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

@LittleLottieChaos No, not a single regret ever. 3 cats here. 12, 14 and 17. DH and I love them with all our heart(s.)

I find it very sad and depressing that some posters have so little patience with their pets, and find them a nuisance, and the 'bane of their life.' Poor animals.

As much as we love and adore our 3 cats, the vet bills are very costly though... And for that reason, when our 3 cats are gone, we will never have any more pets. Ever.

We have had vet bills for 2 of our cats this past 5-6 months. The 2 older ones. Total cost £1600. Just over a 9-10 week period in late early 2021. We don't have pet insurance, as after 7 or 8 years of insuring them, the premiums went insanely high. Like, £100 a month for all 3! Back in 2014! When they were 5, 7, and 10! So not exactly old.

Apart from the preventative treatment, we have never had to pay any vet bills before though, so I guess we have been fairly lucky. Certainly paying the price now though with one and a half grand payout in in 9 weeks!

We stopped paying the pet insurance some 7 years ago, so have saved some eight thousand pounds in pet insurance. (And that is assuming the amount stayed the same (which it wouldn't have. It would have gone up!) So I suppose we can't complain. As much as we adore them though, as I said, it's put us off having more pets when they're gone.

I had a dog that died in June 2019. I miss her terribly and lockdown was awful without. I’d sell my soul to the devil himself to hold her one more time.

I have 2 cats I don’t regret them.

I regret the hamsters we got for the kids as pacification for not having another dog. They’re boring and smell abs are no fun really

Absolutely yes I do, the dog is a cunt.

@Milesbennettdyson

I had a dog that died in June 2019. I miss her terribly and lockdown was awful without. I’d sell my soul to the devil himself to hold her one more time.

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww. 😢

Never. My digits my "baby". We had him when we couldn't have children. He was a horror of a puppy despite lots of hard work to train him but now he's amazing. He's so loving, has tonnes of personality and just loves people.

I vacuum much more than I'd have to without him and my house is muddy but I adore him. It quite scares me to think of not having him as I love him so much

@MrsRhettButler

Absolutely yes I do, the dog is a cunt.

🤣

I love our two cats - when my husband worked away they were brilliant company for me. Even now at 9 years they are full of fun.
It was a pain sorting out care when we went on holiday but now a local lady pet sits them and all is great. We get the occasional fur ball puke and 5am waking with a well aimed paw...but they are part of the family.

Not regret but I do feel shunned .
We decided as a family ( DH, 2 adult DC , myself , quiet road , garden etc) to get cats . DH loves cats .

I was tasked with finding them and ploughed through pages of Cats For Adoption ( pre-Covid) and found two sibing black cats , one shy .
I knew we could give them a home they'd love and we could deal with their foibles .

I sometimes (not often) wonder what life would be like if I'd gone for the other pair of cats I liked . But as we never met them I don't know .

Our cats tolerate me at best . They adore DH . Male adores DD . Females adores DH, DS and DD room.

I am persona non grata in their eyes

She swipes at me , he glares at me if I dare to stroke him.
They attack the carpet, sofa, wallpaper .
Sometimes miss the tray
Throw up frothy spit grass on the carpet .

But I love the little swine so
They make a home "homely"

My girl (feline) is now 13 years old. We are getting old together. She is the biggest comfort in my life. I cannot imagine my life without her. She is the sweet, purring heart of my home. She will, eventually, have problems with the litter box and other things...just as I will. I will not regret her, and hope that my sons will not regret me when I'm old enough to have those issues. Love is forever. Not for when it is convenient.

I don’t think you truly do regret your cat. Your cat is just unable to live as he/she should now and it is physically and emotionally draining for you.
It sounds to me like your cat has reached the stage where perhaps he/she needs to be put to sleep. You don’t want to remember your cat as being a nuisance.

Never, even when they got older, well especially as they got older, bless them. Just wish we could have them forever so please cherish every moment. It's been a few years now and we haven't had any new fur babies, desperately want a dog, cats, but yes they are a responsibility and so we are putting it off for a while. X

No regrets. I have two cats. One, my lovely but also really rather horrid girl, hates the boy and hates just about anyone who isn't me although she does adore one friend of mine. My boy is soft, gentle and really rather stupid and puts up with her hating him. If there is an outside threat they will band together, so the hatred only runs so deep. She mostly tolerates him.

I also have a lot of visits from next door's cat - he's currently sleeping on my armchair - who I adore and both cats either put up with, her, or get along with, him. I adore him because he lets me kiss him and rubs my face with his sweet pink nose which neither of mine do. He also reminds me of my favourite cat ever, my ginger girl who was with me for 17 years and who I still miss seven years later.

They're lovely company and are always extra sweet and gentle when I'm ill. I'm lucky to have them.

I have always had lots of pets. Looking after elderly pets is draining and can be difficult but because I love them I soldier on and try to keep them as comfortable and happy as possible until the inevitable. I have never regretted a single one but appreciate that not everyone feels the same and that they can be a bit of a tie.

Had two small dogs and had to have one put down due to a slipped disc (already paid £6, 500 for an op when it happened previously) she was 14 and it broke my heart, but swore I wouldn’t get another to replace her as felt it was one step closer to freedom and not have to worry if I wanted to go away or even be out for more than a few hours at a time. Was persuaded by my daughter to buy another pup as my hubby (retired) enjoyed walking her dog and even though I’ve grown to love her (as always knew I would) now go into panic mode every time I leave her to go shopping etc and still have the original small dog who is now 17 and is like having a new born again as she gets me up a couple of times a night for loo breaks and I know she barks (at nothing) when I go out as the vet thinks she had doggy dementia ☹️
So it’s a tough one, but feel as though I’m stuck and my life just revolves around my dogs, so yes sometimes I do regret them, but feel guilty in admitting it🤷‍♂️

3 kids and each time one moved out I asked if they were taking the cat with them... Each time was met with a no!
16y/o grumpy cat and me left at home.. Oh the joys

Nope, I don't regret one moment of the myriad animals I've had in my life since childhood. My beloved late husband & I ran a rescue organisation for over 30 years: 2 hourly feeding of orphaned animals or birds; non house trained dogs and cats; head-butted by yet to be neutered tups; kicked by previously ill treated horses, numerous visits to A & E over the years after bites from feral cats or dogs - every one of them just needed compassion, patience and fair treatment.

My husband became ill with Rheumatoid Arthritis so we stopped rescue work, but still had many animals and birds (including a hand-reared seagull who's scared of water!!) and he died of Covid last year.

If it hadn't been for the devotion shown me by my animals, I wouldn't be here now. I was very, very suicidal. They seemed to understand and every one of them has helped me survive.

One dog isn't house-trained: I took up carpet and it's dead easy to clean up after him if I haven't had him out in time. One (neutered since a kitten) cat sprays any and everywhere .. I have a washing machine and cleaning materials.

The love they give me is unconditional and enduring, I couldn't cope with this world without them.

We had pets ( 2 rescue greyhounds ) when elder DC left home , long since gone to dog heaven , now I think my tomato plants are too much of a tie 🤣

I never wanted dogs, but DH and kids did so guess who ended up looking after them and cleaning the mess they made? I remember them with fondness though and loved the cuddly spaniel we had, but foot is firmly down and we are having no more dogs.

@a1poshpaws So sorry to hear about your DH, I'm glad that your pets have brought you some comfort and a reason to carry on. You sound so warm and caring and I've never heard of anyone having a pet seagull before!

I have lots of pets and don't regret them as such but also don't love them as such. I like looking after them and they are cool but they are pets rather than babies.

I won't have another dog though as they are just too restrictive.

Yep I do! I love my rottie to bits she’s a lovely girl with a lovely temperament and we’ve put a lot of work into her, but she’s also a bloody great big oversized hairy eejit and now our Landlords have decided to sell our home we’re in trouble trying to find a place to rent that will take a Rottweiler 😣

Getting dd10 gerbils was a big mistake. She never cleans them and her bedroom stinks. And they are noisy fuckers too. All I've done is given myself more work to do. Yes she loves them now, but its only been 18 months. They live for years! I know I need to make her clean them herself but they would escape if I don't help (bastards can climb up smooth container walls!) Yanbu!!!

We got our cat rather by accident (ex feral), she's a complete pain in the neck in the night and useless at dealing with our current rodent problem, but she's a big personality and wonderful company, so no, no regrets.

Just had to have our 15 year old cat put to sleep and it absolutely devastated all of us but, we all know he is/was our last pet. Pets are such hard work and I think people are shocked when they get their first one at what's involved. I'd have him back in a heartbeat but definately not going to do it again.

[quote Serin]@a1poshpaws So sorry to hear about your DH, I'm glad that your pets have brought you some comfort and a reason to carry on. You sound so warm and caring and I've never heard of anyone having a pet seagull before![/quote]
@Serin
Thank you for your lovely message. It meant a lot to me. The seagull was only a little blob of marbled brown when my husband rescued him from a cat after he fell 3 stories to the ground: he's 10 years old now and a real oddball, won't eat worms or anthing slimy, hates cod or any smoked fish and literally runs into his house whenever it rains. It upsets me that his aviary (10'x12') isn't big enough for him to fly but he'd never survive in the wild and I don't think he misses what he's never known. He has 7 pigeons for company and one of my dogs enjoys visiting him.