Your Pets: Past, Present, and Future

[Linkachu]

I'm not quite sure why our previous pets-related discussion was locked but I figured that I'd start a new topic instead. So, tell us about your pets! This includes those that graced your life in the past, those that you or your family currently own, and/or pets that you'd like to own in the future if you're presently unable to.

Feel free to share pictures of any of your past or present pets as well!

Myself, I grew up in a family that has always highly valued animals and we've had various different pets over the years as a result. The majority of our pets have been dogs, hamsters, or rats. I've also owned a single fish, named Aquaris (loved that goldfish </3), and shared a cat, named Rupert, with my older sister. Unlike the majority of our pets, my sister took Rupert with her when she moved out. The cranky bastard, who's still living, grew up to dislike everyone but my sister.

The dogs that we've owned over the years were named Lacie (black labrador retriever), Pepper (flat-coated retriever), Will (flat-coated retriever), Jade (pug), and Kira (pug). Our current family dog is another flat-coated retriever named Echo, who was born this past October. She's a cute little bugger but likes to bite when she gets too hyper. We're working on trying to get her out of that habit and I'm very much looking forward to the day when she's over it. It drives me a bit nutty but I still love her to pieces.

(Pictures of Echo)
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As for our rodents, I'll start by listing the rats: April, Jasmine, Lisa, Amy, Pippin, Frodo, Xellos, Xander, Arthur, Link, and Glenn. The majority of them were hooded rats but Arthur was a Siamese and Link and Glenn were dumbo rats. None of them are currently living. I miss owning rats but it was always a struggle to find someone to look after them each time I went on vacation, so I decided against buying more for the foreseeable future.

Moving on to the hamsters, of which there has been many, we've had Sam, Cinnamon, Spike, Trixie, Tails, Vanilla, Andrew, Snowball, Little Andrew (aka. Andy), Charlie, Teddy, Snowflake, Zack, Xena, Simon, Charlie Jr., Ryu, Ken, Shadow, Tai, Kirby, and Bolt. The gang was a mixture of generic hamsters, teddy bear hamsters, and dwarf hamsters. Only Bolt is currently living, who's a teddy bear hamster. Shame that he sleeps so much. Barely get to see the fuzzy bugger!

(Pictures of Bolt)
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At the moment I personally don't own any pets all my own, but in the future I'd like to buy a flat-coated retriever for myself (no preference with the gender) and would consider owning more rats if I could find someone to watch them when I'm away. I'd also be tempted to buy another hamster but only if such was easier to manage than more rats. I just appreciate how lively rats are, and it's cute having 'em perch on my shoulder.

 

[Shiny Motley]

This is Miniris, short for Mini Eris (Eris was an old friend of mine). He was a little thing my dad found while out walking, and we raised it for a few months before it flew off. He was a cute little thing but apparently carnivorous; we had to buy cat and dog food to raise it.

I don't have pictures on me of the other pets I've owned, but they're all birds. Two male parakeets were the first, followed by a chick, then a pair of ducklings. The ducklings mated and we raised their babies as well before releasing them to the neighborhood pond. Of the ten eggs they had, six hatched (and on a rainy day, too! It was a really exciting moment).

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

We have no pets now and haven't for about five years, but I spent most of my life growing up with a dog in the family - first a golden retriever named Paz (after an archaic Hebrew word for 'gold') and then a strange, small black mixbreed named Petel (after the Hebrew word for 'raspberry'), whom I often referred to as 'the metacanine' as she seemed to transcend 'dog' and firmly nest in the 'I'm not sure what species I am or if I'm even alive and I don't even care.' category. Both were strange in their own ways and adograble as hell.

I dunno about the future - it's not likely that we'll have another pet as a family and whenever I move out and get a job and whatever I'd be likely too busy dealing with life to also care for a pet. But who knows really?

 

[Magpie]

I currently don't have any pets, for the first time ever in my life! After Spirit died late last year I didn't get anymore Gerbils due to the fact I knew I'd be moving in early 2015 and I didn't want to put a baby small animal through the moving process. Technically I do still have a dog named Jake, but he's the family dog and thus obviously lives at my parent's house.

That's Jake, he turned 5 in February this year We've had two other dogs in my lifetime, Spike the English Bull Terrier and Guy the German Shepherd.

I've had many Gerbils over the years: Tickles, Tiptoe, Flint, Gizmo, Inca, Topaz, Squishy, Cairo, Nimbus, Barley, Moonshine, Boggle, Neptune, Shinto, Sage and Spirit. I loved every last one of them very much and still do, but Spirit will always have a special place in my heart. Since he was alone when I bought him I always gave him extra attention and as a result he was the sweetest little guy. Even when I let him run free around my room he's come and lay next to me ♥

Moving forwards I may or may not get Gerbils again, although Spirit will be a very hard act to follow, he just turned five before he died which is super old ♥ I've always said I've wanted a cat, or maybe some chickens if I ever have a suitable garden for them.

@Linkachu I remember Jake going through the over-excited biting phase xD He grew out of it and learnt that it wasn't acceptable, it just took a bit of time. Thank goodness he did stop though, otherwise these days we'd be losing limbs xD

 

[pac_halo]

My USB cables seem to despise my camera, so no pictures. Just trust me on this one.

I have a mix of god-knows-what into one phenomenally stupid (But lovable) dog named Bella. She loves the warm weather and is therefore always inside during these months. Bella is extremely friendly (Perhaps too friendly) and she runs in excitement at the sight of a stranger.

I also own several fish, who all live peacefully (Except for Alec, more on him later) in the same tank. There is Devin, Michael, Richie, Alec (The gigantic bully of the tank) Kimmy, John, and Oswald. Michael is the oldest fish in the tank and I like to think he's and ancient council elder that everyone goes to for advice.

 

[AzureEdge]

I used to have pictures of these fish, but after they all died, I don't know what I did with those pictures. I'll try to search for them, I guess.
I had a tetra, and 2 goldfish, that were named, Ella, Sarah, and Alice.
After about 2 years of having this tank, Ella died. Cause of death? Old Age.
After that happened, Sarah started pecking Alice's skin, although Alice was sick, and killed her. Then she eventually died about 3 months later.
I haven't had a pet after that.

 

[NonAnalogue]

My family has had pets continuously almost my entire life. Seven cats total ranging from sanguine and chill to hellraisers, two dogs, countless hamsters and gerbils, and at one point two crawfish.

Fun fact: one day, one of the crawfish managed to get out of its aquarium (despite there being books weighing the lid down), crawled all the way downstairs, and started fighting the cat. The crawfish was winning, too, though I think that was because the cat was too confused to defend itself well.

 

[StellarWind Elsydeon]

Magpie: That is either a very large doge or a very small Ferne. o-o Either way, that is a seriously adorable canine.

TBA: To be perfectly fair, if I, as a generic domesticated mammal, was suddenly beset upon by an anthropoid terror from the deep* going ZERG RUSH KEKEKE from no where, I'd be confused too.

* And yes, I am fully aware that crawfish are freshwater species and are about as 'deep' as reality television, but LOBSTER STICKS TO MAG-NET, RAH RAH RAH RAH.

 

[Secad MS]

I've had tons of animals over the years. I've had numerous fish and aquatic frogs, a pair of hermit crabs, two gerbils, a hamster, two dogs (one died years ago, one is still alive), a cat for a brief time, and I have taken care of Kenyan sand boas in my university's herpetology lab which I considered my babies. The gerbils, of course, are my favorites. Jeran was my first, an agouti male that I got from a friend of my little sister's when it was found that (gasp) an eight year old could not properly take care of a small animal, and I needed a small animal for a 4-H project. Then, after he died three years later, I got a white male I named Semper. I only got one because he was the only one at the pet store and I needed a gerbil to continue my 4-H project. A year after that, I got a hamster named Nero. She was a next door neighbor to Semper, being in a tank right next to his. I want to get a pair of gerbils in the future, as soon as I know where I'm going to graduate school.

 

[DragonTrainerMalachi]

Oh my pets... Well...
When I was in elementary I had a German Shepard by the name of Diamond. But then she took ill and passed in her sleep... That was the saddest time of my life. But she died very content with the life she had all the way up to the age of ten (she was born a week after me on july 13th).

After her i had a pitbull. We have no clue what happened to him. Probally stolen by teenagers or something. And My dalmation was given to my friend because they both were going through hard times.

After Dogs I camr home one day after middle school I discovered that My grandma had got me 12 chickens! They didnt las long considering they were incredibly stupid and i live in the middle of the woods.

And Currently I own a monkey named Mo-Mo who is oncredibly jealous and spending time in California with my uncle until summer comes~

 

[Demelza]

Presently I have a cute fuzzy faced hamster known as Rufus :3



He's not the happiest little hamster currently as me and @Teapot made the mistake of letting him have a house to hide in... Which he did and then decided he never wanted to come out of So we removed the house and were left with a upset hamster, but I'm sure we'll get along better once he grows used to his new home in general. Despite being a little monster he's definitely a cute thing. ♥

 

[Firox]

Have 3 cats at home, one of them, Gizmo, loves to visit me.
She's featured in one of my YouTube videos, just skip to around 7:18

Spoiler

(first part of the vid is just me playing with shiny Meowstic)

I also have a ferret at home named Mozart. Named him after one of my favorite Meerkats in the TV show "Meerkat Manor"

 

[Panstyx]

I've had two pearl gray hamsters named Hamptaro (from the manga) and Lucy. They had about 12 kids so we sold all of them. Then there was Max, the Great Dane-Black Lab mix. Also Punky, the Shitzu and Ty, the Golden Retriever. I've had three capybaras: Mon, Tracey, and Jake, and then Butter the Golden Retriever. Now I have Kay the ferret, who's name came from my furret, and Tommy the red eared slider. Once Tommy dies we'll get a cat. We have a neighborhood stray who we sometimes take care of, Charlie.

 

[Shiny Motley]

This is Tono my pet rabbit. She likes to bite and chew on things and has jumped on my bed a few times, but I love her regardless. She's recently gotten used to me picking her up (at the very least, she stopped struggling and she's not terrified of me anymore) and lets me pet her a lot more than the past couple days.

This is Tono (in the cage, you can't really see her) and @DoggyEar 's pet dog, Misty. They get along alright. I heard that Misty once chased Tono around the house when she (the bunny) first arrived, but they're on better terms now. I think.

 

[ToxicSwamp]

Past: Whatever.
Present: Nothing worth mentioning.
Future: A house full of lizards. 'Nuff said.

 

[Bluefeather]

I've never had a pet but I want one. In the future I plan to have a dog and a...................................Wolf! ♥ (Heeeee) I'm so weird.

 

[Chidzz]

We've had heaps of pets when I was younger including an Alaskan Husky, 3 rabbits, 2 mice, 6 birds, 2 hermit crabs and countless goldfish (Not all at once of course). A friend of ours' dogs had puppies recently and we are taking one once they reach 6 weeks old. They are Jack Russell x Pomeranian x Maltese. Too excited for this one!!

 

[Desi_Mel]

We currently have five dogs. A basset hound (Gracee), two terrier mixes (Starr & Sara), a shepherd dog (Hansen, and shepherd mix (Hanna).

 

[Astralpunk]

At the moment, I have seven pets. A pug (Jake), a toy poodle (Philip), a bullmastiff (Tiger), a pit bull (Delta), a chow chow (Bailey), an owl (Midnight), and a rabbit (Coco). I used to own a golden retriever named Honey, but sadly it passed away two years ago.

 

[Lord Of Pain]

....... I'm probably gonna be crying myself to sleep tonight but YOLO.........

In the past when i was around 5 or 6 my very first pet was a turtle I named Einstein because back then he was my idol, I loved my pet turtle Einstein and would spend a good amount of time with it (never got to know the gender to be honest ) after finishing my homework, I had fun memories with it and then one day I noticed "hey Einstein isn't on his place"
I asked my mom and she said he died..... I went silent for two whole days... and that says a lot considering that I'm very talkative and often called a radio......

After a while my parents got me another turtle, I was still in absolute denial over Einstein's death that I named this turtle Einstein too, it was just like how me and the first Einstein spent time together, this one lasted longer but eventually died, I was back onto being silent for two days again

Still in denial when I got a third turtle I named it..... you guessed it..... Einstein, me and my family where staying over at a hotel for 2 nights and 3 days so the nany was left to take care of the house, when we came back we checked on the pets, we had 3 fishes we bought for an old tradition, one of them was dead but I didn't care much, we checked on Einstein and..... you guessed it...... He was dead, starved..... The pain of losing him just as strong as the first two times..... I never louder in my life, left me with a sore through for the rest of the day

Forth turtle and once again in denial I named it Einstein.... by then the other fish died and the 3rd one somehow jumped out th bowl which was half filled.... don't ask how..... I almost believed this was my first turtle ever for how much fun we had..... almost.... when it died... I don't remember but my mom says I was crying for 3 days straight... by then I was 10

Later on on my 11th birthday my uncle bought me a black rabbit, i no longer had Einstein as an idol at that point but was still not accepting the deaths of my turtles so i named the rabbit Einstein too, he soon died because he kept eating the newspaper we placed at the bottom of his cage....... next day my eyes and throat was burning....

we had a few stray cats come around our house which eventually made our back yard their home, me, my cousins and sisters would feed and play with them and one of them even gave birth to kitties! BUT our parents decided "hey the kids are having fun! lets take away one of the only things left that makes their bitter life slightly sweet! " and kicked out the first 3 cats which where male and then caged the 4th and her kittens and released her and them into the park, i waited till bed time to cry myself to sleep.......

Rest In Peace Einstein (turtle 1) : 2008 - 2009
Rest In Peace Einstein (turtle 2) : 2009 - 2010
Rest In Peace Einstein (turtle 3) : 2010 - 2010
Rest In Peace Einstein (turtle 4) : 2010 - 2011
Rest in Peace Einstein (rabbit) : 2011 - 2013

youll all be missed

good bye puss (first cat)
good bye obaidan (second cat)
good bye whiskers (third cat)
good bye Emma and the 4 kittens (forth cat)

youll never be forgotten

im shedding tears right now..... but life is unfair so ill have to deal with it......

 

[Defaeco]

My heart is going to explode from all the cute pets aaaahhh!! I absolutely adore animals and do everything possible to make them happy

I've had a few hamsters and a lot of gerbils, one pair I had ended up with a few litters. They were black gerbils, Max and Mindy, and they had an albino in their first litter who I dubbed Tiny, he was a very sweet little guy. I had them all living in a 6ft tank, it was so interesting watching them make burrows and run around. I'd love more gerbils one day.

I've also had dogs, Nala the lhasa apso was the last one. I loved her so much, she was my baby.

Currently, I sorta have a dog named Mitchell. He is my nephew and sister's but I babysit a lot so I see her so often and I am insanely in love with Mitchell, she got him just after we lost our dad 2 years ago so he really helped make us all happy ad he certainly helps us all heal. He is a jaxk russell and man he is so, so intelligent, he learns tricks so fast.

The best trick he knows is "Stick em up" Where he goes on his back legs with his paws up, and then "Bang!" and he will fall on his side, never gets old.

My pet's that live with me: two budgerigars (Perry the green one and Davy the white and blue, who later turned out to be a 'Davina'), Ally the cockatiel and Yoshi the guinea pig.

The birds are full of character, especially the cockatiel Ally, she goes nuts if you leave the room and if she hears that I'm awake she will start calling for me, she also squawks if I call her name from elsewhere in the house. They all live in a great big cage together and get along great. Ally belonged to my dad and Davy was my nephews but he turned out to be allergic, so yoink!
They have their own personal radio, they really love having music and sing all day.

Yoshi is about 2 now, he 'popcorns' a lot and is very chatty. I have a little harness for him so he gets little walks in the garden when it's warm and dry.


@Linkachu Echo is adorable! She will definitely grow out of it. Mitchell still sometimes gets a little rough, its very rare though and he stops as soon as he is reminded.

@Magpie omgggg gerbils are adorable and such rewarding little pets.


Mitchell (yes that's a pokeball on his collar)


Left to right: Ally, Davy and Perry


Yoshi

Ally and Freddie Mercury


Pig in a blanket!

 

[Magpie]

*Sprinkles revival dust* I have new Gerbils to show off and swoon over :'D

When my last Gerbil, Spirit (who's picture is in this thread) died, I didn't get any more. At first it was just because he'd been so special, but then I also moved out to a rented flat, which sadly did not allow pets. I really, really missed having Gerbils around because they are such amazing little balls of fluff. On the 14th of April though, I moved out of that flat and into one I have bought. And on the 27th of April I went and got my four little babies :')

The Gerbil Clan


Bronn (Bromble Bee)

This is Bronn, who is a Nutmeg. When I saw him I wasn't going to pick him, (there were lots of Gerbils to choose from!) because Spirit was also a Nutmeg... but I just couldn't leave him. The colour is where the similarity to Spirit ends, as Bronn is a little terror, which is why I call him Bromble Bee. He's like a little bee buzzing around all day and getting up to mischief. He's very confident and won't do something he doesn't want to do, and this does make him a bit harder to handle. A person who's not used to Gerbils might even describe him as aggressive in his manner, but he's just a little grump who wants everything now. For Game of Thrones fans, he's well named xD

Shaxx (Shaxel)

Named after the Crucible Master in Destiny, Shaxx is a delight. He's a Grey Agouti and is currently top gerbil (although he'll have to keep a close eye on Bronn). I wasn't going to pick Shaxx originally, there were three grey gerbils, and one was much darker and unusual looking. I was going to pick that one, but as I put my hand in the tank to pick him, Shaxx came and sniffed my hand. So I took him instead If they're all running around on the floor, he'll come and run up onto my shoulder and snuggle into my neck. So he's a mummy's boy ♥ If he's given a treat he always runs into a coconut shell with it, so we call it Shaxx's Coconut Crucible.

Widget (Wigwam)

Widget is a Black-Eyed White and is a gentle little soul. He's the one that makes the bed and keeps things in order xD He's not quite as confident as Shaxx and Bronn yet, but he does enjoy a little cuddle. You can't tell from this picture, but because he's a Blacked-Eyed White his fur isn't quite pure white, apart from on his head there's a little diamond of pure white fur.

Loki (Little Rogue)

Loki is a Pied Black and is the smallest of the four. He's the most shy and the most timid but I think this is an act. As he is a little rogue. The car ride home from the pet shop is ten minutes, if that. Within two minutes he'd chewed through the box they'd put him in, which in all my years of Gerbil owning has never happened before. This caused total panic, as I was driving and therefore busy, and the person who was holding the box has never owned Gerbils before and had no idea what to do xD Thankfully the box was in a lager box, so we did manage to keep them contained safely. He's a little sweetheart and because he's small and the bottom of the pile, he gets extra treats from me ^___^

So there you have it, my lovely little clan. Life is so much better with gerbils in it ♥

And of course, the family pet Jake is still going strong at my parents house

 

[ExtinctGuisher]

Past: Well, i haven't had that much pet. Mostly because my mom wont allow me to have one because "its not right to lock them up from their freedom" or something(I do feel the same sometimes actually, maybe thats why i dont have many pets). But i do have some, like those goldfishes i used to have, until my friends came over and they overfeed. My ssecond pet is a turtle. This time, I had more experiences in raising pets. The few first weeks was ok until the little just stop eating. I tried everything I could to make him eat, I even gave him little alive shrimps, i tried putting plants in the tank, I tried changing the water occasionally, but to no avail. So i decided to releases my turtle into my grandfather's pond since there's plenty of food, fishes and someo other turtles that my cousin 'dumped' there. It's a long time since i saw him or any other turtle that i fear he is gone, forever.
-
And now, I dont have any pets, teachically. But I usually play with a little dog that my cousin have. Maybe that counts . I can call her "my pet" since well, i feel like i care more about her and took better care of her than my sister. I am the only one that plays with her, and sometimes sacrifies half of my meal for her(and it leaves me starving like hell everytime). Everytime that I open the gate to my cousin's home, the first thing I saw would be her, sittting right there, waiting for me(and probably my food). Also, i think that I was the first person that she allows them to rub her belly(or atleast It just the first time i saw her doing that, and hell, that was so happy to see she like me not because of the food). But then, sometimes, i feel bad because i never let her to wander outside of her house, even though its for her own safety. Allows your dog to go outside her is like a gamble here because of two words: dog meat. Sadly, Its still a common thing here despite efforts to stop dog meat(There's no animal patrol here too). Actually, my cousin have lost countless dogs because of kidnappers so its the safest to keep her inside the house only even though she only a small and skinny dog. I dont wanna lost anymore friends, i dont have many friends, and i have lost most of them... Even if it seems like caging her up, I just cant afford to lose her too those sick people.
-
But I'm starting to go off topic there, so I'll just wrap this post up with my future pet. Disregard of the fact that I've seen many dogs going in and out of my life and the fact that i got an allergy on them when i was 8, i still want another dog, or a turtle, since I want to take care of them like how every owner should be. I want my dogs to be play freely, without the fear of getting kidnapped. I want all of my pets to live upto their lifespan, and I actually want them to be close to me(except for goldfishes sinces they arent too smart). Until i can actually do that, I wont be having anymore pets.
Oh and yeah, most pet here have the same name or no name. My dog, she was nicknamed "Sausages" and my turtle, i only call him with a nickname once, so i supposed his name is roughly translated to "Greeny"(bad names i know). And there's no picture for "Greeny" and thge goldfishes because i was too small back then. And for "Sausages", she never sit still for over 5 sec so can never take a proper picture of her.

 

[RLRL]

I'm definitely an animal person, but usually a one-pet person, however that's all gone out the window right now...


This is Rahne (pronounced Raa-nee) my girlfriend bought him a few months ago, he's an Australian shepherd puppy, he's a very smart pup, and totally keeps me on my toes all the time.


This is blink, my very pampered Ragdoll cat, who very much preferred not sharing her house with a puppy...


And finally this is Elixir (left) and Eve, mother and kitten we took in recently, found starving and freezing under an old lady's shed, we were at the emergency vets when they were brought in and i was that sucker that goes "aww, i'll feed the kitties"... best decision ever, if you don't ask blink

 

[Al the Bard]

I grew up with several hamsters and fish. I also had a pitbull puppy named Jewell when I was in middle school. Later came my shih tzu Pystol, who passed away about a year ago. I eventually hope to get a cat at some point in the future.