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 Harry, my 15 year old rescue boy. We adopted him 12 years ago, he's the best birthday present I've ever had! He's not a lap cat but likes to snuggle against my legs on the recliner in the evenings.

He's dodged a few bullets over the last few years - a jaw infection that led to him fracturing his jaw and losing 12 teeth, early CKD and I was told he had heart failure that turned out to be a grade 1 murmur.

We joke that he'll be around for a few years yet as he hasn't bankrupted us or Petplan!

My boy Chico - came to our house after my mum passed, and it became clear that dad would be joining her fairly soon, he truly saved my life! He's eight now and I can't imagine life without him

This is Winston. We adopted him from a family in Jan last year, he's about 11, his owner died and nobody in the family could look after him.

He's very chatty and likes to tell how hungry he is even when he's just been fed, he purrs like a truck and loves to sit on you or next to you and a bit of him has to be touching us

Nibbles (the white one) came to us with his brother in Jan 2018, he sadly died on Monday, Ginger is his brother both are/were lovely temperaments and We are looking into getting Ginger a buddy

This is our gecko. She likes to sit there on her log, then in the evenings hang out on the glass watching TV with us!
Last month she went and hid really still in part of her tank. We were really worried she'd died as she didn't move for nearly 2 days - we got closer to investigate - she did the gecko equivalent of glare and ran off!!

This is Bella, she's eleven and we rescued her a couple of years ago. She came to us after having a rough life being used for breeding and was pretty timid. Just over two years later she's a bit of a diva who enjoys the good life. We love her and she makes us laugh every day.

I share my home office with seven wonderful guinea pigs, they warble away in between snoozing, go mad squeaking for snacks when I open the fridge and come out for cuddles every evening. They are so calming to be around, all have such different personalities and are really good at making use of all our fruit and veg offcuts and peelings. Oh, and we never have to mow the grass!

Three of the pigs!

And another!

It's always so incredibly sad when pets go for you and your dad.

I have a big goofy mixed breed dog. He thinks he is tiny and wee and likes to sit in your lap and be cuddled/cradled.

He makes me smile all the time with his sweetness and silly antics. Took him down to a local shingle beach today, he had loads of fun retrieving sticks I had thrown in for him.Then he started doing the crazy zoomies in a wide circle around me - it was clearly a very exciting moment for him and made me laugh because his face was so funny doing it!

He's only 2YO so hopefully will be with me for many years yet, giving everyone he meets smiles and wiggly bum tail wags.

Voldetort is my favourite.

I won't lie. It's the name.