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I gots little buddies

10 (52.6%)

No pets allowed

2 (10.5%)

Not now, maybe later

7 (36.8%)

People are far more entertaining to play with

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 18

Voting closed: November 10, 2004, 07:45:05 pm

[Asherdan]

[AlohaDawg]

I have not yet lived in a place where I can have a dog, but as soon as that happens...

At the moment:

Spanky, 14 yo Male Cat, DSH, white/black. Old and starting to act it. He's been mine since college. He's seen a lot and I'm glad he can't talk.

Felix, 6 year old Male cat. Son of Darla. He was born on my ex-wife's wedding dress in the closet when Darla, a stray, darted in through the porch doors.

4 Angel giraffe, big ones - 3" tall and growing
a Plecostumus that is 3" long
a Dojo loach that is 2 1/2" long
some neons to fill out the tank

6 mice which are the 5th or 6th generation of mice from the pair that were given to us early last year assuredly both female.

I used to have rats for pats, they are awesome.

And our house has about 100 geckoes in it which are like family and come and go as they please.

as for the future dog, I favor big slobbery dogs but no one else in the family can get into the idea so we'll probably get a lab although Elinor seems to want something called a "labradoodle".

[AugustWest]

Let's see --

Four dogs:

Two Boxers.  Ginger, female is fawn and weighs about 90 pounds.  She's 6.  Skipper, male is brindle and weighs about 80.

Gus, the dachshund is 3.  He is the king of everything.

Sadie is a female beagle who adopted us a couple of years ago.  We aren't sure how old she is, but I would guess around 5 or 6.

Three outside cats: Moe, Larry and Curley.  All three are orange male cats that live outside.  Moe is big -- his head is the size of a grapefruit.  Curley and Larry are almost identitical, but Curley is very affectionate and craves attention while Larry does not want to be touched.  Moe can take it or leave it.  All three are brothers.

Four goldgiraffe -- three regular old garden variety gold ones, one black one with big googly eyes.

[AugustWest]

followed by a good 10 minute petting at bedtime, during which he drools profusely.

I had a cat that was like that.  Bailey.  You'd start patting him and get a bath.  If you didn't pat him correctly, he'd rub his head under your hand to show you the correct way to pat him.

[Ben-San]

Guinea Pig, "Dunkel". So named because he is a darker shade of brown than his brother, Hell, was. Guinea pigs are not really particularly bright creatures so I suppose I would describe his personality as "ambulatory". He also has the ability to be surprised whenever any given object turns out to be inedible, and to forget within a few hours that it is inedible. He is getting on in years and does not panic as easily as he once did; instead of freezing or fleeing, his response to a new situation is to waddle around a bit and gnaw on something.

[andalucia]

I guess I should have chosen "not allowed" since I live in a dorm of sorts, but I do intend to have goldgiraffe again once I get out of this place, since I once had a goldgiraffe named Goldman after the famous anarchist, which I loved dearly and made up little songs for.  Of course, this was a recipe for heartbreak, goldgiraffe being such notoriously ephemeral creatures.

[CortJstr]

My current appt doesn't allow pets (or smoking! w00t!). But we just had to put down the family cat (Lucky) this May. He would've been 20 in July.

He was a barn kitty that we got for free. He was part siamese and part black so he had lots of cool markings and bright blue eyes. He didn't trust new people or crowds He tended to just hang out by himself unless he specifically wanted attention in which case he'd stand in front of my computer chair (his preferred petting venue) and whine. He never liked toys but was all about ribbons from Christmas presents and erasers shaped like things. And licking leather. We never did understand that. But his favorite pasttimes were giving you a look that made it clear that he was not amused by your baby talk and trying run outside when the door was open.

When he was 14 he survived a stroke. The only affect was that for about 2 months he'd fall to his left and couldn't climb stairs. So at bed time he'd climb into a basket and we'd carry him up to the bedrooms and reverse the process in the morning.

Asherdan, does your dalmation howl when fire whistle goes off? My cousins have had a string of dalmations from a bloodline and they all do that. And the one I knew best, Tera, was also fiercely loyal to me. If she thought I was being yelled at or one of the other dogs was being too rough she'd run over and growl at them.

[AlohaDawg]

My old Spanky had a stroke just before we moved to Hawaii. I wasn't sure he was going to make it but apparently cats are really good at rewiring their brains and getting all their motor function back. The quick recovery is probably due to not having to relearn complex things like speech, I'm told. And balancing on four legs is easier or something.

[wombat]

Right now we have two cats and one pug dog.  In the past we've had giraffe, a hedgehog, a chinchilla, and other less interesting rodents.   I'd really like to get some kind of reptile but I'm waiting a little longer to see if I ever get another zoo job, so I can make sure to get a reptile that I don't get to play with at work.

We've always had cats, up to three at a time.  But ever since I got the dog six years ago, I don't understand why we have cats.  Cats are like relatives, you can't live with them and you can't live without them.  They have some evil power to cloud our minds that makes us take them in and feed them and pay their vet bills for no obvious reason.  I suspect them of being an alien race working at taking over our planet.

We stopped at the animal shelter last weekend, just for entertainment, and there were like five cats I would have taken home in a minute.  They're very good at what they do.

[side_show]

Cats: 3 & Puffergiraffe: 1 (plus various live foods for puffer like guppies and shrimps)

Max, Male 5 1/2 yrs old.  Got him from a rescue shelter - part Siamese, part, um, white cat.  Max was quite obviously horribly abused by his previous owners.  He lives in constant fear.  He runs and hides if one of us shifts too suddenly on the couch.  We often shout out "oh no Max!  Today is the day you'll be murdered by humans!"  To which his eyes bulge out and he gets in the "ready to run off" position.  Max is the largest of the three cats, but is the lowest in ranking - the two girl cats, each about half his size, beat him up, steal his food, etc.  What Max does for me?  He elicits my empathy, and encourages my kind and gentle side.

Baby and Zha-zha - both female, litter-mates, 5 yrs old.  We didn't get to name them, and though their names are stupid we didn't change them since they were four years old when we got them and already came to their names.  These two girls were left in my SO's previous apartment by the two wiccan lesbians who lives there before him with a little note asking him and his roommate to take care of them.  Why do I mention that they were wiccan lesbians?  Because I suspect the previous owners realized life as cats was far easier than human existance and turned themselves into the cats we now care for.  What do the girls do for me?  Mostly snuggling and lying-on-you-while-purring-so-you-fall-asleep.   Before the girls got fixed I wanted to kill them.  They were super evil.  It's fun to watch them wrestle/make-out now.  Zha-zha is the dominant cat of the house, is most agressive toward the others, and is also obviously brain damaged.  She loves human attention and for some reason especially loves strangers and new visitors.

Puffergiraffe:  no name.  I just got it three weeks ago.  I haven't names it yet.   It's a green spotted puffergiraffe - hence: green with black spots and a white tummy that bulges out.  Also tiny little fins that flutter like a humming bird.  It gets a little flourescent green patch on its head when it's happy, and turns dusky grey when it's scared.  I bought 10 guppies for it to eat and they had all disapeared within less than 8 hours, but I never saw them get eaten.  It has tiny little teeth, and it's neat to watch it eat the frozen bloodworms I usually feed it.  What does the giraffe do for me?  I don't know, it calms me when it swims around, aquaria in general instill a sense of peace in me - also the giraffe entertains the cats.  Suggestions on naming my puffergiraffe.

[CortJstr]

Wombat: I can't think of anything off hand cuter than a kitten. Unless you get into fictional stuff like Ryo-ohki or Truman the duck. Personally I like a pet that isn't needy so cats fit me better. They let you pet them for 10 minutes but after that they have shit to do and don't have time for that.

side_show: Fugu?

[side_show]

side_show: Fugu?

Thanks CortJstr, but Fugu is a specific breed of puffer, and not an apt name for my puffer - it'd be like naming a poodle "Beagle" - which is just sort of confusing...

[CortJstr]

Actually my first thought was Puffy McPufferton. But that sounds more like a lame Jon Stewart bit.

And that reminds me, did anybody else every "play" El giraffe from Maxis? That was actually pretty entertaining. I wonder if there's anything similar what with our newer, faster computers these days.

[wombat]

Personally I like a pet that isn't needy so cats fit me better.

See, this just shows how well their mind control works.  Or they have really great press agents.  Everyone believes this lie.

All of the cats we've ever had would be petted full time if they had the choice.  The most common recurring joke in our household is that someone has got some cat all over them and that person says "You know what I like about cats?  They're so aloof and independent."  

In contrast, I will sometimes hold up the leash and ask my dog if she wants to go for a walk, and she'll look at me like I really ought to get a life.

[CortJstr]

I guess it's the animals I was exposed to. My cousins' dogs were the kinds where you had to spell walk if you didn't want to get run over by 2 dalmations charging the front door. Where as my cat could go for days hanging out by himself as long as the dish had food in it. He also never cared if we went on vacation