Do you love animals? Are you a cat person or a dog person? Do you love other people's animals or do you have your own menagerie at home?

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Answers

1 dog, 2 cats, 1 mouse, 1 rat, 2 fish and a pony. he. i love all animals, any shape, any size.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

My husband and I recently added a puppy to our family. Oliver. I have never been very fond of animals, but man do I love this dog. I use to get so disgusted by my inlaws dog who would pee all over the house. He had bad breath and he smelled. I wouldn't let him get within two feet of me. My puppy? He has gotten so excited to see me, that he peed all over me. I just laugh. He had the worst morning dog breath, and I still let him kiss me. He now owns a huge piece of my heart. I worry about him if he doesn't want to eat. I watch him like a hawk when we cross the street. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to him.

So I guess I am now a dog person, but really only for my own dog.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I'm more of a dog person, but I like both---and they like me.

If dogs, cats, and children could vote, I'd be President of Earth. It's only ADULTS I have problems with...

Al of Nova Notes.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Three dogs: weimaraner (4 yrs), dalmatian (11 yrs) and border collie/sheltie (5 yrs). Two cats: one long-hair (18 yrs), one short (10 yrs). Fifty-five-gallon aquarium. 'Nuff said? I think we've spent over $900 this year on stitches, biopsies, shots, knots on the head, teeth cleaning, etc. Plus food. Plus toys. Plus a dog sitter when we travel. At night, when all three dogs are jostling for the same squeak toy (even though we have many toys) and the cats are lounging around in the same room, it really does look like something out of a wildlife special. It's gotten to the point that I'm reluctant to tell people how many pets we have because we become known as the crazy animal people. But I'm not as bad as my sister. She works for a vet, runs a dog obedience/agility school and has four dogs, two cats, a flying squirrel and a yellow-thighed cayique (it's a bird). In the past, she's also had ferrets and a horse. Luckily, my husband is from a big animal family too -- his parents have two cockers (just lost a third last year) and a cockatoo. With two cats Pamie, you're just a beginner!

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

4 cats and we'd have more if my mean ole husband would let me bring home every stray in the known universe. :-) We were at the vet yesterday and the receptionist told us of a cat that now lives at the office because the owners couldn't take the time to give the cat his insulin every 12 hours. Whatever. Pets aren't toys you can just put away when you're done cuddling with them. Whew, I was angrier over that than I thought. I'm done now. :-)

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Animal lover, although my cat just died. Totally tragic story - I was in London, my roommate was taking care of him, he got sick, she didn't know what to do, a few days later she found him dead on the floor of my room. Upon my return I was confronted with this news, compounded by the fact that she couldn't figure out what to do with his body so it ended up in the trash outside of my apartment. It was one of the most devastating moments of my life - really. I love all animals including the obese squirrels which run rampant in the park near my apartment. They are really fucking FAT, and they walk up to any and all people they see to beg for food. But anything with whiskers just gets me.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Wow. I /thought/ I was an animal person, but I guess I'm a newbie when it comes to all that. My wife and I have a puppy (male Aussie Shepherd named Foster [go figure], three months old), a kitten (is she still a kitten? female, shorthair mix, black, named Baghira, 15 months old), and a geriatric mini-lop (female somekinda mini-lop named Merlin, 6 years old).

Can I tell you how obnoxious we must sound when we talk to Foster? "Oh, yesh, the precious puppypants! Gimme kisses little pooky pupster! What a goo' boy! Ohhh puppalicious puppykin puppapoopaloo.." And he's smarter than the dickens. Knows 'sit,' 'come,' and 'kennel,' and knows he'll likely get treats if he does those. No treats will bribe him into his crate if he doesn't want to go, however. Oh, and what a wimp! He wails every time the cat looks at him crosseyed and makes sounds like we're beating him if we take hold of his scruff or show him that pissing on the rug is bad.

And Baghira is one jealous-ass cat. /Hated/ Foster when he first came, but they've warmed up to each other (chasing each other round the house, etc.). I think she must sit all day right in front of his crate all like, "You're in there! I'm out here! I can run around the house and you can't! Sucker!" And she certainly revels in the attention we lavish on her in the morning while we're still in bed. Foster can't get that kind of people-lovin till he's out of his kennel and gone potty.

See? Can't even type right. Pff.. 'gone potty' indeed.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I'm an animal lover, too. When my girlfriend's cat "Pickles" (not her real name, but that's what I called her) was diagnosed with diabetes, I volunteered to come over every morning to give the insulin injection. I even trained Pickles over time to look forward to her daily injection by giving her some special canned food immediately after the injection. It got to the point that Pickles would come into the kitchen every morning voluntarily and hunker down in anticipation of the injection/food reward (because of this she also earned the nickname "Pavlov's kitty"). After a while my girlfriend got over her squeamishness with needles and together we helped keep Pickles on this planet for an extra three happy years. Pickles died last year at age 15. I would love someday to have a couple of cats and a couple of dogs in my house but my work schedule combined with nobody being at home during the day would make me feel too guilty - kind of like I was running my own animal prison. Someday I'll have some furry companions of my own, but for now I'll just enjoy the pets of my friends and family.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I'm the (self-named) Crazy Cat Lady of Toluca Lake. I've had two cats for a few years (one of them, Noel, has been my boy for 6 years and is a real momma's boy and Matisse, now 4, has been with me for two years) and I recently inherited two kittens (Matt and Mike, real sweeties). Not a big deal, except I live in a one bedroom apartment. But that's ok, I love them all dearly. They are my boys, after all.

But I was raised with dogs and wish I had more room and a big back yard so I could have two mutts. I miss having a dog! So I love my mom's chihuahua instead.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

My animal list goes something like this:
Two Humane Society dogs - one a Sheepdog mix, the other is a Labrador/Chihuahua cross. Don't ask me how he happened. I do not want to know.
Then there are two tabby cats - one indoor and one outdoor. We also have two kittens who were supposed to only be staying with us for a while. But now they are ours, too.
Then there are whiskey glasses and fish bowls that contain fighter fish, and a 30 gallon aquarium that houses four tiny zebrafish and a catfish, because the enormous goldfish all attacked each others' tails and died.
I won't even mention all the native Florida animals that creep into the house. (Cockoraches, lizards, butterflies, dragonflies, huge moths, crickets, and geckoes, to name a few.)
I feel like I live in a zoo. Anyone want a kitten?

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I guess I would be your typical dog person, having never shared space with a cat until I was in college. My husband's family raised German Shepherds for the police department when he was growing up (in addition to having 2 or 3 cats) so he's used to having more animals than humans in the house. Currently, we have 3 dogs (2 Rottweilers and 1 Scottie), 3 cats (1 from the Humane Society and two that were strays that adopted us) and 55 gallon aquarium with about four fish in it. Luckily, everyone gets along, though sometimes when the dogs are chasing a cat around I fear for the structure of our house. But really, we're just one happy little family...

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I, too, have a diabetic kitty! She's Friday and she's 12 1/2. She weighs 18 pounds. We've been giving her the insulin shots for three years now and I honestly don't see what the big deal is and why other people give up on cats when they need this. She will actually remind me about her shot if I don't give it to her right when I give her food. I think she knows it makes her feel better. She also has periodic skin cancers that need to be removed, is allergic to fleas (they give her seizures) and had most of her teeth pulled last year. But she's happy! We had a puppy for a few weeks last spring (we loved him so much) but it was stressing Friday out and the vet said it was aggravating her condition and we shouldn't keep him. So one of the nurses took him. Three weeks ago we got Hallow, a tiny, sweet kitten, and she loves Friday. Friday thinks Hallow's okay, although she'd rather not admit it. Since Hallow has become part of our family Friday has really perked up and is no longer limping from arthritis. Did I mention the arthritis? Anyway, now I have two girls and I love them to bits.

I also just got a program for my desktop called Felix. Felix is a tuxedo cat who plays on my screen. He's so cute! He eats and bats at flies and plays hide and seek. Now I have a kitty at work, too!

What was that?

Did you just call *me* a Crazy Cat Lady?

Whatever.

--Kat

YES!! That really *is* my name!

Shut up.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Five dogs, and not small ones: Two Neopolitan mastiffs, one Tibetan mastiff puppy, a greyhound, a cattle-dog-mutt (that's 425 total pounds of dog), three cats, one 6' redtail boa constrictor, 7 fish.

No good carpet, no good sheets, very little grass, very few pairs of shoes, a lot of dog toys, frozen rats in my freezer. $320+/month food bill.

Clearly, we're insane. But we just love animals.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Tiger, our family cat, is loved by all four of the human residents in our house. This is as it should be as he is a magnificent, noble, funny, cute, intelligent, beautiful, etc., etc. feline. Actually, we sometimes call him our "puppy cat" because he will exhibit what seems more like dog behavior than cat behavior. He is just a real member of the family except the rest of us are allowed to go out to school or work or play and he has to stay inside... He is a window cat, spends hours sitting or lying on window sills and is greatly annoyed that cooler weather means the windows are not open for him when he wants. My first task every morning (my alarm goes off around 5:30 but Tiger will wake me if I fail to get up then) is to open a can of can food for him. Only after taking care of his breakfast am I allowed to make a pot of coffee for us humans.

We also have a rabbit... generally called Ms. Funny Rabbit... who lives in a nice hutch in her own fenced-in area in our backyard. (Very, very high fencing.) Before we moved to Rhode Island we had a pet rabbit named Mr. Funny Bunny. My daughter brought him home from summer camp. (Tiger came to us from another summer camp a couple years later.) I had built him a very nice two room raised hutch in his own 8 foot by 24 foot fenced-in yard next to our garage. He lived there for four and a half years. (In extremely cold weather we had run an extension cord out to his hut to power a lamp to provide some warmth... this was in upstate New York.) One day I came home just in time to rescue him from a dog that was chasing him around... I then rebuilt his yard with higher fencing. In the fall of 1995 my son and I moved to Rhode Island so I could start my new job and look for a house to buy while my wife and daughter stayed behind to try to sell our old house and so my daughter could finish cross-country season. The big moving day came in mid-December but less than two weeks before that day my wife and daughter went out shopping on a Saturday afternoon. Usually we liked to have him in his hutch if nobody was going to be home but he could be very stubborn about not going inside if he was not in the mood. He would usually do it for me, but not for others. They couldn't persuade him to go inside his hutch so left him in his yard while they went out. When they came back he was missing and there were dog and rabbit tracks all over our back yard. The snow on the ground had had the effect of making the fence lower and apparently a dog had jumped into his yard and Mr. Funny Bunny had leaped the fence and had been chased by the dog. They opened his gate and put his favorite foods out (he loved broccoli) in case he returned and they got neighbors to help them search the neighborhood... but he was never found. We fear the dog must have finally found him and killed him. That is just a few weeks short of four years ago and I am choked up trying to write about it now. I loved that rabbit. Although technically he was my daughter's pet, I was the one who brought him food and water every morning and cleaned his hutch and took care of him. I would bring him treats (apples, broccoli, savoy cabbage) and brush him and pet him. He hated to be picked up but he would come up and sit by your feet so you could pet him. He would do tricks, showing off, running and jumping and doing 180 degree turns in the air.

We had dogs when I was a kid and they never left our yard except under control. When I was an adult I gave my parents a dalmation puppy as a present. That dog was one of the smartest and most likeable dogs I have ever met. My parents were living in the country at that time and their dog was free to go anywhere on their property, but she was also trained to not take one step out of their yard without one of us accompanying her. It is other people's dogs that I don't like, dogs that people allow to run free. I have never liked having someone else's dog coming by to crap in my yard where my children would play. As a runner I have never liked people who allowed their dog to run out barking and threatening passersby. I have always thought that leash laws should be strictly enforced... and I mean strictly. The problem is not with the dogs, it is with the lazy slobs who own them and will not take any responsibility for keeping them under control and on their own property. I have always believed this but having our family pet killed by an animal that some creep allowed to run free to cause damage to others has only reinforced my belief.

Wow... did I ever go off on a rant here. Sorry, dog lovers. As I said, my objection to dogs only comes when irresponsible owners do not keep them under control on their own property. A few weeks ago we went for a walk on the Narragansett Town Beach. There was a proposal to enforce a leash law on the beach and some people were at the beach entrance getting signatures on a petition against the proposed leash law. The woman with the petition was quite put out when, in response to her request that I sign it, I told her that I thought the law did not go far enough, that I though dogs should not be allowed on the beach at all because who wants little children playing in sand that is full of dog shit.

Okay, I'll shut up now.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Oooo, Ky, you shouldn't have just one rat. They need to be in packs, they're very social animals. Please buy another one ok? I have 1 Runtweiler (he's only 97 pounds and he's 5 years old), 1 kitty, 3 rats, a stray kitty that gets fed by every house on the block, and a family of possums under my deck. 4 animals in the house doesn't sound like much but my house is only 820 sq. feet. Anyway, I treat all of my animals like my children. My animals have never made me feel bad and they've never stabbed me in the back like some friends I've had. I do love animals but I have to confess...every November when my guy goes hunting I hope with every ounce of my being that he brings home a deer. Hey, they'd starve and freeze to death anyway, right?

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I have 4 cats. No, that is wrong. Four cats have me. They co-own me. I just buy food and empty the cat box.

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

i loooove animals, i have a mainecoone kitty named fleetwood aka fleety aka mooshybutt aka dickhead and a labrador retreiver named octavious aka gus aka stinkyass i love animals and so do my parents their forever bringing home strays that we cant keep but find good homes for or take them to the shelter...is it bad to take a kitty to a shelter? i feel guilty when i do..like its a death sentence :(.....but anyway i love all animals and other ppl's and usually i have a fish or two or some hamster but i have allergies so i cant have too many animals and NO Birds.... and animals seem to like me as well..i trust an animals instincts b4 anyone elses..if my cat n dog dont lik eyou YOur HIstory :)

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

i love animals. i've always been a cat person, but my boyfriend has convinced me that having a dog would be a good thing. i've been at the town lake animal shelter like, every weekend for the past month, looking for the right pet, whether it be a cat or a dog. i've thought about volunteering but not until 2000, when they start their no-kill policy. i'd break my heart to see little doggies and kitties being put to sleep because no one wants them :( ok no more sad shit. i have two cats, but they live with my parents, i don't think my cat could handle the texas heat or being indoors 24/7.

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

Two cats, Cortez and ufo, (pronounced ooo-fo, that's how they say UFO in Czech, which is what they speak where i live), who are currently having kidney trouble. Which makes them poop a lot. A lot. And makes this new alarming quantity of poop smell really bad. And also has a negative impact on my social life, as I cannot stop talking about my cat's poop habits, which disturbs people. But I just started a new course of cat-kidney pills on them. I was an hour late to work this morning because i was on my hands and knees on the floor, attempting to hold Cortez with elbows and knees while prying his mouth open with my fingers, putting the pill in and holding his mouth closed until he gives me this look which says, "Okay, you win, I swallowed the pill." Then I let him go and he projectile-spits it across the room. Help.

Any giving-cats-pills tips? I doubt I can get ahold of one of those catpill poppers over here in Prague.

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

I have one diabetic, 3 good legged orange and white male cat named Monster. I had another cat named Pumpkin, who was 13 and died in late July of this year. At work, everyone is always coming to me with another "kitty in need" story because they think I am such a bleeding heart. I am getting sick of it, although I do love animals a great deal! The 2 cats I have had, I have gotten through contacts at work, but I have a small apartment and can't handle 20 cats in here! oh well - I guess if I have to have a character flaw, it might as well be being kind-hearted and a "Cat Lady." Too bad I am single and work in a library, and wear glasses - agggghhhh! haha

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

What a timely question...for me anyway. I am proud to be able to crow that my new kitty Tabitha (we adopted her from a rescue league about a month ago) caught her first mouse last night!!!! I was so proud, I made a big fuss over her and even woke my husband (It was 4:30am, so he was less than thrilled, and didn't get up) to come see.

So applause, applause for Tabitha!!!

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

I can't seem to shake the memory of the catpill fun this morning. I have to do it all over again tomorrow. Bil, hold the cat. Tighter. Not so tight, he's turning green!. There. Okay. Cortez, open your mouth, ooooopen up, okay, place pill on tongue, close mouth. (Thrash thrash) (thrash thrash thrash, no thrash.) Did you swallow it? Did you? Is it gone? Ooookay, slowly release cat. (Cat, with audible ptooi!, spits pill across room.) Shit! (Jenny fetches spat pill, covered in cat hair and floor goo.) Okay, Bil, hold the cat. Well, find him! Steady...

repeat 47 times until catpill is blob of goo. Smear blob of goo across catlips until cat licks it up.

ug.

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

We have four male cats and I'm feeling a serious yearning for a kitten. "I want a babyyyyyy," I whine to my husband. "Okay," he says, "Then get rid of Spanky (who is my favorite little Momma's Boy cat) first."

The bastard.

http://www.bitchypoo.com/bitchypoo.html

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

I'm definately a dog person. I've been around dogs all my life. We got Sasha about a year ago and she is just the sweetest dog. She's Black with a white blaze and tulip ears. When people ask us what kind of dog she is we tell them she's a French Belgium Shepard and they usually believe us!

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

Dog person here. (As you may know from previous posts, I have no luck with cats) So, Ginger, a 65lb. reddish fawn and white colored pure American Pit Bull. I've had her for 11 years and she is spoiled rotten. She lives with my Mom in the house I grew up in which is 2 blocks from my current residence (Unfortunately, I found out that the building we moved into had a "NO DOGS" policy the day I signed the lease - DOH!)

ANYWHO, like most pet owners, I swear she is part human. I know all about the old "OH GOD pit bulls are SO mean, how can you POSSIBLY TRUST that DOG!" Listen, it's how you raise 'em.

She crosses her paws when she lays down, and you get her to sit by saying (and I am not lying) "What does a good girl do?" All you have to do is suck in your breath and say "Who did this" and she slinks away and then "Are you sorry?" and she's jumping all over you. It is so frickin' funny.

My nephew must kiss "Gee Gee" the minute he walks into the house - right on the nose. And, of course, as she is jumping on me and licking me and practically knocking me over when I walk into the house, I always greet her the same way: "Who's the vicious pit bull puppy?" This just makes her more excited - cause she's so vicious, cause she's a pit bull. She still won't let the Con Edison man in though, or the mail man. Oh, and all my Wedding pictures taken in my mothers house before the ceremony have me with the stupidest big smile on my face (for obvious reasons) but also because we had to lock the dog in the basement so she wouldn't eat the photographer, so the whole time the photographer is giving me instructions like "Look sexy" the dog is in the background growling, barking and throwing herself against the basement door. I had to keep talking to her to get her to calm down but it was so funny at one point I am outright laughing hysterically at the surealness (is that even a word) of the situation.

OK, you can gag now. Sorry.

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

Diandra---I just wanted to say that I moved to Texas two years ago from a cold climate where my cats were inside/outside cats. Now I live in an apartment and they are inside 24/7, and have adjusted just fine. Cats are very adaptable. I have moved mine 7 times in the past 5 years.

Anyway, for those of you following along, you already know I have lost the affections of my baby boy cat (12 yrs old) to my louse of a husband of 3 months. Punkin is a big gray furball who is very affectionate and cuddly and talkative. He USED to follow ME around room to room like a dog. He USED to never be away from my side for one MINUTE. He USED to NEVER get in anyone's lap but MINE. I'm not bitter about though, oh no. My husband thinks he is the Punkin expert now, telling me what Punkin likes and doesn't like. To that I say....pPPPPTooooeey....

My other cat Frisky, 11 years, is a petite tabby/white pudgepot with a brown mouth that looks like she has been rooting in the dirt. She and I have gotten closer now that her brother has defected. She is still very playful and loves to chase a shoestring.

I love love love all animals, even mice, and one day I would like to have a chinchilla. I actually sent my resume' to the race track this morning to apply for a part time job. I'm hoping I'll get to groom the horses. I would do it for free, but I won't tell them that. Yet.

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

i never thought i would be an animal lover, i've never been around them... my mom is petrified of them... but i wanted to get involved, and i've always *liked* animals, so i started volunteering at the humane society every week.
i couldn't stop if i wanted to, i've been doing it for a while now and i swear i've got animals in my blood. last friday there was this gorgeous german shepard x, and i fell in love with her. after two days of pleading and frequent visits to the auditorium to prove to my parents that she's *perfect*, she is now curled up under the desk, watching me.
she's three, and has been abandoned at least twice in her life, she suffers from extreme seperation anxiety... if anyone has any suggestions about how to help her learn to be independant, they're welcome.
i'm kennel training her already, and limiting the amount of undivided attention that she gets so she'll learn that it's okay to be alone... but it's so hard. i want to scoop her up (yeah, right, she's almost as tall as i am when she's standing on her back legs, even though she's small for a shepard) and cuddle her... but if i do that she'll just learn to be dependant and she'll suffer more for it.
argh.
but i love her.
adore her.


-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

I love most mammals, so for the most part you can call me an animal lover. I don't care much for mice and rats, and snakes and lizards, and fish don't do anything for me at all. I tend to think that keeping birds as pets is kind of cruel. I mean, what is it that makes birds so unique and beautiful? Their utter freedom, I always thought.

That's neither here nor there. I mainly love dogs and cats. I prefer dogs, but cats are pretty cool too. I'm looking forward to having a home so that I can have a puppy...maybe a kitten too, and raise them together. I'd rather have them than kids. I think I'm going to get a Malamute. Huskies and Golden Retrievers are high on my list too. And I love calico cats.

Anyways, I never really want a menagerie. I think I'd rather focus my love and attention on one or two animals at a time. I do like to go over to people's houses when they have cats or dogs. That's always an added bonus.

I've been thinking about volunteering to the Humane Society. Is it true they look for people to walk the dogs? I'd love to do that.

-Telvin

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

4 rottweilers 2 pugs 1 standard poodle 2 horses 4 cats 1 parrot 2 budgies 2 tanks of fish (thank dog i went to vet school! )

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

I'm an animal freak. Our family's got 4 cats and 2 large dogs at the moment. I adore each and every one of them, and I so wish we could have pets here. I think I can have an ant farm, but that's about it. And ants just aren't my type of pets. So I survive on my stuffed cat and my dog. And photos. It's pathetic - on my desk I've got more pictures of my pets than I do my family. But then again, they're a part of my family.

-- Anonymous, November 06, 1999

I am definitely the type of person who can get out of control when it comes to inviting animals into our home. Our household is currently under control, we only have 2 cats right now. A year ago it was a different story, but two of our little creatures met with tragic ends, and I can't go through that again, so I think 2 cats will be enough for a while.

I love anything with fur, including rats and possums. I also love anything with scales, and anything amphibeous, but I don't really want to keep them as pets. I just enjoy the ones I discover outside. I loathe spiders beyond comprehension, so I guess I can't encompass everything by simply stating that I love all of God's creatures.

I could never work at the Humane Society, although I want to desperately. I just know that every animal that got sick or died would break my heart, and it would kill me to leave the ones that I loved the best behind when I left to go home for the night. I would probably end up bring home one new animal per week, which would eventually end up causing Charlie to divorce me. Whenever any of the older sweeties got passed by for a kitten or pup, I would probably cry right in front of the people who came to adopt someone, make them feel guilty, and most likely frighten them away. It's just better for everyone that I don't volunteer to work with animals.

-- Anonymous, November 08, 1999

ANYONE KNOW ANYONE THAT BREEDS AND SELLS MALAMUTE HUNKIES, I WANT ONE AND CANNOT FIND A BREEDER ANYWHERE!!!!! WRITE ME IF YOU KNOW OF ONE!! BYE

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002