want to get to know you

[Rusty]

hi guys!

i have no idea if someone made a topic like this but i wanted to learn about all of you and everything about your pets, how you got them, how old you were, everything.

here's a little about myself:

my first pet ever was my uromastyx named willow. he was absolutely awesome. i was twelve or thirteen at the time ( young i know but just like i feel now, animals are my first priority, always.) i researched everything i could on this little guy. well i went to a pet shop that sold them and it was a really s**tty place. i looked at the uromastyx and there were two in a small cage. both male because i knew how to sex them just by looking at them and they didnt have food, no heat lamp nothing. and one of them just looked at me and i felt connected right way. he was skinny and the way his bones were growing i could tell he had a calcium deficiency his bones were sort of twisting and he wasnt eating properly. so i bought him anyways. i helped him get healthy. in the mean time his leg broke because of his calcium deficiency. they also have the ability to smile when happy just likea dog does. he used to smile a lot. he died last year at the age of 7 from renal failure.

i had gotten a bearded dragon when willow was 4. i named my beardie osiris. (hes almost 4 now) hes 2 feet now. hes awesome. i built him a huge cage in my room. he had a waterfall and everything (i work for my animals happiness) he will sometimes sleep in my bed cuddling on my pillow (i dont roll around when i sleep so hes safe. and hes out of my reach incase i do roll around)

i then had 3 hedgehogs that i took in because they werent taken care of properly and one of them was being rehomed so i took him in. i worked at a petstore at the age of 15 which is where i got them. i had researched so much that i trained the managers at the petstores even though i was underage and part time. after that i had to give them away because i was having issues and i felt like i wasnt taking good care of them so i interviewed ppl and had them rehomed to the perfect owners.

later on i decided to get a rabbit because i had always wanted one. i read up on them and had worked with them personally when i was at the petstore. (by this time i didnt work at that particular petstore anymore) i saw that theyre living conditions were poor. they were in small cages which never happened when i was there. they were dirty, had no water, hay or food. rusty was the worst of the bunch. i decided i wanted him. he didnt like me when i picked him out. i took him home right away. now hes almost 2.5 years old and he wont leave me alone!! we cuddle constantly and he's allowed me to live in his room. lol. hes absolutely my soulmate (in animal form).

these are all the animals that I own. i have other animals but theyre not mine.

now a little about me. im 19 living in canada. i worked in two different petstores for about 1 year each. the first one i helped build, and train managers as ive mentioned. the second petstore i was dubbed a leader because i wasnt 18. i was still part time working 38 hours a week because i had to fix managers mistakes and take up shifts for others and have meetings with customers who needed to talk to me. ( i was always recommended to customers when they had questions about animals.) and i was in high school. now i work at the mall and i am a full time student in university.

thats all i can think about now. sorry that was so long. what about you guys?

 

[tundrakatiebean]

I don't think I've seen another thread like this, I like the idea!

My first pet was a cat that I got from a humane society that I named Samantha. I was really young 9ish or so and it was a gift to me. I had to prove that I could take care of her by taking care of our goldfish and dog for a week with no reminders or help. I had her for about 2 years, she was an indoor outdoor cat and ran off and didn't come back while I was away at summer camp. We think that a coyote got to her

I didn't have another pet that was mine until last year when we moved from Oregon to Alaska. My dad moved us up here because he got another job. He felt really bad about making me move because I had a boyfriend in Oregon at the time (we broke up last fall) and was leaving all my friends in the last summer before everyone went off to college. I'd been wanting a rabbit for a while (who wouldn't!) and figured this would be a good oportuniety to try and get one. I begged and begged and my dad finally agreed. So I found the Anchorage Rabbit Rescue and saw that they had a little netherland dwarf girl who was spayed and long past her teen years. I went to visit the lady and she said someone else was already in the prosess of adopting her. I was heartbroken. The lady showed me a bunch of other rabbits and I ended up getting Wash. He was rescued with 4 other bunnies from a shed in the middle of nowhere. He was about 5 months old at the time. I got him July 2006 and I found this forum a while later. I love both my bunny and the forum and I'm glad I found both :biggrin2:

 

[BEAUKEZRA]

Hi. I'm Heather. I'm 31 and married with NO human children. I've never had rabbits growing up, only cats.

I currently have 1 cat and 6 rabbits. Honestly I never had any desire to have a rabbit but one day my husband and I came across a wild one that we thought was injured so we brought it to the vet. The vet told us to keep it in a box in a quiet place and either it was going to die or we would hear it bouncing around and then let it go. It didn't do either in the course of 12 hrs so we bought a cage so we could take care of it until we felt he was well enough to be released. Well anyway we ended up letting him go the next day and we decided since we had a cage we should get a rabbit (stupid I know). I didn't know anything about rabbits.

1st was Onyx. He was so adorable but he died a week later on Christmas day. He was very young and from a pet store. He had explosive diarrhea and the vet couldn't save him.

Next was Bernie. He's the love of my life! I don't think he feels the same way about me but that's ok.

Then came Lionel but he also died a week later. He started getting runny poop so I brought him to a vet just in case. The vet gave him medicine and he died an hour later. I never went back to that vet. Lionel was not on the verge of death when I brought him in! I feel sooooo guilty still.

Then came Louie, then Alice, grouchy Rosie, Oreo and then Maddie.

I could go on and on about all of them but it's too long as it is.

 

[Rusty]

thats awesome! i only ever grew up with dogs and we got a cat later on. and i moved as well from montreal to calgary which is where i still am. thank you for telling me about yourself tundrakatiebean!! i only have rusty and i dont think id ever be able to get a second bunny. rusty is just my everything and i dont think id be able to split my time in half for him.

so beaukezra, have you ever wanted children? how long have you been married. man thats a lot of rabbits. how do you have time for them all?how does the cat like the buns?

 

[iluvmybuns]

Okay I'll go next. My name is Julia I'm 22 and a hairdresser/manager of a salon. I haved lived alone (but my bf stays here everynight) since March in this terrible spider-ridden apartment:grumpy:

I have never had pets that were "mine" besides a gerbil named Meatballs(my sister's was Spaghetti) and a parakeet named Sergei. My family has always had dogs, we had a beagle named Spot who was super fat but I loved her. My dad had to rehome her when his aparftment found out we had her. Then my dad and stepmom got a house anda sheltie puppy named Foxy, they still have her. My mom had a "beagle" that turned out to be a 100lb mutt:shock:but he was the best dog ever. His name was Sherlock. My mom got rid of him (gave him to her friend) when she moved to Minnesota back in 2000. I will never forget him. He was my best friend. I cried over him for weeks, my dad wouldn't let him come when my sister and I moved in with them. When my mom moved back home she called her friend that took him and she said "Oh he was too much work, I brought him to the Humane Society" I almost died.

Pepsi was my very first bun, and Ozzy came soon after.

Pepsi was my sister's and when she realized how much work a bunny was I decided to take her when I moved out. She has a one year old and has her hands full with him....I was going to be alone and wanted a pet anyway, and I kinda bonded with her while I lived with my sister. We thought Pepsi was a boy and was named Pete til I brought him to the vet for his neuter and she said "I think you mean a spay" Haha, oops!!!

I got Ozzy from a shelter nearby called Midwest. I now volunteer there on Mondays

These two are my babies, they have full run of my bedroom during the day and when I get home they get to have the rest of my apartment. They are bonded and love eachother to death. It's really great. They make my life

 

[Rusty]

i think pets make most ppls lives. only the crazies think differently lol.

i know what you mean about sisters. my sister and i were supposed to split the job for the hedgehogs but it ended up being all mine. lol. when i couldnt take care of them anymore cuz i was working 38 hours plus school thats when i gave them up. then when i finally had the time for a rabbit which is what i always wnted i said my sister could share with me... which i new she wouldnt do so hes all mine and doesnt care for her lol. except runs in her room and poos in her closet when she isnt aware haha. ive trained him so well lol.

 

[lennyjames]

I'm 37, married with no kids. I head the Singapore branch of a regional luxury yacht business. We found Happy last year roaming the fields next to our home. My wife use to have rabbits when she was younger but it was a first time for me. Before that, I had NEVER had an inkling for rabbits even though I love animals very much. But when we decided to keep Happy, things changed really fast - he is such a wonderful feller and it was a strange experience to be able to read his emotions just by looking at his eyes.

 

[gwhoosh]

I'm 19, in college. I've had mostly gerbils in my life.

I got my first pet when I was about 5-7. I had wanted a hamster for a really long time, then for Christmas I got the cage. I got to pick my hamster, and we started to go home. On the way we had to stop somewhere and the hamster had almost chewed through the box! So I got scared of it. When we got home and had to transfer it to the cage, I hid under my sister's bed. (stupid - I know, I should have hid on TOP of the bed, but somehow that wouldn't have given me the same sense of security) Her name was Kimberly, but I never liked her and we sold her at a garage sale.

I think my next pet was a gerbil. His name was Jerry and I liked him a lot better. I played with him and built him mazes and let him run in a ball. He even ran in a ball suspended from my ceiling fan (it was off and this amused me more than him I think). He died of old age.Before he died though, I got JJ, another gerbil. I don't remember what happened to him.

Then I got Sprite, a parakeet. He never took to me. On occassion, I could get him out and play with him, but I was never comfortable with him, and he was never really tamed.One day my neighbor's cat caught a parakeet, and they gave it to me. It was a girl I named Skye. Skye and Sprite LOVED each other. Skye was pretty tame at first, but then she wanted nothing to do with me and Sprite wanted less to do with me. I think we ended up giving them to a new neighbor who has several birds in a huge cage.

Then I got another hamster at some point, named Baby. Don't remember what happened to her.And my sister's friend gave us a Cockatiel named Elvis. We still have him. He says pretty bird, or more like "Itty Ird" but he tries. He's not tame, but he likes me best.

Then I got another gerbil, Ritz. Since I had only had boys (and I didn't like feeling their "boy parts") I wanted a girl. We had to look through about 7 gerbils and found one. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but one day there were 5 pink babies in the corner. There were 2 boys and 3 girls, Orion, Brownie (my brother's), Gemini, Nikki, and Morgan. Orion and Brownie lived in a 10 gal. and the girls in a huge tank. One day though, the girls rebelled and Ritz was killed. I found out shortly later that girls will fight if there are more than 3

Brownie died early, probably from obesity. Then I got Ollie to keep Orion company. They and the rest died of old age.

One day my old teacher's son's hamster had babies and they gave me two. I don't know why I kept them in the same cage, but I did. Their names were Chip and Dale. Turned out one was a girl and one a boy because one day she had 5 babies too. I separated them, but Chip was too young and she killed 4 of the babies pretty quickly. I rooted for the last one, and he grew fur and started to move around the cage a little, but I found him killed one day. Don't remember what happened to the parents/siblings.

All this time I had begged my parents for a dog. Christmas of '01, they finally got us one. A tiny tiny Bichone Frise puppy. We name him Nick, for St. Nicholas. But that night Nick started coughing, and got sick. The vet said it was kennel cough, since my parents had bought him at a pet store. We gave him meds. But then he stopped eating and we had to force feed him. Now the vet said it was pneumonia. He didn't do much except lay and cough and it was obvious he was very sick. He died about a month or two later.

The pet store he came from offer us a new dog. We saw some puppies, and left with a very energetic and hyper Bichon, again. We named him Teddy. He's crazy and still with us, he'll turn 6 this November.

Then I got 2 gerbils. Two boys I named Micro and Chip. They're still here today, but very old.

Then I went to college and got sad that I had no pets. I visited my friend and her RA had a bunny! Amazed, I found out that you could keep bunnies in the dorms. I had wanted a bunny for YEARS but my mom had always refused because she said they pooped too much (didn't know about the litter box). And so, FINALLY, I got Rilee at a pet store. Honestly, I chose her because she was the smallest and cutest. She lived in my dorm room and annoyed my roommate by chewing her stuff. (I think she was secretly glad when we moved out after the spring).

The end for now

 

[~Bracon~]

Im Hannah, Im16 and hopefully by tomorow Il be doing a diploma in animal care. We had a dog, a few cats and a rabbit when I was younger. Ive always loved animals and if it were up me we'd live on a farm with at least one of everything.

My first rabbit was called "Thumper" [very original].My mum had fallen in love with him at a local garden centre and brought him home that day, I was so happy!I was only about 6 when we got him, as with all new pets me, my brother and sister fought to have our turns to play with him. But after a while we slowly lost interest and Thumper would spend most of his days alone. I feel so guilty thinking about it now but I was only little and I suppose I didnt really understand. He did have a big run and hutch to play in but I suppose it wasn't much fun with no one to play with. He died quite young at the age of 5, the vet recond he might of had some sort of heart attack.

So nearly 11 years later Im still feeling guilty, I love all animals but I think rabbits are so special. For months Id been asking my parents could I have another rabbit, In the end I guess they gave up and finaly said yes.Woop! Id looked round a few rescue centres but couldn't really find the one for me. I was out shopping with my mum one saturday and she pulled up at a pet shop. I was a bit funny at first because I'd sooner get one from a rescue centre, when we went in the rabbits were in a terrible condition, there were at least 40 hutchs stacked on top of eachother with about 7rabbits per hutch, I was so shocked. We'd looked at the other 49 hutchs but all the rabbits seemed ill, I looked in the last hutch and it seemed similar as the others, all the rabbits looked ill, then my mum pointed out a little grey ball of fluff. The woman picked it up and basicly threw it to me. It was so small and tiny, It was only 5-6 weeks!. I began asking the woman a few questions about its breed and age, and then asked about housing and feeding etc. She didnt no 50% of the answers. I knew if I didnt take it it would probably catch some sort of infection from the other rabbits or get bullied, the others looked a lot older. So thats the story of my first bun Bracken.

My other bun Warren was chosen and brought home by my mum. I was a bit angry when she said that he was bought from the same shop, I explained to her that were basicly fueling them and they just replace each rabbit thats been bought. He looked a bit bigger and active than when I brought Bracken home, which is a good thing I guess.

So up to the present, they are both due to be fixed in a few weeks, which Im happy about as I can start the bonding soon after that.

~Hannah,Bracken&Warren~

 

[kathy5]

hello

My name is kathy I am 30 something. I am married going on 14 years next june

I have 2 kids a boy Matthew who is 6 & a girl Megan who justed turned 9 yesterday

I have had animals all my life as well everything from cats to dog to hamsters to guinny pig to birds only parakeets tho nothing bigger.

we got cocoa our bunny on feb 14 for the kids we could not wait until easter

he is so much fun you can go meet him in his blog cocoa



http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=18980&forum_id=6





we live in NH

we have 4 budgies ( we used to have 7 )

1 bunny cocoa

1 cat emily who is great friends with cocoa.

& some fancy gold fish



some day I hope to have a small dog like a beagle but not until cocoa is gone LOL

Kathy

 

[katt]

oh, i can play this game!

my name is katie (kat/katt/kitty. . . you pick). i am 20 and currently have no significant other or kids. i live with my best friend from high school in an apartment with my 2 rabbits, hermand and winnie. and a goldfish named Norbert. i don't go to college right now, but just work.

my animal adventure started out at the tender age of 3 1/2 when i was allowed to pick any one of the fish in my parents 100 gall. freshwater fishtank (and there was a lot of fish). . . so naturally i picked the plecostomus. i named him eeyore and fell in love (to this day i will call plecostomus fish 'eeyores'). sadly after about a year eeyore grew way to big for our tank, so we traded him in at a fish store for a smaller one. then for my 5 birthday i was givin piggy. . . an adorable white crested guinea pig.my dad made her a HUGE cage in the living room, and she was spoiled beyond belief. a year later for my next birthday a friend of my mom's had a litter of kittens, and my mom gave me a cute little grey fuzz-ball that i named abby. abby and piggy were the best of friends, and abby would sleep in piggies cage with her all the time. abby was mostly an indoor cat, but was allowed out once in a while. one day she got out without any of us knowing it and never came back. that same year (she was 2, so piggy was at least 3) i became super allergic to piggy. i couldn't even be in the same room with her without breaking out in hives and not being able to breath. we decided that because my allergy to her was so debilitating, that she needed a new home, so my sister's friend took her in and she lived another 3 years (talk about an old piggy!). we also had a huge (well over 100 pounds) golden retriever named max that was the light of my father's life. they got him when he was about 1 year old, an old lady had bought him, then realized he was way to big for her to handle, instead of finding him a new home right away, she kept him in a small kennel day and night. my parents worked hard to socialize him. . . and in the end he turned out to be an awesome dog that would sleep next to my bed every night. he died at the old age of 14 when he was hit by a car.

we also got 2 black lab mixes from the humane society. star and chyanne. they were awesome dogs. chy had to be put down (she was on the verge of death as it is) for a heart condition, and star fallowed shortly afterwards due to loneliness i think. they were around 7 or eight when they died.

i got into chickens when i was 12? i think. i had 5 pet chickens that would fallow me around night and day. they came when called, and would take naps with me if i layed down in the grass. i got into 4-h and got more and more. . . then i decided to move up in 4-h to rabbits. i spent 1 1/2 years attending rabbits shows, researching, and talking to breeders before i brought trixie home. she was the light of my life. she lived in my room, and we kept a kiddy-pool in our living room that she would hop around in while i was down there. soon one became 2 rabbits, 2 became 10, and then i was breeding and showing in arba and 4-h with around 60 rabbits. all the while i took in unwanted rabbits, sick rabbits, hurt rabbits, unsocialized rabbits, and placed many buns in pet homes. i finally got out of them the start of my senior year, i kept only a handfull of my favorites, including trixie. and focused on school, and all the other activities i had on my plate.l once i graduated i decided to find homes for the rest of the rabbits, trixie included, but when i went to go meet a lady that was interested in either trixie, or a standard rex i had named kabuki, i told her i couldn't give trixie up, and she was cool with that, she took kabuki home, and i took trixie home. she died 2 weeks later. i was crushed. she was my world, and my best friend.

a few weeks later a friend of mine told me to come over and look at a litter of mini lops, i feel in love with winnie, and brought her home. later on (after she was spayed) i brought home an opal lionhead named finn. . . they got along so terribly that i couldn't even have the sent of one on me without the other freaking out. so finn went to go live with someone else, as nothing i could do would make those to like each other. then i brought herman home. . . and my world was perfect.

i have also done some rescue work. 3 years ago i took in to feral kittens and socialized them and raised them from 4 weeks of age, and found them a wonderfull home.

then last summer i took in a puppy. mia was caged 9+ hours a day, never played with, as a young puppy was fed small portions of cheap, nasty adult dog food. she was never potty trained, never leash trained, never spent time with. they even limited her water intake so she wouldn't go potty in her kennel as much when they were gone.i got her the day she was going to be surrendered to the humane society, and i couldn't let that happen. she is a beautifull yellow lab/husky mix. i worked with her all summer, and i had so much to do still with her, but was leaving for college. my parents and younger brother simply didn't have the time to keep working with her so she went to live with my cousin, and has since turned into a wonderfull dog.

one winter about 5 years ago, we had a stray golden puppy show up at our house. we took him in, cleaned him up, and fed him. my parents said that as long as he wasn't claimed we would keep him. he was claimed, but a drunk. this poor dog sat there cowering behind my legs as his owner talked to my mother about how the little bas***** dog simply wouldn't stay in the yard. i was so upset that we had to give him back that i gave the dog to my mom, and walked away crying. he ended up comming to our yard many times looking for comfort, food, and some love. they ended up moving away and taking the dog with them. for christmas that year we got hunter, my parents golden retriever, he wasn't a replacement to the poor puppy we couldn't save, but that puppy made my parents realize that they had room for another dog. hunter is the only dog we have owned that came from a breeder. he is spoiled rotten, and honestly doesn't know he is a dog.

i also have 2 cats at my parents house. baggerah is a human society kitten that we got very ill, she almost died. but she is a though old bat and lived, she just turned 13 and looks and acts like she is 6. we always joke that she will never die and will be sitting in the front row at my parent's funeral. my other cat diego is about 4 years old. i got him after one of our old cats died. purrs was my age, and i spent my life growing up with her. after she died i couldn't sleep at night because she wasn't there in bed with me. she diego was almost like a replacement for her.

okay, that is all my animals, besides a few fish, and small and furry, but i won't go into ALL of them. i can say i have been blessed withlots of animals.

my goal in the next few years is to get a dog to show in michigan. but that is not for a few years yet.

 

[Rusty]

oh my i go to bed and all these ppl reply!!! ahhh!!!

thank you for posting lennyjames! how long have you been married? wow a yacht business. that must be a fun job. its great to have such a connection with your pets and understand them. sometimes i understand rabbits and other pets a lot better than ppl lol. thank you for posting a little about yourself!


gwhoosh- thats a lot of gerbils!!! my friend had 3 hamsters before she started working with me at the petstore. she then bought one that was pregnant. (on purpose) and the mom had 6 babies. one was a runt and died that same day. all five of them grew up nice and furry. then the babies got out and mated with other hamsters and at one point there was 13 hamsters in one room!!!:shock:it was insane.

my mom never wanted me to have a rabbit either because she was afraid that he would attack my cat and poop all over. i convinced her by saying i could try to have him for 14days and if it didnt work out i could return him (i knew i was able to train rusty no problem since ive trained all of the other ones at the pet store.) so i trained him that day and he was absolutely perfect. no poo anywhere. and i had blocked off all the areas i didnt want him to go in and he just binkied everywhere!! my dad spent hours video taping him lol. they loved him so much. now my parents sneak into my room and talk to him. i catch them doing it all the time and when i ask them what theyre talking about theyre like um i was just looking for him lol.

 

[Rusty]

Hannah- dont feel guilty about thumper. you were too young to understand. and now that youve learned from it you're probably one of the best bunny moms out there because of your love and understanding you share with your rabbits.

i'd love to have a farm and have everything!! that would be so awesome. but then again i'd probably want to sleep outside with the animals lol.

that's absolutely terrible about that pet shop. and some ppl dont have any respect for the animals. the pet stores i worked at were never even close to that. when my friend and i stopped working there, the cages were so dirty, no food and water and the floors were absolutely awful. i guess they really didnt realize how much my friend and i did considering we cleaned about 50 fish tanks everyday, cleaned about 27 animal cages every morning, cleaned bowls , fed them and watered them of course. it was so sad to see all those animals like that but that must have been heartbreaking for you to see those animals in those terrible conditions.

also i have a question. if your first bun was bracken, then why is your name bracon. confused a little sorry...

 

[Rusty]

haha, yes pets can be alittle overwhelming kathy. with all these pets in my house, i find myself the one who cleans everything since my parents and sister have given up on them. wish megan a happy birthday for me!!!

how do you like your budgies? are they tamed or not so much?

and congratulations for being married so long!! it seems these days ppl get married and divorced real quick. its awesome to see ppl in love for so long. so congratulations!!

thank you for posting a little about yourself.:biggrin2:

 

[Rusty]

hi katie!

glad you posted here. man that was an awesome post. i loved it. you are so lucky to have had so many pets and such nice parents to let you have them. some ppl are just so terrible to their pets. i had this one dog come into our yard too and the guy came and picked him up in a couple of hours and didnt even care that he was gone. it was so sad.

have you ever done rabbit shows? i've never been to one but i hope i can sometime. i'd love to enter rusty but i have no idea how that would work out.

haha that was so funny about the cat at the funeral. animals are so amazing in how they can act and seem so youthful, where we sort of just limp around and stuff. i do that now and im not even that old!!

well i'm glad you shared your wonderful story with me! i absolutely enjoyed reading it! im so amazed at how many pets you've had and taken such good care of!!

 

[MsBinky]

OK this is gonna be long I suggest you grab a coffee and snack

I was an extremely calm and delicate child, so much so that sometimes they would worry. Lol. I would spend hours and hours in my bedroom playing with my dolls or coloring. When I was 3 years old, my parents got a hamster. They thought I would love watching it and holding it. Well one day, my father took it out and I loved it softness, until it climbed up on me and bit my neck. From that moment I never wanted to touch it again. My father felt bad... I don't remember what happened to it. I think it might have passed away.

That same year, my father brought me a guinea pig. It was love at first sight! I did everything with her. I had a baby stroller for my dolls and I would push her around... If we went shopping, she'd come with me! My mother would buy her groceries and I'd be right there by her side, taking a few grapes from the bag and feeding them to her. Guinea pigs are absolute wonderful pets for kids :biggrin2:I would giggle every time she'd squeal. My parents had brought in my sandbox and that was was she was kept in so she had plenty of place to roam. My parents loved her too. One day, my father brought home a boy. He was really aggressive for some reason though so only my father handled him. Well he got my girl preggy and soon enough we had the 3 most adorable babies. I wasamazed by seeing her give birth to fully developped babies. Lol.

Sadly, my father developped a HUGE allergy to them. One day he was hospitalized and plugged from all sides because his blood cell count was horrible due to the lack of oxygen. That same day, my mother sent all the guinea pigs away. She and I cried together but I was devastated. My father felt absolutely horrible and he missed them terribly himself. He would have given me the world if he could have but he couldn't even bring me a kitten or puppy because he was allergic.

My parents got two budgies but I wanted nothing to do with them. I couldn't hold them or cuddle them... And so, when my great grandmother's husband died and she got lonely, my father took them to her and she was thrilled. Whenever we went to her house, I would watch them but I was glad she had them. They died at about the same time she died.

Meanwhile, my father had befriended a squirrel and this squirrel was hilarious. He would jump at the door and scratch until we opened. My father would lay trails of peanuts alllllllll over the house and I would sit on the floor and watch it. Later on, it would steal them from my fingers. We were friends until we moved. Also, our landowner had a small dog and though I was generally terrified of dogs, I loved this one. Her children were all grown up and so she became like a grandmother to me and I was often at her house and she always had my favorite cookies (Newtons!) with milk ready for me and I would play with the dog and she was happy because the dog was thrilled too.

My father used to clean condos and one day people started freaking out because there was a bat in the attic or something similar. It's illegal to kill them here so my father caught it and realized it was injured. He took it home :shock:LOL. He fed it and got it stronger. One day, while my father was out, it escaped and started flying around the house. My mother threw me in my bedroom and closed the door. I watched from under the door and saw my mom running and screaming her head off. My father came home and was laughing at her so bad That night he let the bat go as it was clearly healed.

After that, my parents got a fish tank and I would sit for hours on their bed watching the fish... They had tiny crabs and they were my favorite. However, one day I looked for them and they weren't there. We never saw them again until we moved. They were found dried up under the furniture. :?

When we moved, my father brought a ring-neckedturtledove home. I had never liked birds until that point but I fell in love at that point. I was probably around 10-11 when he brought her home. I loved that I could hold her and she was so soft! Well, when my father saw that I liked her, he took me to the store and picked out another. She was terribly weak when we got her, and I remember my fatherhad actually opened the box in the car and was stroking her feather and holding her. She pulled through though and I absolutely loved them. This one would fly to me when I'd call and land on my head and play with my hair and coo in it. When I did my homework, they would be on my desk eating or just staying perched. I was amazed at the laughing sound they made.

They had a large cage that my father had built for them outside for the day, and we brought them in during the night. Well 2 became 3 when my father brought home a male. He cooedwaaaaaaaaaay too much but I loved him anyway. Three finally became 10 as they kept breeding. I had one very special experience with those birds. I held an egg as it hatched and I fell in love with that tiny lil bird. He was my absolute favorite. He was the friendliest thing! He died later on due to my sister's stupid mistake (I never forgave her for it) but we still our two original females :biggrin2:

My father had made at least 5-7 other attempts with guinea pigs. The last time, we thought it was going to work. My father had built me a tiny room in the garage. It was walled and everything and clean but I had to pass through the garage to get to it. I kept my guinea pig in there and actually that room became my bedroom. (I shared a room with my sister and I was in my teens and she was 5 years younger so I hated it) My parents hated having me in that room but it was wonderful. My guinea pig slept in my bed with me. She would crawl off to her box to pee and poop. Finally, my father got too ill and she had to go.

That day was horrible. A friend of mine was going to take her. I showed her how to care for it and all that. At one point we sat on the floor and she called her but she kept running to me. When i walked away, she was running to me and I told my friend to pick her up and go. It was also that day that we found out she was pregnant. Though I was a teenager, I cried like a baby, and so did my parents. My mother finally put her foot down and said that it was the last time we got anything with fur/hair because everyone kept getting hurt.

My father felt terrible again and brought home two diamond doves. Though beautiful, I preferred my turtledoves. Then he brought home finches and he fell in love with them.

By the age of 16, I was working full-time and my parents had bought a house. My father had mentionned trying a rabbit a few times. Well, I had money and I had my own room, and I worked next to a pet shop. I spoke to the owner, and he told me about rex bunnies and how they were less allergenic etc. I ran back home and told my parents all about it. Reluctantly, my mother gave in to my father and I and came with me to get it. I brought home a tiny gray cutie but my father reacted right away. We brought him back and the store owner couldn't believe it so he called the breeder and asked him to make sure that he had a pure bred litter in a week and so I went back and picked one out the minute they arrived. I got a castor mini-rex and she had a horrible character with everyone though less with me. No matter what, I still liked her...

Soon after that, I was always at the pet shop since it was my favorite place to hang out since I worked next door. Well one day the manager showed up at my job and asked me to go see her after. They offered me a job there and I was thrilled. It was a terrible thing, me working there. I fell in love with a broken castor doe who had been there for a long time and adopted her for my mother. I found her awesome and she was much more like a dog than a bunny for sure! She would even show my mother the door if she wanted out. It was hilarious. Then one day, Wiggles was abandoned at the pet shop. When my co-workers showed me I was outraged. She was way too tiny, and so very ill. No one thought she'd make it. I took her home and figured I'd give her a quiet place to die though I made every effort to save her. I think you guys know how that turned out.

It was with Wiggles that I really fell in love with bunnies and got to know them better. I brought home a boy for her one day. They were identical twins and my parents couldn't believe I could tell them apart. LOL. I named him Giggles and they were the cutest pair. Sadly, he was not a pure rex and my father was allergic.

Then I brought home another that I pitied. I always brought home the older buns that were not being adopted... So I had 4. Unfortunately, my mother's bun had maloccluded teeth and though we did everything we possibly could, she died after an abcess formed. I lost my other 2 buns to a strange illness. Luckily Wiggles was spared and she and I were inseparable.

I got my father 2 celestial parrotlets during that time. They were beautiful but they were sooooo aggressive! They finally allowed my father to handle them though and he still has one that he likes to play with.

One day, we had this big tabby cat just come into the house as my mother was stepping out. Lol. He rolled around and mewed and we played with him. Before we knew it, we were buying things for him as well. A lady on the street was his owner but he loved coming to play with us. He was the spitting image of Garfield so that is what we nicknamed him. He came and went and we made sure he was still going back to his owner. Then one day, he never came. Days turned into weeks and we were all sad.

Soon aftera lady across the street told usa neighbor had been drowning cats in the river. Our Garfield had been one of them. I had to hold my sister back from going to hurt that man. The lady said she had called authorities but then she told us we had kittens under our balcony. My sister crawled under the balcony and sure enough she found two. One was agray and white male, the other a black and white female. The female was very ill and I didn't think she would make it. Once again, I found myself not sleeping much during the night and feeding them round the clock. They were probably a month old and I had to stimulate them to go to the bathroom. I had never had experience with kittens or cats prior to that. I still feel horrible to this day for taking them from the mother, especially when she saw us, but I felt they would not have made it otherwise. I managed to save the lil girl and she was my parent's favorite although I preferred the male. He would sleep in my neck and was such a lazy butt. Lol. I gave my boy to my best friend who had wanted a pet for her son and so I still get pictures and news. My parent's gave the female to a family friend. My father walked away and cried in the yard while she left and my mother cried too.

As luck would have it, the family friend no longer wanted the kitten because she was a bit too playful and jumping on her newborn baby's face. She called and told them and my father was waiting for my mother in the car by the time she and the friend had hung up. Funny enough, my father has never reacted to this cat but if he goes anywhere else, he is still allergic to them. :?

And then I moved out. I had my Wiggles. Then i got Piglet (guinea pig)for her but when I developped an allergy I had to give her up. Then I got Dahlia, but when they hated each other, i adopted Bam-Bam from the shelter. And between all that, I got Teako and then Tamika, my two cockatiels.

As you can see I have had pets alllllll my life and my parents educated me about them from a young age. My parents only got what they were prepared to care for though I always did it myself. We have also had frogs, fish, salamanders, a gecko, and my father even befriended a skunk.

So that's it... Not much. LOL. I plan on buying a house with a few acres to have a tiny farm. :biggrin2:

 

[lagadvocate]

Oh Ms. Binky I really enjoyed reading your story. Your dad sounds like a really wonderful man. My dad has never liked animals so my pets were few and far between. I was a hamster junkie though--I could have as many of those as I wanted:biggrin2:. I did havean awesome dog while growing up, even though my dad complained regularly about him.

Funny thing is that when I was younger, I was afraid of the bunnies in the petstores. I always thought that they would bite me or something. It wasn't until I was 22 that my husband and I went to a petstore and I saw Buddy. All I did was ask the lady about him and suddenly she was handing him to me! Love at first sight though:inlove:. Now I am all about the buns!

 

[MsBinky]

Thanks, I was scared no one would read because it's so long lol. Yes my father absolutely loves animals. The funniest thing though is to watch him with his cat. The thing about my father is that he is a tough man and very macho He's truck driver on top of that so you can just imagine how he can't be caught being cute.

It was hilarious to see him bottle-feeding his kitten and scolding her because she was putting herself in harm's way. The funnier part is when he'd act all macho when my guinea pigs had to leave. But then, to watch him walk off, go cry, and then poutbecause his kitten was leaving was just stunning to us kids

He never admits to it either! LOL. Not even when he was waiting in the car for my mother to go get the kitten back. He told her he just didn't want to keep the family friend waiting because it was late. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!

 

[tundrakatiebean]

I loved your story too Ms. Binky, it's really sweet that your father is so intereasted in animals and that he kept trying to make it up to you for being allergic to guinea pigs. :biggrin2:

 

[Starina]

My name is Starina and I am 25 years old. I work at Sears in the Jewelry Department. I was born and raised in Anchorage Alaska but now live in Upstate NY.

My first pet was a dog named Strider. He was a Husky/Golden Retreiver mix. He was a year older than me and we were best friends. I learned to walk hoding on to his back. I even used to try out his food once in a while. My parents ended up giving him to my Dad's parents. Strider was a retreiver and we lived in a trailer with a tiny yard. My grandparents had ACRES for him to run around on and fetch things from. I would still visit him often, even though it was an 8 hour drive to Fairbanks. He got really bad arthritis but would still ask you to throw that ball. He passed away when I was 13 at the ripe old age of 14.

My mom also had apet cat named Tinkerbell. She was an appleheaded Siamese.(for those of you who don't know, that means she wasn'tone of those pointed faced ones, she lookedlike this http://www.travelswithtigger.com/fanciers/tajch.jpg) She had the cat since she was 10 years old and so when I met Tink she was already 11! She lived to be 22! My mom still cries about that cat, and her ashes sit on my mom's mantle.

Then when I was 6 this stray dog came into the yard while I was playing in the snow with a friend. The friend told me that the dog's name was Snowball, so that's what I called her. She was a Husky, thin, with a cut tounge from eating cans out of the trash. I temped her over with some of my GIANT oreo cookie. (Remember those!?) My mom fed her and let her stay in the house at night since it was usually -20 degrees. She would come back every day and hang out and then one day she just didn't come. 3 days went by with no visit from Snowball. My mom liked the dog and was worried that she had been picked up as a stray so she went to the animal shelter. There was Snowball scared and shaking in her cage. So my mom paide the $100 adoption fee and brought her home to stay. A week later this lady comes up to me in the yard and starts yelling at me telling me that I stole her dog. My mom came out and gave the lady what for and showed her the adoption papers. She had a good life with us that included an unexpected litter of pups. (A beautiful Black Husky with Blue eyes got into our yard) and eventually lived with my grandparents and Strider after my parents got divorced. I don't think she is alive anymore, but she was a really good dog.

I lived with my dad and his new wife would get dogs and as soon as they got to be trouble, got rid of them, I won't even list them all.

Then I moved in with my mom when I was 16 and moved to Seattle. She had a cat named Taz. Before he met my mom he had been through 4 owners. She was a Maine Coon and was INSANE. We would come home and find this huge cat draped over doors. He would hide behind an open door, and attack you through the crack by the hinges. He would also go from being playful to angry suddenly and you weren't playing with him, you were fighting him off. He got really sick when he was about 8 and my mom kindly put him to sleep. His ashes sit next to Tink's on the mantle. As crasy as he was, I liked him. He would purr if you even showed him a rubber band, and he was nice once he got to know you.

My Grandparents, on my mom's side, moved from Alaska to Washington. They were only about 2 hours away so me and my mom would drive there alot. She had this stray cat on her property, this white and brown kitty, who would constantly get stuck in trees. One time he was stuck up a tree for 7 days! No one would help him. We called the Fire Dept. the Humane Society, no one would come help. So my grandma finally hired a tree climber to get him. He was up so high you couldn't even see him. Well when he saw that guy in the tree she was purring so loud you could hear him on the ground! My mom said that we could take him home with us and he still lives with my mom. His name is Fritz, and he is the biggest sweety you could ever meet. If you so much as look at him, he starts purring. He used to wake me up in the middle of the night for cuddles.

Then I met my BF and moved to New York. I have lived here for almost 8 years. His family has pets, including 3 LOUD birds. I was hoping to get a cat to fill the void, but never got one. Then when my BF and I were having troubles, and I broke my leg... long story short, we ended up fixing things and got back together. While I was recovering from my leg injury, we went up to Albany for some shopping. I was in a clothing store and Ken (the BF) told me he wanted to introduce me to a friend. We turn into this pet store and he points at a cage with 2 bunnies in it, a grey and a black one. He says what do you think? I said, "Oh, their cute." He asked me which one I wanted because we were getting a pet. I picked the grey one because she was so curious. I took her home and had over a year to watch her constantly. I had never had a rabbit and knew nothing about them so I went online to learn more. I stumbled upon this site and have never looked back.

I discovered that I am a rabbit person. I don't ever want to live my life without one.

Sorry this turned out to be so long!

~Star~