I don’t. I’ve had several pets throughout childhood, but in my adulthood I haven’t acquired any.
The reasons? I just don’t want the hassle of having to clean up after an animal. They’re messy. They can’t talk, so it’s not like I can have an intellectual dialogue with them.
I most especially would not want a bird. You can let cats and dogs outside and they’ll come back to you. But birds will fly the hell away and never return if you release them from their cages, which pretty much means that keeping one is like keeping a prisoner.
Fish are pretty, but if I want to look at them I could always put in my Planet Earth DVDs.
I guess I just don’t see any good reason to own an animal.
Like you, I had many pets throughout childhood, and a couple in adulthood.
I had a dog when I first got married, before kids that is. I just don’t see why I’d want to complicate my life like that, now. We had the dog for about a year and a half, and while he was cool, I wasn’t finding the “unconditional love” that a lot of pet owners find there. He was a co-dependent animal that insisted on un-knitting my berber carpet and waking me up to take 15 minute long shits in the middle of the night. In January. Plus, I didn’t like having to make sure I was home by a certain time to let the dog out, or find a sitter for trips. Ugh.
I’m incredibly allergic to cats, and fish and birds bore me.
When we decided to have kids, that was it. I brought my basset hound to a rescue, and I’ve been pet free ever since. While taking care of a kid is much harder and requires way more attention than a pet, I find the love there that I didn’t with another species.
And the cool things about kids… they start to learn to talk and surprise you with their development almost weekly. You can actually begin to communicate with them using english. Clever animals, they are. Very clever.
I do, but I have gone through periods of petlessness, and right now I have two turtles and one gecko, both of which don’t require much maintenance at all.
Personally, I don’t understand owning dogs and cats. Sure they’re cute, but every week there’s a thread on “My dog is eating poop” or “my cat is puking”. Yuck.
Yup. To me they’re just furniture with legs, with the added disadvantage that I’d have to feed 'em and clean up after 'em and take 'em to the vet when they get run over: at least furniture has the grace not to shit on the carpet. I quite like other people’s pets, for a while at least, but when I get bored after about ten minutes I like that they’re not my responsibility. I’ve never had one, I’ve never wanted one, and I’m a little suspicious of the emotional maturity of people who gush over theirs.
On the other hand, I adore babies, and will happily accost strange women at the supermarket to play with their babies. Babies are just endlessly fascinating: right now they’re completely into sticking their toes in their mouth, but there’s a whole little person in there just waiting to get out, and sticking toes into mouths is part of the whole developmental process.
Nope, not at the moment. But that has more to do with my lack of proper housing for a cute doggie. Since the moment I get a garden, I’m getting myself a dog.
None for me. We have a fish tank in the house that currently has just 4 fish in it, but they are my husband’s, so I don’t ever have to deal with cleaning or feeding or anything like that.
Had pets most of my life - cats, dogs, rabbits, snakes, mice, spiders, hermit crabs, hedgehogs, gerbils, and lots of other misc. creatures.
The last dog we had had to be put down shortly after I moved out to California. (Dachsund - back problems.) Never bothered with another after that as my kids were getting a little older.
The last pets I owned were 2 fire-bellied toads that I really did adore, they were just the cutest little things, and super easy to take care of. They were stolen a couple of years ago, and I haven’t bothered with any pets after that.
Don’t have any. I would absolutely love to have a dog and have given some very serious thought to getting one, but I can’t really fit one into my lifestyle. If only I had someone to share the dog with; I have a friend I could have such an arrangement with but he lives with someone who is very allergic to dogs, so that’s a no-go.
No animals here. In college and working, so I’m just not home often enough to care properly for a dog. No real interest in the money involvement in less demanding animals, and my significant other is allergic to cats.
However, when I graduate I fully intend to adopt a small dog. It is hard not having a dog, and I really miss a little fuzzbutt greeting me when I get home. I volunteer with animals, which helps, but it is not a good replacement. I’m really looking forward to this summer.
No, between me being allergic to cats, my flatmate being allergic to dogs and the restrictive clauses against pets in my building’s lease I don’t see it happening any time soon.
That and they require maintenance and I’m not sure I can be bothered.
Never had a pet, and likely never will. They require a lot of time and attention, and I’d feel bad about leaving any pet by itself while I was at work all day. They also cost a lot of money and are a pain to clean up after. Plus they’re smelly, crap everywhere, and ruin your furniture.
No, I dont have a pet because I rent an apartment which does not allow pets.
But I am godfathering two dogs, which means I can take them with me hiking whenever I want The first one is a beagle, and the second one is a flatcoated retriever.
Ditto. Lots of dogs and cats in childhood. I even have a dog (14 years old!) who lives with my parents now (couldn’t take him out of the country with me), but I have no pets now. I live alone and work, so, like Quartz, I couldn’t possibly give a pet the attention it deserves. And I don’t really want to subject my apartment to a pet’s claws and GI tract.
I had dogs growing up, but I don’t think I’d want one if I lived in a city. I might consider a cat. Right now my life is just too transient, and I don’t need the extra hassle.
I was violently allergic to all fur-bearing animals as a child, so our family couldn’t have any.
When I left home, my allergies had gotten somewhat better. In my twenties, I was in good enough shape that I could get a cat, which I had for several years. Unfortunately, I guess constant exposure or something else made the allergies worse so I had to find her another home. I still miss my Freddie.
So no pets for us. There is a semi-feral cat that lives in several back yards around here that we feed, but she only lets me near her when I am feeding her (my partner does most of the feeding, and they have a much closer relationship).
I sometimes think I would like a dog (and maybe I could do something about the allergies), but going out every day and cleaning up their poop doesn’t sound very attractive. And if I never have to clean a cat’s litter box again, it will be too soon.
Nevertheless, I still love all the kitty photo threads.
Roddy
The first one is a beagle, and the second one is a flatcoated retriever.
), so I’d not be at home enough.