I've never owned a pet. I'm too busy to care for one. Perhaps a cat would be a good fit for someone with a busy lifestyle like me because they seem relatively easy to take care of and they seem quite independent on their own. I'm not sure if this is true though as I've never owned one before. It's not like they're dogs which they require walks and attention. But the downside is that cats aren't as cool as dogs.
shareMy Belgian Malinois / Basenji mix is a very athletic dog. She is high energy all the time. An animal such as her needs a high protein diet to stay active and healthy. She is extremely smart, like a little Houdini. She has the hunting instincts of the Basenji, keeping pests away and the herding ability of the Malinois - loves wide open spaces and having a job to do everyday. The latter breed is what the U.S. Secret Service uses to protect the White House.
LauraGrace once introduced me to a very good dog film called "Goodbye, My Lady" (1956). It really captures the heart of growing up and what it means to love something by having to part with it. The dog is Basenji.
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0049271/
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I used to have a German Shepard / Basenji Mix who we had for 14-1/2 years. Best dog ever, so smart and caring.
shareThanks for sharing. You had a one-of-a-kind dog!
Basenjis are so cat-like, the way they jump off things and rubbing their side against one's leg, showing affection and being possessive of their owners. They rarely bark even though they can, preferring to grunt or yodel instead. They're not common in the United States.
I do recommend watching the film. The dog does not die at the end, thank goodness.
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I have a hamster that I adopted last year from one of my granddaughters. She named her Captain Slinky and was the first family pet for a couple of weeks until they found out one of my grandsons is allergic. I agreed to take her in order to ease the pain of having to give her up. At least she knows where Slinky is and how she's doing.
Slinky became Slinja when she learned to reach up and grab the screen top of her cage. Then she'd ninja her way across until she made it to her exercise wheel. She'd lie on her back on top of the wheel and try to chew through the wire screen. She'd last only 20-30 seconds up there, fall off, and then go do it all over again. She also spent many hours running on her wheel. She liked to take pieces of her food that she didn't like, put them on the wheel, and then run like the dickens, making so much noise sometimes that I had to turn up the volume on the TV.
Unfortunately, I think Slinja is near her end days. I noticed a couple of months ago her activity level had diminished - waking later, staying up for just a couple of hours instead of most of the night. Sadly, she hasn't run on her wheel for over a week now. She's moved almost all her bedding to her sleeping corner so it looks like a mountain, which she burrows under to sleep. She sleeps almost round the clock now, getting up only to eat, drink, or pee. Oh, and the food she doesn't like she now stashes in her pee corner - like a little kid flushing his hated veggies down the toilet, I guess.
I have told my granddaughter this so that Slinja's demise doesn't come as a complete shock. 😞
This makes me sad out of proportion to the way it should...I looked it up and didn't know that hamsters have such a short life, 2 - 4 years, depending on the species. They are cute little critters.
shareThey are very cute little critters, but yeah, their short lifespan is sad. I had two hamsters (one at a time) when I was growing up. Lots of pets in our house: dog, cat, canary, parakeet, guinea pig, hamster, and fish. I don't count the garter snakes and salamanders my brothers kept in the window wells.
shareI went on a little YouTube binge because there is something about these little guys that pull at my heartstrings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0glbMzoAHZY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qG2SWmI0TM
And rats!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMVh5uO3FSA
Sorry, I can't "do" rats. I liked the hamster videos, though. I feel bad for the family that spent all that time building that fabulous hamster kingdom because I'll bet anything that "Happy" will chew everything to smithereens. I saw a lot of cardboard in there, and even the wooden castle won't last. But I'm sure Happy had a lot of fun in there. I'm assuming they built a cover for it too, because otherwise Happy will be a "free range" hamster. 😉
shareA ball python named Emily. She's about 15 now, literally doesn't care if I don't have time for her, eats about once a month a
shareWhoops. And is THE low maintenance pet. I've never had to take her to the vet. If your immune system is millions of years old I guess it's seen everything.
...Occasionally someone walks into my house and loses their shit. Children literally do better.
I currently have a crazy ass half Dachshund dog, Sawyer. He definitely prefers my wife to me even though I'm the one who feeds him and takes him out every night and day. We used to have a cat (she recently passed) who was twice his size. She was more doglike than expected: knew her name, came when called, wanted to be around when people were near.
Crazy story about two of them: One day we came home and couldn't find Sawyer although the cat was sitting on the couch. Finally realized she had been siting on top of him with just his nose sticking out a little. Since it was warm under there he didn't seem to mind at all.
Cute story about the cat hiding Sawyer. Tee-hee.
shareWe have two geckos, a Leopard Gecko that's about 15 years old, and a juvenile Indo-Asian Gecko.
shareA had a lab/shepherd/hound mix in my twenties. Amazing dog who brought me much joy.
And I had 2 cats growing up as a kid. I probably won't get another one as long as I live around here because of the coyotes. Perfect pet for apartment living, though.