Childhood Pets

For all your feline miscellany - any interesting stories, news or subjects that do not fit in the other sections.
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KittyWitty
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Childhood Pets

Post by KittyWitty »

This: http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/first- ... 1472391071" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; has made me think about all my childhood pets and how I miss them all dearly.

My mum was never all that keen on animals and so each pet I ever had was always given away to someone else at some point - always within a year of getting them. This happened to a hamster and two cats - the hamster was given away to one of my sisters friends and within a few month it was dead because her cat ate it and both cats were given away to my sisters - Poppy was given to my sister, Laura who still has her to this day but every time I see her it makes me so sad because she has got so fat and very wary of humans as she is an only cat and my sister and brother-in-law work all of the time so she spends a lot of time alone. The other cat Smokey, I got her when I was 17 and loved her so much, my mum and I had a very tense relationship within the last few years of me living at home and a few months before I moved out she decided to use Smokey as a tool of power over me and gave her to my other sister, Sarah. She had her for a month then my mum decided to get her back just when I told her that I was moving out - I still regret to this day that I never took Smokey with me when I moved out but I am so happy that my mum has finally changed and still has Smokey 6 years later!

That was a bit more depressing than I was expecting this to be lol

What kinds of pets did you all have at kids and what are your memories of them?
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bobbys girl
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Re: Childhood Pets

Post by bobbys girl »

No, not depressing Kitty Witty, just sad. :cry:
Makes me realise how lucky I've been.
As for pets - I had 2 goldfish, Ebb and Flo. Or should I say the same Ebb and 5 Flo's. I'm told Ebb survived porridge and having his bowl 'cleaned' with washing powder while he was still in it! :roll:
I also had a budgie, Billy, named after the cousin who gave him to me. Then there was Barney a rescue dog. He was fine with us but he hated men with glasses!
I remember coming home one day to find my dad sitting on top of the concrete coal bunker, shouting at a very angry Barney 'it's ME you fool'. Dad had locked himself out and climbed over the back wall to get in. Barney reckoned he must be up to no good and would not let him in. :lol:
When Barney died (aged 13) I got Bonnie, a black Lurcher. Then I met My husband (another pet - Well he has his moments). Dave had a Lurcher, Katie. Now SHE deserves a book of her own. What a character. The only Lurcher to have been beaten up by a rabbit (well she was a VERY BIG rabbit)
It was only when we moved to NI that I got my first kitty - now I'm knee deep in cats!
Hugs to you Kitty Witty
Now over to you all :D
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KittyWitty
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Re: Childhood Pets

Post by KittyWitty »

I had a rabbiy and dog at my dad's house too. The rabbit supposedly died of pneumonia - I personally believe my dad just got rid of him while I was at home (only saw him at weekends) and they rehomed my puppy because my step brother was autistic and kept pulling his tail - I was absolutely heart broken when we took him to his new home :(
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bobbys girl
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Re: Childhood Pets

Post by bobbys girl »

Sorry to hear all that. But I am sure you will have the rest of your life to make up for it.
Good Luck and best wishes for that future. :)
Sue
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KittyWitty
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Re: Childhood Pets

Post by KittyWitty »

Since leaving home I have had 2 fish, 2 gerbils and 2 cats - the fish died :( but the rest are still with me and will not be leaving me until they pass to RB! :)
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SarahT1 [PLLE]
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Re: Childhood Pets

Post by SarahT1 [PLLE] »

Oh Becci, we struggle as adults with what other people impose on us as children... I had a big white rabbit for years, his name was Wonky. I loved him so much. He must have been quite old when he passed to RB from cancer. I had a guinea pig called Tobias from RSPCA resuce who was there because he wasn't show quality, bless him. My tortoise Twink, who I had when I was four years old, only passed to RB two years ago. As a child and teenager we had a sweet tabby girl called Rat Bag (don't ask!) who I carried home in my arms from a lady who fostered for animal rescue at the bottom of our road. She had been found abandoned on the golf course. I don't know how old, but like my Lou Lou she was always a little tiny tabby girl. She passed to RB many years later - I was graduated them - after she was attacked by a dog. My parents knew the lady who had the dog and it took a long time before they could speak to her again. My mother says how much more obsessive about our cats we are than anyone was over pets in the past. I suppose that's true - Rat Bag must have been in her teens when she passed and I don't remember her ever going to the vet and she went to a very ordinary cattery when we went on holiday but she was none the worse for it. But I am very happy to be a neurotic mummy to my three, and part of an equally obsessive circle of crazy cat mummies and daddies!
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Re: Childhood Pets

Post by Walesgang »

We had mainly cats and dogs with the odd pet mouse thrown in!!

My favourite was a ginger cat who we got when I was about ten - he was my soul mate through my teen years. He died after I left home - I felt terribly guilty that I should have taken him with me but that would have been inpractical at the time - I went to Newcastle to do my degree.

We also had a Staffie/Bassett Hound cross about the same time - I loved that dog so much. I used to walk miles with her when I needed space.

Pets have been an important part of my life as long as I can remember.
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KittyWitty
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Re: Childhood Pets

Post by KittyWitty »

Yeah my sister thinks I am obsessive about my boys and even asked me "what's wrong with Whiskas?" when I told her about the boys food. I kind of felt like saying, "what is right with whiskas?!" :roll: :roll: every time I tell her well research information and tips so just blows it off like she knows better which really she kind of doesn't. But oh well, there isn't much I can do if she won't take my help. So Sarah it definitely isn't just your mum that is like that - even David sometimes acts like that! We have been having a constant argument about dry food since before Comet came home, just yesterday he nearly started an argument in the vets about cereal free vs cereal dry food :roll:

Some people just don't like to keep up with the newest information and would rather deal with a problem when it happens instead of taking steps to try and ensure that the problem doesn't happen - and we all know what side we are on!
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Re: Childhood Pets

Post by hgale »

I had a budgie in our guesthouse when young but it was only when we moved that I discovered the lovely cat! In order of adoption (in either direction!):

Biscuit, ginger and white. Passed in 2002 soon after my mum.
Whisky - white/black. Passed a few years prior to Biscuit.
Sam - tabby. Again, passed a few years before Biscuit.
Kitten - Black and white. Passed Christmas 2012 - on CC Remembrance Gallery.
Mischa - tabby. Passed February 2014 - on Remembrance Gallery.
Tipsy, Tigger and Patch - Mischa's kittens - she decided to give birth on mum's bed rather than her prepared kitten box at her home across the road!

We've also had many strays and hangers-ons over the years - our Vet always says we had a sign above the cat flap "Soft touch lives here - come on in!"

And of course, still to come, DENVER who is moving in with me a week on Saturday!
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KittyWitty
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Re: Childhood Pets

Post by KittyWitty »

hgale wrote: We've also had many strays and hangers-ons over the years - our Vet always says we had a sign above the cat flap "Soft touch lives here - come on in!"
haha I like this! :lol: :lol:
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bobbys girl
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Re: Childhood Pets

Post by bobbys girl »

I know what you mean hgale (Helen?). We are sure there is a 'Vacancies' sign up somewhere - I just haven't found it yet! Not sure I would do any thing about it if I did.
:lol:
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Re: Childhood Pets

Post by claire_lee »

I did a long reply to this hit the wrong button and lost it!
Made me realise how many animals I've been lucky enough to share my life and home with including a hamster, 12 cats, 6 chickens, 3 horses and numerous fish....
It all started with a hamster when I was 6 however, our first cat was a brown burmese called Pearl whom we got about a year later - she used to sleep in our beds and the airing cupboard until she ate the toe out of my sisters school socks. We lost her to the road outside our house and after a short time deliberating whether to get another cat my parents got Sooty who was a dark tortie Abysinnian/Siamese cross. She was very talkative but would run up the curtains when storms were on the way. She died a year before I left home but when I moved in with my BF we got Victor a superb Grey tabby. He slept in our bed on our bed and on our pillows and was joined a year later by Jetta whom we picked up on our honeymoon. After some suspicion they hit it off and were inseperable even when Jetta (having got the jump on us!) had 5 kittens a year later. We rehomed 3 of the kitttens - one of them went to my parents who had her for 18 years. WE kept the other two and called them Polo and Kharmann - 2 months later they were joined by GT who was found by my husband abandoned on a building site.
Although we live on a quiet cul de sac GT was hit by a car when he was 3 outside our house. That was a bad year as Polo was also hit although she survived she had to have her tail amputated. She also suffered some nerve damage which affected her toileting and meant she had to be unblocked regularly. After 5-6 years it eventually got to the point where she was needing to be operated more often and we had to make the difficult decision to have her put to sleep.
We lost Victor next to FIV and then Jetta after him which left us with Kharmann the smallest of the 5 kittens. Despite falling off a windowsill and rupturing a tendon she lived to a month short of her 18th birthday by which time Wolfie (avatar) had already moved in having been left behind when his owners moved out. We had to get him a playmate as Kharmann didn't appreciate him so we got Kitty and when Kharmann passed to RB Mali we got Mali.
There have been a couple of other cats that just arrived on the doorstep and we offered homes to but had to rehome as they've upset resident cats...Boris and Dobby both went to friends. There have also been 'hangers on' and wanderers that drop by and eat the stuff our cats won't that we put out for the waifs and strays....
The chickens came from the farm where I keep my horse - they'd been bred by another farm that overproduced and our farmer bought the surplus (100!). The 3 horses were Beauty (Anglo Arab permanent loaned) Lando (also Anglo Arab who I bought when Beauty went to RB) and Pharaoh Arab) who I took on when his owner gave him away as she was getting divorced. The fish live in a pond which was previously an air raid shelter and tease the cats from under their wire reinforced mesh netting....
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