Tell us your stories about choosing a pet for a chance to win a £100 voucher for a pet shop of your choice

We have a chinchilla. They are really fun furry animals that love to play and cuddle up to everyone!

We went to our local rescue after seeing they had kittens online, had our hearts set on a beautiful tabby and white but couldn't pick from the rest as they were all different. When we went to meet them, we fell in love with the tabby and white even more and whilst we were watching all the others, dh looked down and our boy was sitting on the top of his trainer chewing his shoelace! That was it decision was made.

As a family we decided to get a cat as a pet. I tried everywhere to find one so that the children and us could go and see them, but no luck. I finally went to cat rescue and they said that they would bring a suitable one around to our house. True enough they came with tortoiseshell kitten who looked like she was scared of everything. The ladie said that they had found her under some pallets with her kittens. Her kittens had been given homes but she hadn't. After we and our children heard this and my youngest picked her up, that was the moment she relaxed and we still have her along with two others and they all lie together snuggled up. We love them to bits.

We are having this conversation at the moment. We can't have a dog as we're are not about enough. I seem keen on a couple of rescue rabbits as we're had lots before so I feel confident in caring for them. Plus we still have our rabbit shed. DH is not convinced.

When I moved in with dp he already had a cat. Two years ago we went to cpl and got a second cat, a girl. Then last year we were asked to take on a third cat whose owner couldn't keep her and we took her in. She's become dd 2 shadow and sleeps with her, follows her about. Cat four, a boy, has been with us just over a week and was left with us by a neighbour who moved and was unable to take him. He's settled in and is lovely and playful. We didn't choose two of our cats but they've chosen to stay with us.

Boy cat1 is oldest at 14, a real man of a cat, very independent and happy to swipe you if he wants left alone.
Girl cat1 is my baby. She's 10 and so, so sweet natured, adores cuddles and hunts out laps.
Girl cat 2 is very much dds cat. She's 2 and still very silly but absolutely adores dd and will just sit with her wherever she is in the house.
Boy cat2 is 4. Very "lively" and quick with biting and scratching but calming down rapidly as he starts to feel secure here. He slept with us last night for the first time. He sounds like an F1 car when he purrs.

We started out with a couple of goldfish that were not very exciting tbh. Then my youngest son decided a hamster would be a great pet. It was a fast Russian one with the sharpest teeth ever and drew blood many times. The worst memory I have of Archie (hamster) was when the boys lost him in the sofa, which was new and resulted in having to unpick the back of it to rescue him. He did rather better than their nans budgie who ended up sucked into the vacuum cleaner by accident. I have no idea exactly as to how it happened???

We visited a farm in devon and had lots of farm animals, spiders, snakes, rats & rabbits etc and she wanted everything that was manageable. Spiders/snakes were out :) so we eventually got what she wanted the most, some fancy rats, which are very clean, gentle and attentive creatures. Her face when she received them was unforgettable and she took on the responsibility of care which was a great life learning skill. :)

My cat chose us rather than we chose her. She turned up one day, about 10 weeks old, all hungry and dirty. And she's never left since.

On my way to look at a pug puppy I was insistent that I wouldn't have one with their eyes on wrong - you know, boogly or pointing in the wrong direction. So I'm on my knees surrounded by puppies and this one came running at me, scaled up my sweatshirt and started licking my face. She was so full of POW! that it didn't matter that she wasn't the most perfect dog there. 6 years on boogly eyed Gertie is still my absolute heart dog, I can't describe how much I love her :)

we have always had a dog but had a short gap so when it came to time we looked at rescues but nothing looked like it would fit so we looked online at ads and found a lovely dog- we had the choice of a lab pup or an older adult and decided an adult would be better! we arranged for the dog to visit us as I don't travel and out of a van came a lovely dog but in very poor shape. we told the owner to leave her here and go and 4yrs later she's still here snoring away on our bed and loves lots of snuggles and fuss- we go out for walks everyday and the little ones help with feeding her and play with her. we were lucky she turned out good as we had to do lots of training with her and vet visits

My friend at school used to live in a really big house with tiny side cupboards in her attic room. We saved and saved for ages to buy a mouse and a cage and food and bedding and were going to keep it in one of her cupboards. When the day finally came we went to the pet shop only to be told that we couldn't buy a pet without parental consent!

We chose a goldfish (goldy) only for it later to die. Upon visiting tesco, my little one ran up to the fish counter shouting are these all in heaven like goldy too?!!

Loving this thread.

We have always had cats but a few years ago as a young child DS wanted a hamster. At the time he got words mixed up. Instead of saying "I'd really like a hamster" he told me that he was "busting for a hamster"

Needless to say "busting for a hamster" went through the family like wildfire to be used whenever someone really wanted something.

So we got a hamster named Dora the Explorer who used to come racing across the room when you and the Dora the Explora theme tune.

After Dora died we had Bramble for two years.

Now we have three cats so no more Hammys can live here. All our cats are rescues including a Ragdoll cat.

DS helps by cuddling them and interacting with them. He is autistic so our cats are VIPs (Very Important Pusscats).

We also have two turtles named Myrtle the turtle (see what I did there...so original ) and Skooter. Who we rescued as the previous owners were going to dump them in a lake. They were in a really tiny plastic tank. They are now in a proper tank with heat and lighting.

We had a stray kitten that used to come round our house every day and i had asked my dad if i could keep her. He laughed and said if you can catch her you can keep her so i put food out every day and eventually i managed to tame her much to my dads disgust! We then had to get her all her injections and nutured etc and she ended up being my treasured pet for about 11 years!!

We steady had 2 cats and our third chose us! She lived down the road and keep visiting. Despite hand delivering her home every night she kept escaping and coming back. She's now been with us for 18 months. We have just found out she's 16+ not the 13-14 we thought. She also has arthritis and has gone deaf! All she wants in her life now is a comfy sofa / bed to lie on and lots of cuddles!

We git our elderly cat nine years ago from a rescue centre he had only been there three hours, found wandering in the snow, he choose us came up to us and we were smitten! He is the most friendly loving cat ever and he is a joy we wouldn't be without him. He is a very large cat and so picking a name was very easy for Buster

It was a choice between a cat and a dog for our family pet and cats won!! We got our girl cat from Cats Protection and they are a brilliant organization - would totally recommend anyone who wants to adopt a cat. I had already chosen her from a photo and she was perfect for us. We all love her to bits and 3 years later we couldn't imagine life without her 😻

I told my brother and sister in law I was getting them kittens as a wedding present. They thought I was joking until I turned up with two on their doorstep

We wanted a dog and decided it would have to be a rescue one and needed to be calm to suit my son's temperament. We contacted the greyhound trust and based on what we wanted she brought one for us to try for a weekend to see if we suited her and she suited us. It was wonderful and we had the sweetest, calm, affectionate dog you could wish for. She loved my children and helped them so often if they were scared at night or upset after school. We loved her dearly and she was such a happy dog.

We wanted a cat for ages but had to convince the husband. Starting searching on advertising sites and found really cutes ones. We all kept showing him pictures and he eventually gave in. We went to pick from a litter of 4 kittens and managed to agree on the same cute little girl kitten. The boy kitten was the favourite but lost out as he scratched our youngest chid.Our new is a great addition to our family.

We recently had to help my parents to choose a dog as their old faithful sadly passed away. This was more challenging than we thought and trips to dogs sanctuary proved to be a nightmare. My parents saw a dog on line that they fell in love with so we went to the charity only to be told that the website was months out of date. THEN in a local shop window was a picture of Tom - a 'war dog' from Bosnia that was living on a rubbish site in a cage - It took a fair bit of paperwork and charitable donations but they got Tom into the country. We spent a lot of time at the vets but now he is doing really well and a lovely lovely dog :)

My Mum's cat had 7 babies, usually My Mum would sell them but one had a bad hernia so we ended up having her.

I believe that the pet should choose you. I've had 13 cats since 1987, most of them strays & 2 of them adopted from cats protection. When I lost my blind cat Treacle to cancer I went along to the cats protection to adopt another cat. I went with the intention of adopting an older cat which had possibly been in the shelter longest & had less chance of being adopted but when I arrived they said that they wanted to show me a 12 week old black kitten, Charlie, whose owner had thrown him out of the window with his partners belongings when they split up. I had always carried Treacle around with me on my left shoulder, he was also a black cat so when I was introduced to Charlie & he immediately jumped on my left shoulder & started licking my face I knew he was the one for me. He is now 13 years old & still fit & well.

It feels like pets always chose us rather than the other way round. We didn't actively look for or choose pets but opportunities tended to present themselves along the way - eg friends and acquaintances having too large a litter of new born kittens needing help. We have always been delighted with our new family members and since been given kittens, we have loved cats ever since.

I've never chosen a cat, cats normally choose me!