Pets

SkieShauphen wrote:

I'm starting to get a little depressed lately. In two months I will have to give my kittens up. It's for the better good, but still, I'm already starting to miss them. Has anyone had to give up a pet so it can have a better life or so you can have a better life?

Why do you have to give them up?

I never had pets of my own, but I was always around the pets of my other family members. Quite a few of them were taken in from shelters and weren't in the best of health, often leading to them needing to be 'put down' near the end of their lives.

I think the worst was when Chance had to be put down. He was my auntie's sheltie, but I treated him as my own dog. He was older than I and was my favourite - I was often the only one to give him lots of attention because he shared a house with two younger mastiff pups and a few rottweilers too, and wasn't given as much attention because the others were such a handful and he was such a quiet, good dog.

It was difficult seeing him leading up to the day he was put down. He was losing his sight and losing bladder control..His senses just weren't as good as they once were and he was just becoming a bit of a mess - Peeing randomly, having difficulties finding food..Even difficulties recognising who was a stranger. He began to bark at everyone who came near - Didn't recognise us.

I guess, I'm glad he was put down soon after he developed things mentioned above. It was difficult seeing him that way and having him not recognise us that easily. He was like a different dog completely.

Sorry to hear that about the dog. It's sad. The reason I have to give up my babies is because I can't have them in the rented apartment I'm moving in to. It's O.K. though, they are going to someone I trust with cats.

I am sorry you are losing your kittens. I know that is hard. I have a cat here, though, who I have been trying to find a good home for for months, and I can't find anyone willing to take her. It is making me crazy. I wish I could find her a good home. I just can't keep another cat, and we only took her in because she would have frozen to death that particular night if we left her outside, and I am not a horrible monster who can knowingly leave an animal to die.

scootiebee wrote:

I just can't keep another cat, and we only took her in because she would have frozen to death that particular night if we left her outside, and I am not a horrible monster who can knowingly leave an animal to die.

That's exactly how I got my first budgie, and my first rabbit.

My first budgie was found on the streets by my dad when he was walking home..She was clearly in a bad state, because she was bleeding from her head and was too cold to fly, hence enabling my dad to just pick her up.

She still had enough energy to attempt to attack my dad's hand on the remaining walk home though. Hehe. She was a real character. I got her a partner soon after she was settled and she had quite a long life with us.

My rabbit was found just a few days before my..12th? birthday..I seem to recall..He was hiding under my dad's car, eating dandelions.

Not really sure what happened to him, we gave him a run and a hutch outside during the summer, and he soon developed a habit of somehow getting out and sitting on top of the run instead of within it. One day, he managed to squeeze out of the tiniest hole ever, and disappeared.

We knew he came back for food though, because he left fresh droppings continuously on our garden path..So we continued to leave food out, although the food had a bad habit of attracting a lot of other things as well.

He soon stopped coming back, and I chose not to question it too much. I knew there were foxes within my area, so..I chose not to think too deeply into it.

I just don't want to get in the habit of picking up stray animals. My mom did that when I was a kid, and we had all the stray cats in the neighborhood fixed (which was a necessity, because they were breeding out of control!), and got a lot of them homes. But I don't want to be a cat charity! Plus, when I was a kid, I didn't have to pay the vet bill! I won't be charitable again. I will just call the humane society.

It's really hard for me to leave strays out in the cold. I was working last week up in the mountains and there was a mother with one kitten sitting on a front porch of a house that didn't look vacant. It made me really sad. They kept trying to follow me back into the truck. Heartbreaking.