Do you regret your pets?

[LittleLottieChaos]

I know there are regular threads on people regretting their children… but I’m interested to know, are people similarly regretful of their pets? I currently am looking after my old childhood cat - he’s an old gent now, poos/wees inside and randomly vomits after eating. He also has to be securely locked downstairs at night or he’ll come up and wake us all for food/drool on our heads.

After spending years thinking ‘yay I want a dog and a cat, in fact a whole menagerie’ now I’m thinking ‘no, I’ll just have my kids…’

YABU - I never tire of my animals

YANBU - I sort of regret them at times

Yabu.

I don’t regret our dog as such but we’ve only had him for 4 weeks and we weren’t quite prepared for our lives to be so totally and completely turned upside down by him! I can’t even go to the bloody toilet in peace when he’s up 😂. That said, we love him to bits and he’s here to stay now so we’re just getting used to him!

I get where you are coming from but no I don't. DDog is now diabetic, blind, mostly deaf, and costs me an absolute bloody fortune.

I don't regret any of the good years so I don't begrudge him his grumpy elderly moments. We do have issues, and it's hard to go away spontaneously, anywhere spontaneously as is on 12 hourly medication.

I love my pets, but caring for elderly, incontinent pets is draining.

YABU- I never tire of her

We have 2 cats. I have a big, fluffy rescue boy, and DP has a beautiful little girl. No regrets here.

We can't open windows wide as my daft boy is strictly indoors only. He went through a stage of peeing outside the box. He has shredded one of the new carpets I fitted during lockdown. DPs cat has ruined 2 window seals whilst trying to kill bugs, and has a tendency to gobble her food down so quick it bounces back up.

I have no regrets having either of them. They bring so much more into my life than they take. My boy is nervous, but also very affectionate. DPs girl is great at sensing when you are upset, and rushes in to comfort you. We also never have ants.

YABU. Of course they irritate me on occasion (pawing in the door at 4am because they want attention) but I wouldn't be without them!

I will be flamed for this but yes I hate our cat and wish I didn’t have one, I just don’t want any pets, I really went off her after the birth of my youngest, I would never rehome her though as my 7 year old would be devastated, it’s nothing she has done I just really don’t want any pets.

I regret getting two dogs and wish I’d just stuck with one.

Old animals can be hard work and smelly, so I can see where you're coming from OP.

But no, I don't regret our cat. She is fabulous and has given our family so much more than she takes. Even DH likes her and he doesn't particularly like cats!

I have had cats most of my adult life. Generally I love them wouldn't have been without them and of course care for them well, but they can be arseholes - either too clingy or too remote, shedding hair and dust everywhere, clawing the furniture, not to mention decimating the local wildlife.

We got our most recent one when I retired and before DH did. He was good company then but now prefers DH and of course any chance of extended holidays (post covid) has gone out the window.

He's quite sweet when he's asleep

We have dog, cat & guinea pigs. Love them all.

Massively. I got a cat for DS when he was 12. He adored the cat but I am allergic to cats.
10 years later DS has left home and I still have the cat, the itching, sneezing and asthma that goes with it.
I can't get rid it would be unkind to the cat, DS loves the cat but lives in rented flat in a city. Cat is outdoors in the countryside.

Yanbu. Having a pet is a huge undertaking and you cannot understand the upheavel until after it's arrived.

Poor cat!

Yes, my elderly rescue cat lives in the back room. She is also a stranger to the litter tray and I can't have any sort furnishings or electrics on the floor. I'm waiting to reclaim my room at the moment it's fairly unusable and stinks of cat pee .

Regret is a strong word, but suffice it to say that once our current pets shuffle off the mortal coil, they will not be being replaced.

I regret my daughters guinea pigs...oh she loves them and feeds them and plays with them but cant clean them out ..just very tying, I wish we hadnt got them ,
.

I love my animals and I would never ever trade them given the choice but sometimes I do think 'it'll be nice when I dont have to hoover every single day/not have to crawl under the bed to clean up cat sick/not have to strip the sofa covers and clean the wee out of them/not get woken up by the cat howling/not have to pick up giant dog turds'

At the moment there are lots of things that niggle at me that wont be resolved until we dont have a certain furry friend around.

But like I said, I would never trade them. I'll be devastated when they go. But we wont be getting any more.

Nope. We adopted our staffy when he was 3, he's almost 8 now. He's the coolest, most chill dude ever, always there for snuggles on the sofa but happy being stretched out somewhere on his own too. We would always have gone for long walks together in the evenings even before getting a dog so his walks are zero hassle.

YABU.

My spaniel is my very best friend, he's so loving and cuddly and urgh if I didn't have to go to work I'd stay at home with him all day 😂

Yea and no

I love my dogs (and my cat) but it does mean we can’t go out for the day without thinking about them.

I would happily take the dogs to the seaside for the day if we went out but dh wouldn’t want to because he would want to go in shops and not worry about the dogs.

I only have fish atm, and I am not replacing them when they die. I have an enormous aquarium and it's a pain. I don't suppose it's regret as such, I just know it's too much in the long term.

I do know of an ex-friend who had the age old stupidity of buying their first ever dog when she pregnant with her first child. She never admitted the regret out loud, but it was plain to see. I don't know who was more hard work, the puppy or the newborn!
So many people make that mistake.

We had a cat that pissed everywhere. Nothing was safe. She died at 13 and we had to have the whole house gutted - new carpets the lot, to get rid of the stink. I'll never have another cat. We had tried everything too but the vet just said she was nervous and they couldn't do anything. It cost a fortune in feliway etc.

We also have an elderly dog and while he was great pre-dc he has become a burden. He gets us out for walks but I feel guilty he doesn get much attention anymore. The DC don't really interact with him and he poos in the house as he's lost all control now. But he still has a good life - loves walks. So he's with us for now. We won't get another dog, at least until DC are in secondary school.

We got our rescue dog last year. She's needed special food, a lot of vet visits, and is on permanent medication which costs us €150 per month. She's also reactive to other dogs, and people, which makes for difficult walks.

But she's so lovely, gives kisses, snuggles, and loves us completely. I wouldn't be without her.