Most of our critters over the years have been rescues. Sometimes they came with health records listing a date of birth, but mostly it’s been “We think he’s about X years old.”
Our oldest cat is in that category - he’s either 15 or 16. We have actual birthdates for our other cat and our dog (cat’s 13 as of June 10 and dog is 9 as of July 26.) No, we don’t celebrate their birthdays. Apart from having to tell the vet how old they are, no one cares. I even had to look it up to start this thread. Guess I’m a bad critter mommy…
Roughly. We adoped our two cats (brothers) from an animal shelter in mid-August, 2019; at that time, the shelter told us that they were 4 1/2 months old. We decided to declare that their “birthday” is April 1st, which is likely accurate to within a week or so.
I have had “hatch dates” for several of my birds - our two original lovebirds, their offspring (one of which we kept because he was disabled and probably would have been fed to something like a snake if we had sent him to the pet store with his siblings), and two of my current three birds. Sydney the Cockatiel is unbanded and with no papers (sort of a rescue). Sunny the Cockatiel and Griffin the Green Cheek Conure have official “certificates of hatch” from the breeder that include some breeding information.
Of our current pack, we know the exact date of birth for two, and have assigned a “birthday” for the other two. We celebrate dog birthdays. We do not invite dogs to a party, more like throwing a couple of burgers on the grill for the dogs and singing Happy Birthday.
All of ours were shelter dogs. They could have been born on the street, who knows. We have arbitrary assigned dates for their “birthdays”, but we don’t have parties or even special treats. It wouldn’t be fair if we did it on the wrong date.
No, and I feel bad about it! My previous dog was a purebred Golden Retriever with papers and everything so she had a birthday, and birthday parties.
My two “new” dogs are mutt rescues and were “about 18 months old” when I got them in the winter of 2014. So they may have been born in the summer of 2012? Since I never knew the exact date I just never thought of doing birthdays for them.
Some people celebrate their dogs’ “gotcha days” and I don’t even do that. So I’m a terrible doggy mommy.
But these dogs run me ragged so really every day is a party for them. No regrets.
Nope. Mine was an adult rescue, and her listing estimated her age to be about 2 and a half years old. She had been listed on the site for several months, so I tacked a few more months onto that estimate, and decided to make her Columbus Day her birthday because it would be around the right time. Of course, Columbus Day isn’t on the same day each year, but since it’s an estimate anyways I figured it works for my purposes.
ETA: I do celebrate her gotcha day, but it was the 4th of July so it’s easy to remember.
I don’t even know these dates. I do know we got Taz from a Bengal Rescue group in Baltimore, and I got Ziva at a PetCo cat adoption day. beyond that, I let them live with me and share my recliner - what more could they want???
Of the six dogs we have left, we know every “birth date”, 2 purchased from breeders, 4 whelped on our premises. Our daughter always sends “birthday” for her old dog who is with us, but that’s about it.
Not at all. My current cat was a tame stray kitten that wandered on to a rural property at around the twelve week stage. The other I got with him (deceased as of about a week ago, poor guy) was a shelter kitten that I got around ~6 months old to keep the first one occupied while I was at work. I knew their approximate ages only.
Far as I can remember I’ve never known the birth date of a single pet. I’ve only ever once had a supposedly pedigreed, but non-show quality animal (a boxer) and my folks got him as a young adult from other folks that were selling him cheap and I never saw his papers.
Though our cat was a rescue, her birthday was documented. If she had been born six days later, she and my husband and I would all have the same birthday.
In theory, if the paperwork is correct, but she was rescued internationally from a giant puppy mill in South Korea, so that is probably a pretty iffy proposition.
Before our current kitten, all of ours have been adult rescues with no known birthday or age.
We got George from a breeder and his birthday is on his paperwork. It wouldn’t be fair to the other two to celebrate George’s birthday and not theirs, so maybe we will just declare April 9 to be everyone’s birthday.
No. I adopted my cat from a shelter. They told me he was four years old at the time, but I don’t know his actual birthday. I generally think of his adoption day as his birthday, and I put that on vet forms as his birthday if asked.
My previous dog was a rescue and his age was listed as “about a year old”, so no for him. My new dog was also a rescue but we have his original paperwork. His birthday happens to be a day before mine, so I won’t forget it.
