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Why is your pet the best pet?
I’m pretty sure every dog owner thinks their dog is the best most unique dog in the world, and the same is true about cat owners, snake owners, etc!
So make your best case: why is your animal companion the coolest in the whole world?
I got my dog, let’s call him Ketchup, from a person who got him from the streets. He has no defined race (like most dogs in Brazil). The previous owner is not a bad person, but he struggled with personal and financial issues and Ketchup ended up spending most of his life in an “open attic” (“laje batida”) full of crap with minimal contact with humans and other dogs. He also has issues with his teeth. When I met Ketchup he promptly jumped in my arms, I realized he need serious love and care. He was skin and bones and in need of affection.
So I offered to take him.
Getting him to start eating as much as he needed was a struggle, after that things got a lot easier. I realized Ketchup did not know how to play and it was awesome to see him become goofier with time. He now eats like there’s no tomorrow and is basically the king of the house. No one manages to get angry at him. My mom is with me during the pandemic, and she treats him like human baby.
Because he grew up isolated, Ketchup doesn’t know how to behave around other dogs. He gets super anxious, like someone who says “I love you” on the first date. It’s adorable, but other dogs don’t like it (I think he also don’t understand dominance). The other day I bought him a rubber chicken and he treats it like his wife.
Also: I don’t like the word “rescue”. Ketchup is gangsta.
Oh please share some pictures of this, that's adorable.
My dog has an online presence and I’d rather keep a low profile. Sorry :(
Edit: removed unnecessary details
That's to bad, I understand though. Give them a pet from me instead.
Will do!
Me and my husband have a cat, he got her a month before our first date so she's pretty old now. If she can, she sleeps between us in bed purring like a small tugboat. Before that she does like a tour of the bed, going to certain keypoints: his feet, then my left armpit, then on top of his head, then back to my armpit and finally - between us to purr loud enough into both our ears to keep us awake.
She's my second cat. My old one - an insanely talkative stray I got when he was a kitten named Loke (like a lot of cats here) - he died a few years ago and like all in my family spread in to the ocean afterwards (although my friends helped out drunk AF and one of them was so drunk she collapsed in to the ocean too).
Awesome cats and stories. Loved the armpit obsession. So specific!
We are cat people. In the last 10 years we've had a total of 7 cats. We currently have 3:
We've had several other cats that have since passed away, 2 of them while they where kittens, which was really rough. I enjoy cats because they're independent, but also affectionate companions. All of our cats have been well behaved, never had to deal with destroyed furniture or clothes. They're all trained to audio cues ASAP when we get them so that they know what is off limits (like kitchen counters, and being in front of the TV).
Simply put, because he thinks I'm the best human.
Most other people's pets don't get that ... they often seem to think that their human is the best one (?).
So, I'm grateful that my pet may literally be the only pet on Earth that truly appreciates me for who I am.
Honorable Mention: That dog that goes motorcycle riding with his human thru all the US Nat'l Parks is pretty awesome, too.
Addendum: Meaning this guy, Sox. His human seems cool, too.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=plbiFaEObQw
...or is it because you're the one that's feeding them?
Nah. I've got two roommates. We all feed him, walk him, pet him. He takes turns sleeping with whoever he wants. But he still unambiguously loves me best. Apparently, I'm the best butt-scratcher.
Famous last words! =P
Yeah that’s likely true, but ascribing deeper meaning to our pets behaviors is usually harmless and adorable. We also place love on inanimate objects and fictional characters, that’s not really an issue.
I had a small dwarf hamster once - a Roborovski named Ratbert. Ratbert would zoom along on his little wheel, trip, do five or six spins, sail through the air to flop onto the sawdust floor of his cage, and then get up to repeat the ordeal with every sign of enjoyment. He was a strange little fellow. I wish I'd gotten him more comfortable being around my hand, because he was a bit skittish. When it was winter, he would curl up into a ball in his little hamster bed; and when it was summer, he would flatten himself out like a pancake on the floor of his cage. He was the best and only pet I ever had.
Sounds like a great character!
I had a hamster about 20 years ago. I used to lock the door at night and let him roam free through my bedroom. It was not hard to get him back to the cage every morning. Until one day he simply disappeared. I looked everywhere and even accused my innocent dog (he was locked outside my bedroom so it was a flimsy investigation to say the least :P). On the third day I heard something behind my super heavy closet and moved it to find that the little bastard managed to get into my old acoustic guitar. I cut the strings to easily remove him. Thank God hamsters store food in the cheek.
I recently tried raising guinea pigs, and that was not a good experience. They’re super scared and require patience I lack. So I found them a new home. Hamsters are carefree mothefuckers, I may try having one again!
In retrospect, I was probably too immature to have a pet. Glad your hamster avoided an awful accident. I really wouldn't recommend letting your next one wander about so much, since such tiny animals do tend to disappear in the space of a few moments and can be absolutely anywhere.
In the future, if things get better, I might be in a position to get a rescue animal. Perhaps a little hedgehog or something similarly sized that I can allow to run around my floor while I'm watching from my desk.
Yeah, you’re right. My bedroom was small and I prepared it to be my hamster’s nightly playground, but clearly I was not thorough enough.
Hedgehogs are cute, but aren’t they a lot of work?
It depends. I think you're meant to both give them a quiet place to hide for privacy, and also plenty of room to run around when they need exercise. A solid wheel is a must, plus a big and interesting enough enclosure. They also need to be handled regularly enough to acclimatize them, and even then they'll still sometimes be sniffy and bitchy. They remind me of myself, I guess - attention-starved, yet anti-social. They're cuter, though.
You clearly made your research. I’m probably too anxious and agitated to care and handle one myself!
They really are cute ;)