager. She passed away when I was only a few years into primary school and I only remember it because we came back home from vacation and the neighbour looking after her told us she had passed away during our absence. I know it wasn't from age but I forget what illness it was that took her suddenly.

My next cats were a pair called Dee (tortoise shell) and Dill (tabby), which I got when I was like 8 or 9 (so like 1998/1999). Those bastards lasted what felt like forever, with Dee passing in August 2016. I can't recall exactly when Dill passed but I think it was 2013; I can't find anything anywhere online that I posted about her passing to find a date. >.<

Before I moved out from my parents we got another cat called Susie (black and white), and she's still living with them now because I wasn't bringing her with me to the States.

Briefly co-owned Shira's old black cat called Yoru when I moved in with her, but eventually we gave her over to her mother because her diabetic needs were preventing us from going out in the evenings and it was just better for her to stay there instead of with us. That cat passed away uh...last year? I try to block it out because it's the first and only time I've been present when an animal is being put to sleep.

Now finally at current day, Shira and I own a black cat called Mars. He has some health needs but nothing we need to worry about so long as he gets the right food, and I love tormenting the shit out of him. I have many a time pushed my luck and received claw marks on my arm for my trouble, but for me it's part of the fun.


I doubt I'd ever care to own anything other than a cat in my lifetime, since no other animals appeal to me as pets.
So what pets do you folks have/had/want? I know some of you here have cats currently but I don't think the people I'm thinking of have shared their names or any other stuff about them, so the floor is open to you now for that.

[ShiraNoMai]

I've had mainly cats as well, but I've been an owner of:

• A parakeet I named Cheepy (previous owner named it Blue)
  
• a yellow-bellied slider (turtle) named Squirtle
  
• a small Dachshund puppy that I don't even think we had named it (we had returned him after a few days; wasn't for us.)
  

My first pet was my cat Jelly, an obese Ragamuffin. I adopted her from a family friend as an 8-week old kitten when I was 7 years old. Named after my plushy of the same name (which, in turn, was named after the coloring of the ears reminding me of strawberry jelly from a jar). She was unique in that she had a complete personality switch over once my parents had her fixed and declawed at the same time (prior to us learning of the horrors of declawing): she was a rambunctious, happy little furball, and post-trauma, she turned into a very aloof, cold-hearted, morbidly obese floof. She lived to be 7, needing to be put down once she developed obstipation from ingesting so much of her long fur. 

Got Yoru, as Moony mentioned, when I was 17. She was a black domestic shorthair that was just over a year old, rescued from a Petsmart Adoption Day event. She was a typical scaredy cat: ran at the sight of people, scared of practically anything. Had a real problem with wearing shoes around her, and she had a general distrust of men. Sweet as can be when alone though. Very photogenic, too. Developed diabetes at age 7 and had to be put on insulin injections. My mom was over giving her treats, I think. She lived to be 11 when she developed a tumor that wasn't feasibly removeable at her age in her condition. 

Now, Mars! A black domestic medium haired cat with patches of white in "human" places (chest, arm pits, lower belly). Adopted at 3 years old, he just turned 7 a month ago. My first male cat. He's very sweet, and a friendly, open doofus whose curiosity gets the better of him a lot of the time. Developed pancreatitis at some point, which is manageable but does flare up and can be scary if it gets bad enough. Unpreventable, though. Just bad genetic RNG according to most studies I've read on the matter.

[Mr EliteL]

I've had two Hamsters and three cats, and I'll give special mention to some other cats that have been friendly, apart of my immediate family or I looked after too.

Fluffy - The first pet I got to interact with, she was a brown hamster. Just bought from the local vets way back in the late-ish 90's. I don't remember much about her now just the name, what colour she was. Guess she was just a run-of-the mill hamster really.

Ginger - Our second hamster, white with orange/ginger patches. She was bought from the same place a little after Fluffy passed. Likely because we (my siblings and I) missed Fluffy too much and really wanted another hamster. Both lasted roughly a human year, the usual life expectancy for a hamster. I can't remember if it was Fluffy or Ginger, but think it was the latter; I do have a fond memory of one of them just dashing around the house for whatever reason and I suppose we ended up chasing, but really just followed her about to see what she was doing.  

Snowy - Our first cat and the bestest boi. OK, you hate to call a pet your favourite, and of course each of the cats are my most beloved pet, but damnit he went too soon. He was white cat, a bit dirty and at some point he had a bad left eye, it was mostly fine but would have a bloody stain just under, possibly a condition. I never knew what it really was, but he lived fine with it. I don't know if he was a missing cat, never saw a poster about him or mention in the local paper, but he just turned up at our place one day and decided that's where he belonged. He was around when Ginger was alive, and yes he was quite interested in her cage at times.  Nope, he did not eat her, she passed naturally luckily. Anyway, he was mostly an outdoor cat, he did come inside sometimes to hang about, sleep, what have you. Remember him scaring a poor doggy that wandered into our back garden, but my young self thought he was awesome to do that. He passed in 2005. Loved him heaps, darn I miss him.

Tess/Tessa - She was known as either, she and her sister Tammy was from a litter born in 2002 from a friend's white cat who bred with a tabby male. Tess was white, as clean as white can be, she had the cutest meow too. She loved it when I rubbed her cheeks, I know cats do enjoy that but she seemed to noticeably like it the most when I stroke there. I...mainly stroke with the back of my hand and when I rub the cheek I use my finger joints. She did love the outdoors, similarly to Snowy but a bit less so than him. When our back garden changed to have more of a bricked floor from a tiled and a big grass area, there is a step she claimed as hers basically. She seemed to get along with her sister, or at the very least they tolerated each other, but oh darn when they were happy enough to sleep next to one another it was the sweetest thing, usually when they were younger, but there were a few instances they did so when older. Tess was usually the one to catch birds or mice out of the two.
There was a neighbouring cat that used to torment both the sisters, one instance Tess was the one to get into a rolling fight with this cat which I actually witnessed and damn, not a sight you want to actually see your baby be involved in.  I was not about when she passed on a weekend in '18, she did come down with a condition which I can't remember what exactly. She stayed around for a while after contracting it. One of my last memories of her was when she sat on my PS4 when it was laying flat, which she never ever did before, just waiting for me.  

Tammy - A tabby cat, the one I chose out of the litter (my sister chose Tess). There was four white, 3 tabby and one black. The black one was tempting, but I don't know what made me choose that particular tabby. She's still here today at 20 years old, holy moly. She was louder than Tess and a bit more aggressive, probably because she was played with more by my dad who used a glove to tickle her, and she'd go absolutely mad on that glove.  (btw Tess wasn't aggressive) She eventually has come to hate any other cat or animal for that manner, probably from the cat that tormented both her and Tess, because they got on with Snowy plus another cat I'll mention soon, beforehand. She adores to eat though, oh boy, does she know when dinner's ready or you got a takeaway and about to tuck in, she's there ready and waiting for something. She currently has diabetes, problem with her kidneys, lost half her ear due to cancer which stopped after it got cut off by the vets, problem with her teeth and ran into a ladder which damaged her nose, and she's 20. With all that though, she's still chasing cats away from the house, rushing for food, bothering us with her loud meow at night. She's probably due this year, especially after getting an expectancy from the vet very recently. We took her off what she was "meant" to be eating so she can enjoy whatever she has left.

Honourable Mentions

~Tommy - This lovable black and white cat was around with Snowy, Tess and Tammy so we had four cats about the place! He was a friendly cat who enjoyed visiting us, good buds with Snowy and was a harmless boi, would never fight back if any other cat tried anything, namely the two sisters if he stayed around them too long.  But unfortunately after the incident they started to treat him with less tolerance.  Still he was welcome here whenever he showed up, he liked sitting on laps, get the occasional snack from us, plus was allowed to sleep. Ah yes, and would rarely move out the way of vehicles, who'd have to honk their horn or a passerby/us have to go and pick him up out the way. A fond memory I was lying in bed and he joined me at the pillow. I put my hand on him and he put a paw on me. I don't remember which year he stopped appearing which meant he passed, I'd often have dreams he still turned up a number of times after I realised he was gone, making me lose track of when the time was.

~Others - Sam, a kind of half tabby and half white, the tabby on top and white on bottom sort of. My grandma and step-granddad's cat who was quite a beefy boy earlier on. He got taught on not to catch any wildlife the hard way, and so birds realised they could sit near him and not fear any attack. He was peaceful indeed. 

Sooty, fully black, and the cat after Sam, who has not yet learned to go after wildlife. I think it was kind of the same deal as Snowy in that she turned up around theirs and started to live there, and they accepted. She's still quite young now, playful and has staring contests with foxes that get food from my step-granddad, who don't dare to approach her.  

Suzie - Moony's fourth cat, I got to look after her for about two weeks when his family went to Turkey in September 2017. I did not mind staying up late, even with a 6AM shift in the morning to play with her at night.  

Chestnut - My brother and partner's cat which is a ginger and white cat. He's very shy to other people, although apparently has opened up a little bit. I've only seen him properly once in person, and that was shortly as he hid behind a table for a while then show up upstairs. Hope to get to know him better soon.


Ah, and well I'm a cat person mainly. I have had thoughts of if I wanted a dog and that I would pick a Husky, but ultimately I think I want to stay with cats.

[Moonface]

@Mr EliteL: I forgot you had that period of looking after Susie. You mentioning her being a night owl made me realize that all of the cats I've had with my parents always had me dealing with them at ungodly hours because of how late I would go to bed due to @ShiraNoMai and others being in a different time zone from me that required me to be up late. I would usually get all the cats in at like 2am unless they were happy and safe to stay out all night.

Also seeing you talk about cat fights, the only memorable one for me with any of my pets is when Dee and Dill fought each other legitimately. They were both inside by the back door and another cat entered the garden and was right by that door, and both of them were transfixed on it because obviously they would be. Unfortunately, Dill was right up against the door window and Dee was further back, and the latter pounced in an attempt to attack the trespassing cat through the glass and unintentionally attacked Dill instead because she was sitting between them and I guess Dee expected to magically go through the glass and over her.
Dill was not impressed thinking it was an actual attack and tensions were already high because of the cat outside, and they fucking went at it full on. We had to split them up for over a week in the house because they would try to murder each other if they crossed paths.

[ShiraNoMai]

I've never had multiple cats at once so I can't say I've ever seen that happen. That's crazy though, some beef to have with a practical sibling of yours. I guess it doesn't surprise me when you consider cats have very similar brain structures to humans, especially in regards to emotions.

I've considered dogs as well in the future. I don't think anything larger than a medium-sized dog would make sense. I feel like the more containable they are, the easier they are to deal with, in the same vein as cats are. A docile friendo.

[Nebulous]

I want to get some puppies!

[Mr EliteL]

@Moonface : Yeesh, that was unfortunate to happen like that. My two sisters often had fights I don't think they ever got to the point of being really serious, especially having it last over a length of time like Dee and Dill's did. There's was more like back off you're in my space but also kind of a play fight too (I take it Dee and Dill did that kind of thing too as well). There were some instances of both of mine were watching another cat in our back garden and one would attack the door but luckily didn't hit the other to cause that behaviour.

[Moonface]

I've considered dogs as well in the future. I don't think anything larger than a medium-sized dog would make sense. I feel like the more containable they are, the easier they are to deal with, in the same vein as cats are. A docile friendo.

If a dog didn't require walking, cleaning up fresh shit, etc. I would consider a dog, but I just could never stand dealing with all that stuff with them. I prefer the independence that a cat brings with it.

I want to get some puppies!

Any particular breed you'd look for?

@Moonface : Yeesh, that was unfortunate to happen like that. My two sisters often had fights I don't think they ever got to the point of being really serious, especially having it last over a length of time like Dee and Dill's did. There's was more like back off you're in my space but also kind of a play fight too (I take it Dee and Dill did that kind of thing too as well). There were some instances of both of mine were watching another cat in our back garden and one would attack the door but luckily didn't hit the other to cause that behaviour.

Oh yeah they play fought all the time. This was just the one instance where they went serious due to a misunderstanding that dragged over the course of a week or more.

[Nebulous]

@Moonface probably a german shepard or lab

[WR91]

I've had a few pets in my current 30 years of life so far.

The first one I could really remember is a hampster I had for a long while named Joey (from the TV show Friends). The second pet I remember is a dog named Rocky (from The Rock/Rocky Balboa) but he was too hyper and my parents got rid of him. Then we jump almost two decades to when my sister had a little palmerainien dog named Bella. After she died, my sister got another palm and named him Charlie. He's still doing well (fingers crossed) and hope to have him for a long while longer.