Tell us your stories about choosing a pet for a chance to win a £100 voucher for a pet shop of your choice

[TinaMumsnet]

Should we get a pet? What pet should we get?! Is your family desperate for a pet? Or do you already have one?

Choosing a pet can be exciting, impossible, heart-warming and heart-breaking – sometimes all at once!

We'd love to hear your stories about choosing a pet so share them with us (with photos if you can) for a chance to win a copy of What Pet Should I Get? by Dr. Seuss plus a £100 voucher from a pet shop of your choice.

It's the literary equivalent of buried treasure: a brand new, never-before-seen rhyming romp of a picture book from the legendary Dr.Seuss! It's the story of a classic childhood moment: a brother and sister visiting a pet shop to pick a pet, but neither being able to decide which one to go for. Every pet looks like fun, so how in the world do you just pick one?!

'There are moments of genius on every page' - The Telegraph

This discussion is sponsored by Harper Collins Children's Books and will close on 14 March.

Our cat used to be the neighbours cat but he used to visit everyday and eventually decided to move in permanently!!

I said to my hubby one night, I had a pet, I would have a cat because they look after themselves and don't need lots of walks. Also if I had a cat, then it would have to be a friendly cat that wanted to be sociable and like being stroked rather than one that just hides away from everyone and suits itself! Two weeks after that random conversation I was preparing the kids food when I heard a crying noise that went on and on, so I opened the back door and a freezing, skinny black cat walked in and it seemed to be really hungry. Unusually I had some chicken breasts in the fridge that had been left a couple of days and I was going to throw them out because they had gone too dry so I gave them to the cat which was obviously starving. I thought the cat would leave once I fed it but no, it settled down and went to sleep. It was so cold that night that I think it would have died if it had stayed out and with no food.
I locked it in the kitchen over night on a soft blanket, not quite knowing what to do with it. I thought it would be off in the morning, but no it wanted to stay. I tried to find out where it had come from, but it appeared to be a local stray that had spent short periods of time trialling other people's houses and then moving on. I thought it would leave when it saw all the children as I had 8 at the time, but no it loved the kids and it was so friendly that it wanted to be with us and stay in the same room near us all the time.
As he decided he was here to stay, had no other home to go to and he was just the sort of cat I wanted, we rescued him, neutered him and quickly installed a cat flap. He has been absolutely lovely, has the patience of a saint, never scratches, hisses or bites even if the kids are accidentally slightly rough and he's a very welcome addition to the family and we all love him very much.

We have quite a few pets we have got 4 cats . 2 guinea pigs and a dwarf rabbit. None of them were really chosen by us , when we were looking to get our oldest cat who sadly is no longer with us he was a rescue he came from a home that had 20 other cats so we offered him a home here , he was elderly when we got him he was around 8/9 and we had him just over 5 years. The next cat we got was from a home were they didnt want her as she didnt play so we took her in , our next cat we did kind of choose her she was from a family friend and we said we will have the darkest one. In November last year a few months after our elderly cat passed away we decided to get another one and i put an ad online and i was messaged by a lady who had two sisters she couldnt keep them so we took them on. Out guinea pigs we chose from a breeder , our rabbit came from a rescue centre . The thing about choosing pets for us is we will always choose one that really needs a loving home and a fresh start .

After having had little furry visitors in our house DH persuaded me that it would be a good idea if we were to get a cat. (I never imagined myself as a pet person - in fact for years have insisted that we will never have a pet!) We toyed with the idea of getting a kitten but in the end we decided that with so many cats without a home we would adopt one.

One Saturday morning we announced to the boys (x3) that we were going to visit a cat adoption centre and we then spent some time looking for a cat who could join our family. The boys were super excited, particularly when we found Lorenzo (already named) and nobody else had adopted him! We collected him the following weekend and after a hair raising journey home where DS1 let him out of the cat basket by mistake and I had to rescue him from under the driver's seat, he settled in to his new home. 3 months on and he is definitely part of the family.

I lost my first cat to the road a few years ago and I found it so painful that I wasn't sure if I could do it again. However, the house felt dreadfully empty and I adore cats so mentioned this to a friend. Her mum was looking for someone to rehome her rescue cat as her job has recently changed and she was travelling an awful lot.

After a few pics and a couple of chats, I agreed and it's the best decision I have ever made. He is the polar opposite to my first cat - so so affectionate and snuggly and a real family pet (my first cat was feisty to say the least ).

He is 7 now, recently diagnosed with a heart murmur and on specialist food for other issues - but he is absolutely awesome!!

My girls would love any kind of pet but we've resisted because we like to spend lots of time out and about and don't feel it would be fair. Eventually I would like to keep chickens, but for the time being I think they'd be more than happy with a guinea pig or rabbit.