Pets

[SPARKLER1]

DDs are 6 and 3 and I am just waiting for the day when they come home from school and tell me that they want a pet.
We already have a cat which dh and I got before dds were born.
We did borrow dm's hamster for a few weeks just to see how things went, and they did go as I expected. By the end of the first week I was the one who was cleaning, feeding and handling it. (Actually I'm glad we gave it back to dm when we did as the hamster died a month after !)
Just wondered if your children have pets, what they are and if they look after them themselves.

we have 2 cats and DS cuddles them etc and feeds them sometimes but they are not really his iyswim they are for all of us

....we have two cats, one rabbit..and use to have a dog (up to first born DS was 9 months old, 4 years ago - she died of old age !)Thinking of getting another dog but not until DD (2.5) is another year older. Yes, I clean the rabbit out (nothing like bringing you back to earth after a day of trying to build a business activities than cleaning rabbit s**t !!!!). When I was a girl, we always had pets - various assortment of cats, dogs and rabbits so it feels like second nature to me and my children seem very comfortable with it too. They do help me with the rabbit cleaning but more the clean part of the job than the dirty bit (have I put you off yet sparkler !!!) And they already relate to the responsibility of looking after the animals - we all feed the cats together in the morning and they take out carrot and water to the rabbit every day.......hope this helps...

how about a fish? they are quite easy to look after. dont have any pets as ds has asthma-although he constantly mithers for a dog, as he's a big animal lover.
hamsters are nonturnal(sp) arnt they, so I really find them a pointless pet for a child. IMO

we have a cat & dog which we had before ds was born,a few months ago my ds started asking for a goldfish so we gave in & got him two, because i didn,t want one on it,s own,he fed them for about a week & thats it,he will be 5 at christmas, he has just started taking a interest in the cat & dog, he is always telling them he loves them.

Musiclover - nice idea with the fish but I think our cat would be forever hanging over the tank licking her lips.

ahh just reminde dme of when we looked after my friends cat
I went to feed my ds fish (pilchard) & he wasnt there!!! The cat had eaten it, not even made a splash either....My ds was gutted-bless