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

We did have a dog but he passed last year he was adored until his dying day but yes in the end days I did regret him but it was my shortcoming and not his.
In the future I'd love a snake but no more big pets like cats/dogs/rabbits or even guinea pigs. I enjoy having animals and they enhance my life but I don't think I could give the proper care to any larger animals in the future and it wouldn't be fair on them.

Yes and no.
13 yr old cat and he has been an absolute darling but I think before getting a pet the cost and extra work are important considerations.

His insurance is now £60pcm but worth every penny because he's covered from year to year for his arthritis for which he needs medication daily and 1 blood test pa.

Fleaing and worming plus vacs

Cost of food
Cost of someone to come in daily when we are on holiday - 45ish days per year at £10 per day.

And the disasters: amputation of inch of tail (1200), poisoning which was nearly fatal (2200), lily poisoning (1275), a bite from a recent fight because he can't run as fast as he used to (1450).

However, I wouldn't swap him and will always have a cat.

I don’t regret the dog. He’s easy, fits in with our lives, and is happily dogsat by relatives if we need to go away.

This cat, well again she’s easy, just potters about. Not very cuddly or affectionate though, but I am spoilt as my last cat was a big baby that wanted carrying round everywhere. Problem I have is she doesn’t do well in catteries so I struggle if we go away.

At our present life stage they bring more than they take. However, as much as I’d love to have rescue chickens, disabled hedgehogs and a whole menagerie, approaching retirement I feel the pull for big holidays and travelling, so likely we won’t replace these pets.

And I should have added - he's a spoilt bugger

I love having my dogs, and feel although getting up early to walk them and having to sort out somewhere for them to go when we are on holiday can be a pain, I feel they give a lot back, I love having them around and they are part of the family.

I regretted getting a hamster when our DD's were young, it slept all day then when DD's were in bed he would be making loads of noise on his wheel and only lived a couple of years.

@Blossomtoes

I came late to dog loving but it’s hit me hard. Our little JRT is my mate. She lies on my lap or snuggles up to me, squeaks with delight when I come down in the morning and hurtles towards me when I call her when I walk her. Not a single regret.

Lovely post - its made me go all netmums and want to leave a heart emoji

I wouldn't be without her, but my 14 yo collie cross is definitely in the elderly, smelly, needing care phase of her life. The medication administrations multiple times a day, the almost nightly wake ups, the house always smelling slightly of dog wee, the fact that we can't leave her alone now as she get so distressed (barks non stop), it's difficult. Caring for elderly pets is an expensive (medication and blood tests are £400 a month-thankfully insurance pays 80%) and timely endeavour. But I've had her since she was 8 weeks old and I will take care of her until her dying day, just as she's taken care of me over the years.

If I'd known my exh was planning to break up our marriage and leave me looking after the dog on my own in a small flat, having to pay lots of cash for her health etc. alone, trying to have romantic moments with dates while the dog barks at 100 db in the other room, relying on dates' patience and willingness to do dog-friendly activities, then I probably would not have got the dog. She is very good at foot massages, if you are OK with saliva. And there's nothing that cheers you up more than a Jack Russell's back legs flying in the air as she rockets through the grass. Doubt I'd bring another pet into the flat, though.

I don’t regret my cat even though she is currently getting me up at 4am to let her out to play. She makes me so happy when she sits on my lap and is purring away, she makes me feel like the chosen one

My darling cat died around 6 weeks ago. There really isn’t a day goes by that I don’t miss her. She was a fucking pain in the arse and we paid a lot in vets bills but she was worth it and I would would do anything to hear her little big purr again.
I don’t regret her in the slightest.

In the future I'd love a snake but no more big pets like cats/dogs/rabbits or even guinea pigs. I enjoy having animals and they enhance my life but I don't think I could give the proper care to any larger animals in the future and it wouldn't be fair on them

Snakes, reptiles and fish are difficult to look after, unless you really know what you’re doing. I got fish as I thought they’d be easy and relaxing, but jeez the measuring of the water, water changes, water chemistry, and still the buggers die. Emptied it and got gerbils instead. Much easier.

Snakes I love too but the feeding, heat lamps, making sure you’ve got the humidity right, getting someone to look after them if you go away is a challenge… again I think a cat is easier.

And there's nothing that cheers you up more than a Jack Russell's back legs flying in the air as she rockets through the grass.

So true.

I don’t regret mine as such but I regret having 3 dogs at times.
I love them all individually and walking them separately is a joy but walking 3 together is hard and I can’t just take all of them out for the day etc as it’s too much. I wish I had stuck at 2 despite loving the youngest probably the most of them all
I slightly regret the breed choice of dogs 1-2 but dog 3 is the perfect fit for our family, if only I could make the original two into the same breed as the third!

It’s hard work having 3 dogs in the house, endless cleaning and walks.

We also have cats. Don’t regret them but I don’t feel as strongly about them as I do with the dogs. They are very outdoor type cats and we live rurally so they go off for days though so that’s probably why.

I regret naively thinking that marrying a cat owner would work out OK. If I’d known what I know now, I wouldn’t have married him until after the cat’s sad demise.

My cat pretty much got me through the past 15 months (furloughed, live alone, etc.) but her screaming at me because she wants pets at 4am does put me off a little - although I reinforce it by giving her the pets. The only time I would say regret is if I go away and have to try to organise someone to look after her as she hates the cattery and I need someone who comes into my house twice a day to do the litter/water/food/give pets and play with her.

I hate to say it but yes, I hate our dog. I can manage the rabbit but the dog is too much.

She’s only little but her barking is awful. And with a toddler and twins on the way, looking after her is just too much but there’s nothing I can do about it. I feel no affection towards her like I used to, since having DD I just see her as hard work. Plus very unhygienic- I didn’t feel that way before.

If I could go back I would have waiting until my children were school age to get a dog.

I love my cat to bits and he brings so much love and light to my life. I get annoyed when he wakes me in the early hours of the morning and when he wees on my furniture but even during these moments I've never regret him.

My other cat passed away last year, the only regret I had around having him was how painful it was to lose him. I did think I might not get another purely because I didn't want to go through loss again, but now I do feel the overwhelming positives of having him far outweighed the sadness of watching him die, even though it was so difficult.

I'm on my 3rd stretch of covid isolation. Today I had to watch my grandads funeral on a webcam and thought on more than one occasion how much harder this all would have been without my little dog faithfully by my side. I've not regretted her for a second, neither have i in the last with others pets. I do kind of regret DD's snake sometimes when she's at her dads and I'm forced to do some care, but I do even quite like her and dd does it all herself when here

I’ve always had cats and have 3 currently. There’s only one cat I’ve regretted and that was a black male cat that I had to rehome a couple of years ago. (We had 4 cats then.) He came to us as a very young kitten (the mother abandoned the litter) and he never became properly socialised. He was aggressive towards our DDs, scratching and biting. He never actually hurt them but he was becoming more aggressive, blocking their way up and down their stairs. It was getting worse and I was worrying that he might really hurt them, or a visiting friend.

In the end, I found a really good home for him, where he’s a single cat and thoroughly spoiled. The new owner sends me regular pics and updates.

I was very sad, as he could be a really friendly cat sometimes, but he was never a good fit in our household.

No I don't regret my dog at all! She has brought so much joy.

I wish so much that my elderly, scruffy, incontinent, fleabag dog was still around.

Ever time I see an elderly dog I just want to pinch it

My cats puke furballs all the time (every day) its stained all the carpet and distroyed several items of washing, they also shed CONSTANTLY.

I have had/lived with about 20 cats in my life time and never really had an issue to this extent until we got these 2, they are also ALWAYS in the way and have distroyed the wood door frams and banister dispite having a dozen scratch posts.

Yes there are days when Im just straight up sick of them but it would break the kids hearts to get rid - only about 10 more years of this until they hit their lifespan - it feels like its never going to end.

Not to mention the cost we have bought all the anti-furball medicines and shedding gadgets to stop the problems not to mention all the scratch stuff, non bloody work.

No, I am one of those people MN loves to hate because I firmly view my two dogs as my furbabies and treat them as valued family members. Yes, sometimes I have to plan around them and finding things like dog friendly accommodation for trips within the UK can be more challenging, but I was brought up with multiple animals so I knew what having two dogs would require for the duration of their lives and was fully prepared for it. I don't regret it at all. I think probably having an understanding of what animal care entailed and especially having had ponies when I was younger and having the responsibility of having to get up early to muck them out, exercise them, take care of all their tack, wander about the yard in all weathers etc etc prepared me well for future animal ownership because I just don't see having animals as an inconvenience. It's a choice and a commitment and there are responsibilities that go along with that, same as with having kids really.

Never.when my big boy jumps in the stinking pond then rolls in glee in mud I laugh!
When I hoover three times a day I sigh
When they bound towards me my heart smiles💜💜when the cat nicks a huge dog bed and the big dog tries to fit his big bum in the small cats bed I smile 😃.
Yabvu.🌈

@Reallyreallyborednow

In the future I'd love a snake but no more big pets like cats/dogs/rabbits or even guinea pigs. I enjoy having animals and they enhance my life but I don't think I could give the proper care to any larger animals in the future and it wouldn't be fair on them

Snakes, reptiles and fish are difficult to look after, unless you really know what you’re doing. I got fish as I thought they’d be easy and relaxing, but jeez the measuring of the water, water changes, water chemistry, and still the buggers die. Emptied it and got gerbils instead. Much easier.

Snakes I love too but the feeding, heat lamps, making sure you’ve got the humidity right, getting someone to look after them if you go away is a challenge… again I think a cat is easier.

Fish are so hard... hardest pet I ever had and so expensive and way more work than expected.