# Do you ever tell your pets about the first time you saw them? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 19, 2010, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-tell-your-pets-about-the-first-time-you-saw-them/564703 "2010-12-19T09:52:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-tell-your-pets-about-the-first-time-you-saw-them/564703/41 "2010-12-20T17:21:41Z")
No, I don’t. It was a great day for both of us, but at the time, Pudding had been in the shelter for five months–her second stint there in her three-year life–and was only a month out from losing an eye. The shelter had ringworm problems so the cats were kept in small cages and given anti-fungal dips twice a week, which had yellowed her pretty white fur. It’s just not a place either of us want to go. Though seeing her picture on the shelter’s website _was_ love at first sight, for me. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-tell-your-pets-about-the-first-time-you-saw-them/564703/42 "2010-12-20T19:45:55Z")
Yeah. My dog wasn’t a shelter rescue, I got her from a breeder. But I tell her about how she rescued me. ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-tell-your-pets-about-the-first-time-you-saw-them/564703/43 "2010-12-20T20:18:20Z")
No, but I tell the evil little baby cat that I will trade her in for a better, less stinky model if she doesn’t start behaving. She obviously does not believe me because she still insists on stealing whatever she can from the dog and farting up a storm. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-tell-your-pets-about-the-first-time-you-saw-them/564703/44 "2010-12-20T20:35:36Z")
I tell Charlie all about how cute he and his three brothers and two sisters were when we went to the vet’s office to pick out a kitten. It was soooo hard to choose, but we chose the boldest, most adventurous kitty. And then we brought him home - just a little pile of fluff in a giant carrier - and he immediately took over ownership of the condo. He marched right out of that carrier, sat down in the middle of the room, and surveyed his territory with a look of satisfaction. Linus, on the other hand… We agreed to adopt him sight unseen. He was born in an alley behind my friend’s place. He had never even been in a house before he moved in with us at around 5 months old. He’d actually been living in our basement for several days before I even saw him - I only knew he was still there because the food was disappearing and the litter box was being used. He has long since decided he likes it here, but he doesn’t get his story repeated as often as Charlie. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-tell-your-pets-about-the-first-time-you-saw-them/564703/45 "2010-12-20T22:15:29Z")
All the time. Sometimes I work the story into song lyrics and sing it to her. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-tell-your-pets-about-the-first-time-you-saw-them/564703/46 "2010-12-20T22:40:27Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > I think it’s important that you do this, and often, because how else could the cat know its own history, and pass it along to future generations? Oral histories are key for cat historians, and so few people disseminate such vital information to the cat population, who as a result enroll in Cat History programs (Ph. D. or MA) far too rarely. Don’t listen to those nutjobs btw who will tell you that you’re acting like a lunatic for sharing conversational subjects you indulge yourself in with household pets–any sensible person understands that cats do benefit greatly from hearing your discourse on certain specific subjects, just as human children learn from being spoken to. The cat is IN NO WAY a poor substitute for a child, and you should never listen to (or even tolerate) some unkind person suggesting otherwise. Onward and upward! I came in here to post something snarky but I see that the thread was already won by the 3rd post. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-tell-your-pets-about-the-first-time-you-saw-them/564703/47 "2010-12-21T02:06:38Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > [Mod Note]There is a thread ATMB concerning that-lets try to keep on topic, o.k.?[/Mod Note] Seriously? The winkie smilie wasn’t evidence enough that it was a joke, or the comment was not made in a short enough time frame of the original post so as to be inappropriate? Ridiculous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-ever-tell-your-pets-about-the-first-time-you-saw-them/564703.md?page=2)