To ask you to tell me about your pets?

[PorkAndPickle]

My two childhood pets have died this year in the space of about 3 months.

I have such lovely memories of them and I feel so sad about it, although feel even worse for my lovely Dad who had to deal with it. He was very close to our dog, they had such a bond. It was absolutely devastating for him when she died during the initial lockdown at home. We stayed up with her all night and stroked her and told her how loved she was as she went.

Now his (mine as a child!) cat has just had to be put to sleep too. He wasn't allowed to be with him in the vets when it happened due to the restrictions so I know he's feeling a bit guilty and upset about that.

I have a dog of my own now and I love him to pieces, my little sidekick. It's very unfair that they go before us.

Tell me about your pets and what you love and appreciate about them? A time they've made you laugh or smile? I'd like to just remember for a little bit all the positive things these two little lives brought to my childhood.

This is Ollie. He's from cats protection and was taken in after living in a greenhouse for 4 years
He's just come out of the vets after having triaditis
He loves me so much even cats protection comment how ridiculous it is. He says "mama", wraps his paw around my waist for a hug, and I often wake up to find him gazing adoringly at me
He never hunts anything and would rather be cuddling me than doing anything else

Not to be dramatic but I would die for Ollie

I adopted Vesper 4 months ago after my beloved Jacob passed away in April. She had been kicked out of her house after 5 years because they got a dog. She’s such a lovely and funny girl. Sleeps on top of me, likes to eat breakfast al fresco but dinner inside. She plays constantly and I love her to bits!

I'm sorry
I've got a little Jack Russell who was going to be put down because she's deaf and nobody wanted her. Her first people didn't like her. She's my best little buddy and I love her, even if she can be a complete twat at times.
She's learnt sign language and she lip reads. I got her when I was in recovery from addictions and she's done me so much good because she gave me a reason to get up and look after us both.
Now I've got my daughter they play together all day and I'm not sure when to tell them they're not actually sisters

Ollie is so lovely! 🥰

My cat is also completely black and a bit dim. He keeps getting trapped in the disused internal courtyard of the hospital across the road. He completely freaks out the staff who think they hear him but can't see him. The first time one of the nurses thought she was losing her marbles. Now they wise to his shenanigans.

@QueenOllie

Ollie is a beautiful cat. Oh those eyes! 😍

My dog is a jerk, who costs me an absolute fortune because he is always ill - things like 4x tumour and removal surgeries, spondylosis, IVDD, allergies, slipped discs, hip displacia, constant infections. He's on so much medication, if you shook him he'd rattle because of all the tablets. You name it and he's had it or caught it. He's dog aggressive (but loves people) and is going a bit deaf and blind now. He's 12 and has dementia.

Despite all this, I absolute adore my boy. He makes me smile everyday, he lifts my mood when I'm down, his personality makes me laugh and I cannot imagine not having him around. He loves me, always wants to be near me or actually sitting on me! He is the most spoilt dog and I would do anything for him.

This is Poppy. She looks fancy but we acquired her via private rehoming. She's a total diva and a total mama's girl. She sits on my mum and demands to be cradled like a baby. She holds hands in her paws so you can't stop stroking her and also likes trying to divert snacks into her own mouth!
Total fiend for cat treats but so cuddly and loving. She's such hard work but the most rewarding and interactive cat we've had.

Here is his adoring face. I have to stop cats protection kidnapping him

This is Theo ... he was my foster cat but I'm keeping him ! ... he's a fat ginge who loves food ... he's really cuddly but he likes to stay out all night and hunt .. he loses his mind over wool !!!... he mauls jumpers and hot water bottles ...

I have a cat and two dogs.

My cat moved with me to UK from Australia. A few years ago he was hit by a car and had his pelvis rebuilt and his tail amputated, we call him the bionic cat now. He is doing really well and is happy but he has been very vocal since his accident, he shouts the house down when he wants his dinner.

My dogs are the same breed but very different personality. If he was human, the older dog would be a lovable old eccentric, confident in himself (he isn’t that old, but he acts old sometimes).

The other dog Is a complete cuddle monster, he always has to be beside or on somebody. He is deliriously happy every time he sees either DH or I after even a short separation. By that I mean if one of us is with him and the other is in another room but then joins us. He doesn’t miss the person whilst they are absent but is giddy when they return. I am secretly pleased that if we have gone out together, he is mostly giddy over me when we return and ignores DH. 🥰

This is Rex. He’s a very old guinea pig who we’re amazed is still with us.

He’s blind and a bit wobbly and nibbles on my finger to check it’s me before being happy to be cuddled.

He lost his brother a couple of years ago and we thought he wouldn’t be far behind so never got a new cage mate. I hate that he’s on his own but he loves spending time with me, the daft ginger bugger.

I have an 11 year old seal point Ragdoll cat who is my baby. Although he's scared of cats, dogs, birds, bags, hoovers, hairdryers, strangers, the list is endless.

We also have an 11 week old Coton du Tulear puppy with no name as of yet.

Only got her yesterday and she's been an absolute star

Aw I love the pictures, all of them so cute!

Here's my two year old spaniel who's a nutter but I just love him so much. This was him when we told him he was expecting a human brother... Not impressed and made sure to let me know he wouldn't be sharing his toys

And my dad's old girl Ruby who we lost this year and was my childhood dog. She was so so gentle. She was a rescue and had been taken off the streets as a pup by the dogs home. She was such a good dog.

This is Eddie, who's ten years old and the daftest, funniest, chattiest, most ridiculous dog in the world. He's been with us for 18 months after his original family handed him into rescue because he became very depressed when they had a baby. He arrived with us at exactly the right time - we'd lost my dad and our beloved 16-year-old dog within weeks of each other and were bereft, but Ed came along and has made us laugh a hundred times a day ever since. He doesn't have two brain cells to rub together but he's such a character, and he talks to us all the time in this incredible bass voice. He has accumulated a huge collection of teddies and soft toys, which he carries around and loves to show people; he will regularly insist on bringing some hugely impractical teddy out in the car with us. It's very much like having a loud hairy toddler in the house, but he and my 13-year-old utterly worship each other (and one of DS's friends confessed to us a few weeks back that he loves Eddie more than his own dog).

@whyareyoulying - you can't just blithely announce that you have a new puppy and then not show us photos!!

What a lovely thread OP, pets were such a big part of my childhood (and still are a huge part of life!).

I have a two year old half Bengal half tabby (so we are told..! I'm not quite convinced, I'd say a quarter Bengal maybe) cat who we rehomed last year. She is the friendliest cat I've ever known. My DH has never had a pet cat before and he just loves her

Here she is mid yawn

I have a dog.

He is an arsehole: if he thinks you are going to sit in "his" seat he will run ahead of you and jump up in the way. If you are cooking he must lie in front of the cooker. If you are ironing, he must lie on the sheets you are ironing (the bit on the floor). When he is clean and dry he likes to lie on the floor. When he is wet and dirty, he likes to lie on the sofa.

He is a great joy: he always has the perfect facial expression for whatever stupid human thing you are saying to him. He is always, always up for a game of anything and cannot bear to be left out of any fun. He is so loyal and makes every single one of his humans feel fully welcome when they reappear after being away for any time. He hates cuddles but must be leaning against you or lying on you - just touching you in some way. He is so very, very smart and has learned so many tricks so quickly. That intelligence means he also remembers everything - all the good and all the bad. He has never forgiven all wheely bins for that one that blew over and startled him. He also remembers that time he was allowed in to wake a guest up and whenever they stay now, he comes and asks to be allowed in again - at exactly the same time in the morning as the first time.

He is young (thank goodness) but when he goes, it will break my heart clean in two.

I shouldn't have a favourite but sadly I adore Obelix the Tank.
He had a very sad life and was something of a local media sleb for a while when the charity who rescued him were fundraising for his surgery.
He has a massive crush on girlie-cat, who can't be having with him. (BOYS SMELL.) He creeps up on her when she's asleep for snuggle-time, and his idea of very heaven is to be allowed to wash her head.
Mostly he thumps around with her brother and they're a bit like Cat Bros, two massive thugs who rough-house each other all around the place, hunt together, eat together, and generally act like teenage hoodlums.

He also does a terrifyingly good impression of a Staffie - he is not a small cat any more - and likes to bound up to delivery drivers in the dark and intimidate them. When you have to explain to scared young lads that your dog isn't actually a dog, but a large cat....

Leroy.

Abandoned for having FIV, lived in a porch for a month, rescue for 3 months and us for a little over 4 years.

Absolutely bleedin' mental.

Here is Bean. Possibly the best cat in the world. He was rescued from a cat hoarder who had over 30 cats in her house - he's inbred therefore and I thought he had learning difficulties as for two weeks he hid and stared at the floor When i fostered him. One day he came down from the top of the book case where he had made his home, crept towards me, let me touch him ... one thing led to another and he is now my absolute best thing. He's funny, clever, sends me to bed at 10.30 pops up to make sure I'm tucked in, goes out for half an hour's patrol duty then comes up and sleeps behind my legs. He adores me. I adore him.

I can't see the picture of Bean!! I must see it!

We got a dog last year, my first dog as an adult. I was worried about getting a dog but I needn't have been he's lovely. I never really understood how people got so obsessed with their dogs before getting mine, he's my second child!!