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The years just indicate when I bought or acquired the animal, we live in a very rural area, that accounts for the coyote killings. I have moved 8 times in my life and never once didn't have an animal around. By the way, I'm only 19. Dogs (The dogs given away had aggression issues)
Nena, husky, given to a husky rescue because of behavior,1995
Nala, Tibetan X, had for 13 years , died from lymphoma ,2008
Chance, Chow X, given to soldier at Ft. Hood because of aggression, 2000
Chevy, Lab X, 10+, 2004
Zane, Pit X, 1, 2008
Abby, Shiba Inu X, 12 mths, will be 1yr on Dec 27, 2009
Deputy, Dutch Shp X Belgian Shep, 2yr, 2009
Cats (Many of these where barn cats)
Ms. Kitty, Grey Tabby , given to fisherman in the Marshall islands, 1995
Mischief, Grey Tabby, ran away , 1998
Fluffy, Grey Tabby, ran away,2000
Peewee, Grey Tabby,killed by coyotes,2009
Kobyyashie, Tuxedo, died from distemper, 2005
Cassidy, Orange Tabby, 4yr, 2005
Jesse, Diluted Calico, 3yr, 2006
Hoody, Black, killed by coyotes, 2009
Jayde, Siberian Mountain Cat, 10yr, 2009
009. Birds (Plus assorted parakeets and finches)
Feathers, cockatoo, flew away 1996
Sunshine, parakeet, cat 1998
Sweetpee, gave to a disabled women, she passed he's still here. Rabbits(Given away because we had to move)
Gidget, calico bunny, gave away in 2000
Roy, brown bunny, gave away in 2006 Hamster(only had 1, plus mice and gerbils)
Hamy, brown and white, old age 1995 Rats (Average lifespan of a rat is 2 yrs)
Bazie, black with white blaze, old age 2004
Midnight, black rat, old age 2004 Horses (Sold because they became too dangerous, IE bucking and rearing)
Little Bit, bay Qrt, sold to boy scout troop 2000
Tuxedo, black w/white socks clyd X, sold to lady in KS in 2008
Dusty, Varnish Roan Appy X Mustang, 21yr, 2009 Donkey (LG for the goats, jenny was too hormonal, almost killed the kids)
Nena,grey spotted ass , Sold pregnant to a man on a cattle ranch 2009
Skipper, brown spotted ass, 2yr, 2009 Goats (Bred for cabrito)
Juan, black agouti pygmy , gave to dad's coworker 2008
Dovey, brown belted spanish X dairy, sold to lady 2009
Archie, Choc dairy X, sold with mother in 2009
Lovey, Black belted spanish X dairy, pit bull attacked and killed, 2009
Snickers, Parti colored pygmy X, Lovey's daughter, 2008
Sunny,cream and black pygmy, stud buck, 2009
Belle, orange and white spanish X, 2009
Mishka, grey belted boar X, 2009
Angel, white dairy X, died from goat polio, Mishka's daughter, 2009
Briar, deer colored Dairy, 2009
Wyatt, choc parti colored boar X, stud, 2009
Chickens ( we had to move and they wouldn't have made it)
Pheonix, Raven, and Fawn, three hens sold to teacher in 2008 Pot bellied pigs(dad's pets)
Hamy,black and white,2009
Avery, black and white, killed by bob cat, 2009
Right now I have a wonderful dog, a German Shorthaired pointer, named Max. I would love to get other animals, maybe another dog, a cat, possibly a rabbit, since I am an animal lover. I don't have a huge amount of space living in a condo, but when I go more rural, I am going to make it happen
To many critters to remember as had from baby on and 44 now.
Do breed bloodhounds for SAR (11total now) plus english setter rescue,guinnea pigs 4 (2 are rescues)
2 cats rescues from Katrina
fish
had
other dogs
hermit crabs
turtles
abundance of cats when on farm
rescued a calf once and she had 4 young ones
cows
pigs (1 thought was a dog and played fetch)
a crow
sheep
horses
turkeys
geese
ducks mostly mallards
had a tame chipmunk
raccoon
rabbits
parakeets
sadie, terrier mix, got her a year and a half ago, she's about 6.
annie, black cat, got her 10 years ago as a kitten - she belonged to people i was a nanny for but she bonded with me and after i left they gave her to me.
shermer, tortoiseshell cat, found her 8 years ago in a dumpster with her 2 sisters, shut inside a cardboard box. i found a rescue to take them but i had to keep them overnight and by morning i needed to keep shermer.
kitty, grey and white cat, found by my husband when he worked for the ARC supervising clean up crews. kitty was shut in an apartment for over a month when someone moved out and left him. he was with 2 other kittens who didn't make it. my husband just let him out but kitty kept following him around and hanging out with him while he ate lunch, and he eventually took him home. that was 13 years ago.
wally, another grey and white cat, got him about 2 years ago at the age of 1 1/2. he belonged to an acquaintance who had to get rid of him. he was a feral kitten and is very shy and strange, although he simultaneously loves and is scared of being petted. i basically took him out of pity because i knew he'd never make it in a shelter. i love how he comes into the bathroom and hangs out with me every morning when i take a bath, but he fights with annie and now she won't come upstairs unless i carry her up into our room (where he doesn't go because the dog is always in there when we are).
childhood pets, most recent first. my parents always had cats who were allowed outside, and almost all of them died because of it:
geoffrey, my dad's cat, lived with me for a while in college and for a while when my dad was in the peace corps. he is orange and very fat. he came from friends who had a litter of kittens. he is still alive - he must be around 13 or 14 now.
max - a kitten we got my dad for his birthday, i don't think he was exactly pleased with the surprise! he was pretty much the only cat to ever get along with geoffrey - geoff was kind of motherly to him. he disappeared not long into his life.
kropotkin, another orange cat of my dad's. he came from the pound. i honestly think he was retarded. he wasn't good at hunting so he'd always bring in worms and things that were already dead when he found them. he liked to sleep in the road and this did not end well for him.
olivia, my mom's cat. she was grey and white and super super soft. she was part of a feral cat colony living in a barn that a local rescue caught. she liked to lie at eye level (like on top of the piano) and look all pettable, let you pet her for a while, then swat you in the face. she mellowed a bit as she got older though. she disappeared eventually, i think she was pretty old though.
scruffy, probably a terrier/german shepherd mix. he was nice but he was a troubled dog, not trained with methods i would use now, and as he got older he got arthitis and started snapping at people if he was startled or touched in certain places. he was also very allergic to fleas, and at some point he needed treatment for his arthritis that would require him to be off of his flea medication for a long time. my mom knew he wouldn't be able to stand it and put him down. he was probably 12 or so. his big trick was if you said "caruso" he would howl.
hannibal (named after hannibal the moor, not hannibal the serial killer), orange and white cat. he came from neighbors who moved away and left all their cats. he was already coming over to our house on a regular basis so we kept him. his sister, cassandra, also stayed with us for a while but eventually settled on some other neighbors. she peed in the toilet and pooped in the bathtub! hannibal was eventually hit by a car. he was probably 3 or 4.
alexander the great - i don't remember much about this cat, i don't think we had him for long. he was a grey tabby and i think he just went out and never came back.
peabody - brown tabby, obnoxiously affectionate. when i was going to bed he'd sit with me and lick my face, and if i rolled over he'd just hop over me and go back to licking. i loved him, i think he annoyed my mom. he was another one who just never came home one day. he was probably pretty old.
mavra - black cat, always killing things. she was very sweet and very old - my mom had had her since her late teens. i think she was 19 or 20 when she died - she was put to sleep for some health problem.
we also had a cat named ketsy and a dog named china (pronounced cheena) who i don't remember at all because i was too little.
plus various gerbils, a goldfish named myron, parakeets named millet and louie.
Dogs:
White German Shepherd/Samoyed mix, Sally - we put her to sleep at the age of 13 because of kidney failure. She was the smartest, most intuitive dog. Always my guardian, and I believe she still is. Childhood dog.
Pointer mix, Cindy - we put her to sleep at the advice of our vet at the tender age of 9 months after she tried repeatedly to attack children walking in front of our home. We were devastated, but our vet assured us she should not be rehomed. Childhood dog.
Yellow Lab, Whitney - the most expensive dog in the world; Winnie had chronic ear infections and Cushings syndrome. She lived about 10 or 11 years and was with us when I moved out on my own. I think her depression after I left contributed to her declining health. Childhood dog.
Golden/Aussie cross, Toby - she couldn't quite figure out if she wanted to herd or retrieve. She was extremely neurotic, but smart and intuitive as well. My mom put her to sleep at the age of 13 because my mom had to move in with her mother who wouldn't allow pets in the home. Toby was ready to go, or so my mom says. Childhood dog.
German Shepherd/Lab mix, Dakota - my one and only male dog was owned by my ex. He was a great dog, liked everyone, all around fun to be with. Very smart. He was very bonded to my ex and went with him when we split. I missed Kody more than I missed the ex.
Border Collie/Whippet mix, Shadow: After waiting a lifetime, I got to go to the pound and pick a dog for myself and my husband. Shadow is a pill and is very active because of her breed(s). She is very smart and knows so many words I have to be careful about what I say around her (i.e. don't say WALK or RIDE or PARK when she can hear me). She is my pal and I don't know what I'd do without her in my life. She is the first dog that I have personally owned as an adult and I'll never be without a dog in my life. Shadow is one year old.
Rabbits:
Cotton and Pepper were Easter gifts for us one year when I was about 5 and my sister was about 2. I was taking care of Cotton a year or so later and had pneumonia. We think she caught it and passed away. Pepper lived to a ripe old age.
Cats:
We were not a cat family. But I got one when I moved out.
Siamese/Nali - the most neurotic cat in the world with the loudest meow. She is very skiddish, I call her my scaredy cat. She hates everyone but me and will not allow anyone but me to feed her. She is 13. I got her at 12 weeks in 1996. Her health is starting to slowly decline and she is very finicky about what she eats prefering to live on wet food and treats with lots of tuna, chicken, pork chops and believe it or not, refried beans. She can open cupboards and doors.
Siamese, BeBe - Nali's brother. The person who gave me Nali, gave me BeBe at the age of 6 months because they'd rather have a dog. I got him neutered and got his shots. At the age of 9, he got bladder stones and cost me thousands. He is still with me and is thriving. He is a lap cat, and is my biggest fan. He is 18 lbs of love.
Black cat, Boo - I found him at work, abandoned, starving and crying for his mom at 5 weeks of age. I took him home in my purse much to the dismay of Nali and BeBe and bottle fed him. He grew into a beautiful cat, but after 4 months of trying to integrate the 3 cats together, I decided I had to rehome Boo and found a wonderful family to take him. He is now best buds with their other male cat.
Turtles:
Red-Eared Slider, Ernie - was too small to be sold and I tried to get him to eat the best I could. What I realize now as an adult is that his tank was just too cold so he refused to eat and died shortly thereafter. This was before all the laws were in place to protect baby water turtles.
Chinese Box Turtle, Shelby - male, turned in to a Box Turtle rescue in So. Cal after about 13 years because I just couldn't provide the habitat he needed after moving to AZ.
Chinese Box Turtle, Spencer - male, got a respiratory infection and despite a trip to the vet, just couldn't kick it. Had him less than a few months.
Chinese Box Turtle, Marlon - male, got a respiratory infection and we were advised to separate him from Shelby and put him on a heating pad for warmth. We had friends over that night and one of their naughty children cranked up the heat on the heating pad when we weren't looking killing poor Marlon.
Chinese Box Turtle, Scout - female, she was too small to legally sell, but we took her home anyway. Always skittish and shy, she hated Shelby who constantly pestered her. I also turned her in to the rescue and hope she is happier now.
Eastern Painted Turtle, Mila - female, my coworker had her on her desk in a mayo jar in 2005. The coworker refused to take her home and refused to buy her the equipment needed to properly care for her. She was the size of a quarter when I took her home and hundreds of dollars later, she is still with me.
Fish:
Way too many to count. I have about 70 guppies that Mila refuses to eat. I have recently become adopter to the guppies no one wants. Kinky passed recently after being with me a few months. She was deformed due to inbreeding. Killer is my latest addition, a fancy guppy who killed off his previous roommates. He is now outnumbered and behaving well. My first fish was a goldfish I named Cleo and I couldn't have been more than 2 at the time and had just seen Pinnochio.
I will never forget any of my past pets and I believe strongly in the Rainbow Bridge. I hope to see them all again someday.
How on earth do you remember all the names of so many pets over so many years?
I have had many pets and will likely forget some.
I have had a number of dogs. As a child I know we had a German Shepherd named Cindy that we had to give away because of a move. We had a Manchester Terrier when I was a toddler I was told and it ran away from home because I would eat its food lol. We had a boxer that died of distemper. We had a mutt we got at an auction named Blackie that had more than her fair share of puppies. I have had a number of Daschunds, one that was dognapped when I was a kid, Mitsy and Rosie which we gave to a teacher at a local college when we moved into an apartment and couldn;t keep then, and one name Brie that I had for many years that died of old age in the winter of 1993. I have had 2 Westies, 1 Cairn Terrier, 2 Yorkies, 3 English Mastiffs, and a Corgi mix.
I had a number of cats growing up that were mostly outside cats. At one point I had 4 indoor cats, a Silver Chinchilla Persian named Loney, a Blue-Cream Persian, a Blue-Point Himalayan names Angelsea and her kitten named Coughdrop.
I have had many fish, some just in bowls, some in aquariums.
I have had a number of hamsters and a few Guinea pigs and rabbits and bred mice at one time until I realized they bred too quickly.
As a very young child we had a skunk named Stinky that hated my dad and bit his toes so he gave him away.
I had a baby raccoon that I bought and turned out to be ill when I bought it and it died and I finally got my money back, but no more raccoons.
I have had many lizards and snakes as well, none real big.
I have had ducks and chickens, parakeets, Zebra finches, lovebirds, cockatiels, a Quaker parrot, and a African Grey Parrot named Sas.
We at one time had llamas, first 4, then sold one, then one had a baby so we were back up to 4.
As a kids I had a number of those little water turtles they used to sell.
I've always had pets... quite a few strays that I named and took care of for a brief time before finding them better homes or that I ended up keeping.
Bootsie the cat was the first pet I knew. My mom got her as a kitten about a year before I was born. She was a b/w tuxedo kitty and very sweet. She passed away at the age of about 21-22. We also had a cool male cat named Nicky, he got hit by a car Velvet was my fist dog, I can hardly remember her as I was very, very young. She was an Irish Setter/Golden Retriever mix. From her golden side she got a melanistic gene and she was pure black. She died of old age when I was very little. Then came Cheyanne. She was a purebred siberian huskey. It was odd how we came to have her- she jumped into our back yard over a 6 foot wooden fence. When we called her owners, they said, "Would you like to keep her?" So my parents did. Unfortunatly, when we moved to New Orleans my parents wanted to rehome her. They felt she would be much happier staying in Colorado then moving to the warmer climate. This was when I was... 4? I think...
In New Orleans I had cats. Or should I say there were stray cats and I was allowed to feed them. There was a female grey tabby that I named Debbie, and she had two kittens that I named Tip and Cloudy. I couldn't take them when we moved, but there was another lady who fed all the cats.
When we moved to New Mexico (I was now 8) there was a kitten that may or may not have been a stray. I called him Stormy. In New Mexico I usually had an array of lizzards, horned toads & such, and I also came to have a pet tarantula (sp) named "Fluffy" I kept him for three years.
After NM we moved back to Colorado (Greeley). After a time we bought a house and at last! after so many years without a dog we were able to get a puppy! I was about 12. We drove to Minnesota when my aunts golden had puppies and picked out a cute little male naming him Shiloh. Shiloh is now 14? 15? He's blind, def, and has a few other ailments but still acts like a puppy sometimes. It was in Greeley that I fell in love with German Shepherds. I had a paper route and one day I found this skin & bones GSD, friendly as can be, and I took him home & called him Jake. He bonded to me like glue. I LOVED that dog. My parents would have let me keep him, but he became very protective of me & the yard and became aggressive towards Shiloh I found him a home with a search and rescue worker who lived several blocks away and who was looking for a dog to train to do search & rescue work. So hopefully Jake went on to save people's lives I wnet on to voulenteer at a GSD rescue.
Out here in WY we got Danny Boy from the shelter. He is now my dad's dog & has a lot of health problems due to the way he was treated as a pup (badly beaten about the head). I also adopted a cat named Jack. He was a stray who hung around our house. One day he was in a cat fight and really giving a beating to another cat half his size & I stupidly broke it up by pulling them apart. Jack sank his teeth to the gums into my arm & used his back claws to rake my forearm (I still have the scars). Because he was a stray we called the animal shelter to see if they would test him for rabies (not knowing what that would entail). They came and got him and then I found out they would have to cut of his head to test him- I freaked! So I begged and pleaded with the shelter, and they agreed to let me adopt him & quarenteen him at a vet. My mom told me I was to find a new home for him as soon as he was cleared because he was a stray and we did not need another cat. Wellllllll... in the end Jack was cleared and he came home to stay. He was my cat and there was no question- he would follow me around everywhere & sleep on my bed. My mom could see how much the "wild tomcat" meant to me Funny how being clawed into a bloody mess & left with scars brought me closer to the cat rather than making me afraid of him. Sadly Jack got killed one day... he was an inside/outside cat, couldn't bear to be stuck indoors 24/7 after living his life outside for so long. I would never in a million years have a outside cat again.
I'm rambling! Those are the most memorable pets I've had in the past. I've also had birds, hampsters, gerbels, rats, mice, snakes, various lizzards, rabbits, a chinchilla, a ferret, fish, toads, frogs, salamanders, crawfish, crabs/hermitcrabs, a pack rat, a raven...
6 Dogs
3 cats
50 salt water fish and regular fish tank of 40
lepard gecko
bunnys
hamsters
lizzards,
frogs
toad
pet snake but not big, pretty one can't believe i'm saying that daughter's snake, small one.
You know as many as you, i wish sometimes that this world had more animal's then people, for the ones gone we miss them terribly, the ones still here, we treasure and enjoy. Can't say that about some people, and woooooooooooooooooooo on the political posts, wow. I think you all are much nicer to be around.
What a nice thread. I have always been around animals as I grew up on a farm and live on one now. I remember them all but this post would be too long if I told all their stories.
There were always dogs. My main childhood dog was Skipper. He was a yellow dog, and my best friend. I thought he was a person and understood everything I said, and many times I would cry my heart out on his shoulder over the mean people in the world.
Then there was another dog some years later, who I also bonded with. She was a blue heeler cross. In those days, at that time, my parents didn't neuter their dogs so she had pups. One of the unusual things about her was that when her pups were at the point of weaning, but her milk hurt her, this dog would go to the new born calves and nurse them - they didn't have teeth and the nursing relieved the pressure.
There was another dog as well who strangely enough - and more strangely enough on the part of the chicken - had her puppies 'adopted' by a chicken. For some reason this dog tolerated the chicken in with the pups and used her as a babysitter when she left them. The chicken would peck anyone who tried to pick up a puppy and the puppies would snuggle under her wings.
I wish the story had a happy ending but unfortunately, what happened to the chicken is what often happens to stepmothers - we got home one day to find nothing but chicken feathers left of her. The assumption was that with the puppies big enough, the dog had used the 'stepmother chicken' for lunch.
Then there was my Arabian, Misty. Supposedly she was broken when we got her but my dad had no time to teach me to ride. And I don't think that Misty had ever had any training at all. But I was too young to know better, and so I saddled her, bridled with a hackamore at the age of 8 (an experience all in itself), and I would lead her out in the field, eventually manage to swing my way on top of her, and we would do our one-girl rodeo show as she crow hopped her way to the barbed wire fence, at which point I would somehow manage to get off, lead her back to the middle of the field, and we'd do the same thing over and over again.
The best part of it was when we were both fed up with each other, and I'd point her home, and we'd finally be galloping in a straight line. I am sure I did many things wrong with her, not knowing a thing about riding, but in the end we grew as close as two people could ever be, and yes, we did learn to ride together, including bareback races with a neighbour boy that included jumping hay bales in the fields.
She was the horse I practised riding while standing on her back since at that time I wanted to become a circus horse rider. I was too stupid to be scared. During hot summer nights, since I always was an insomniac, I would often go outside in the pasture and spend the night lying on her back looking at the stars as she grazed.
And yes, I took a spill or two but never when we were learning to ride (I had my hands wrapped too tightly around the saddle horn) but rather when I lost my balance during races. But Misty would always stop and wait for me and the worst injury I got was wrenching my arm out of its socket when I hit the ground. Knocked me out for a few moments.
There were other horses along the way but Misty will always stick out for me. No one else was ever able to ride her. My friends and I found that out the hard way when one of them tried to mount her - she went straight over backwards and it was fortunate no one was injured.
I hope that she will forgive me for all the things I did wrong, knowing now much more about horses than I did then. Some years later, a local man told me there was "nothing prettier than a girl in a pink halter top riding a white horse." That was me and thinking back, I take his comment as something more elemental than mere flattery. My times with Misty were the best of my life.
And I had a goose who became a pet by accident when I thought I would raise goslings to eat. One of the goslings was smaller and weaker and as always happens, was in danger of being pecked to death by the other goslings. So I took him inside, intending to see if he could get stronger. He did get stronger. His name was Moses and he followed me everywhere and 'helped' me weed the garden. Strangely enough, he seemed to know the difference between the plants I wanted and the weeds which I didn't.
He slept in a box in the house and when the time to get up was, he would make a gentle sound like a loon.
I don't want to describe how long they lived. I still miss them all and they have all enriched my life immeasurably and I hope to see them all again. I can't imagine those gracious, forgiving spirits gone forever.
Currently I have 3 dogs and 3 horses and 1 indoor cat, all of whom have their own stories, and who are dearly loved members of the family, and yes, they are all neutered.
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Velvet was my fist dog, I can hardly remember her as I was very, very young. She was an Irish Setter/Golden Retriever mix. From her golden side she got a melanistic gene and she was pure black. She died of old age when I was very little. Then came Cheyanne. She was a purebred siberian huskey. It was odd how we came to have her- she jumped into our back yard over a 6 foot wooden fence. When we called her owners, they said, "Would you like to keep her?" So my parents did. Unfortunatly, when we moved to New Orleans my parents wanted to rehome her. They felt she would be much happier staying in Colorado then moving to the warmer climate. This was when I was... 4? I think...
I wnet on to voulenteer at a GSD rescue.
I was too stupid to be scared. During hot summer nights, since I always was an insomniac, I would often go outside in the pasture and spend the night lying on her back looking at the stars as she grazed.
