A Dog Is Not Just For Christmas

[Chelsea14Ian]

You may have seen a eight week old pup,named Ronnie.dumped at Battersea.He was brought on line.For sure he will find a nice home ,but why do not give it more thought.Most of our pets have come from Battersea or the RSPCA.

Tess who sadly not with us came from Battersea. She loved life and was a big part of our family. Poppy our black cat from the RSPCA.17 years old and going strong.She loves her fish big time.CC which we got from a kitten from a family  in Suffork.She can talk for Britain. We love them all.We would love to have another dog,but that will wait until we retire. People must think hard before getting pets ,pets having feeling to.

Ian 

[grendel]

dont they just, I am getting vocal complaints when I leave the house to go to work, having been available for lap sitting on duty while I was on holiday.

[Chelsea14Ian]

CC likes to wake me up in the morning. Still I get my own back by doing the same to her in the afternoon.

[YnysMon]

I took our cat Swnyn to the vet for his annual check-up this morning. He's officially 19 years and 5 days old! Vet commented he's doing really well. She was especially amazed at how good his teeth are (apart from the one he snapped off when he was young) and pleased with his general condition, but she has prescribed him some stuff to help his arthritis (his back legs are getting a bit stiff).

I was reflecting when sitting in the vet's, whilst waiting for our appointment, that never was a cat so misnamed. There was another couple with a cat in the waiting room, and their cat was quite vocal. 'Swn' means 'noise' in Welsh - so calling a cat 'Swnyn' suggests he's a whingey miawer (my son named him after my cousins female cat 'Swnan', who was indeed quite whingey). Our Swnyn hardly ever miaws, and when he does, it's very quiet, but he purrs ever such a lot!

He's still pretty tolerant of our 16 month Collie, but then she's getting better behaved and doesn't bounce around him as she used to (does sniff him up the bum if she can get away with it though...that's dogs for you!). 

Resolved to look after Swnyn with even more care in the coming year!

And here he is! 

Helen

[Lulu]

Thats an amazing age!  

I miss my cat. She only had three legs but it never stopped her doing anything 

[JennyMorgan]

So often do I hear folk say that they will get a dog when they retire. Dogs live for fifteen or more years, fifteen plus sixty five, unless you retire early, just a thought. When I was sixty five I was going to do so much, seven years later and I'm not as able as I was. 

As I've said before I live besides a public footpath, a very popular dog walk. A young girl that we see everyday is now making a good income by walking several dogs for elderly folk who are now unable to do so themselves. A sensitive issue perhaps, but a dog is for life, but who's life? 

[NeilB]

Our 2 cats were rescues nearly 14 years ago as kittens.  They’ve put up with 2 house moves, 3 children, the rescue dog we’ve had for one year now.  He was soon shown who were the bosses in the house and now he’s a little wary of them!! 

We’ve had dogs and cats in both our families for years so know what’s involved.  People need to realise pets are not cheap to feed, yearly shots, vets etc.  Could have probably bought a boat instead !!

[coolcat]

Ros and I volunteer at a local cat rescue and I do the photography and Ros runs the website for the rescue.

It's no surprise to find that we now have seven cats who somehow found their way from the rescue to us

 

[scraggs]

Our Sara was a rescue dog, I always said I would never have another dog after we lost our Springer "Willow" to liver failure at just under 3 years old, she was a stunning dog and I cried like a baby when we decided she had been through enough and it was time to let her go.
Sara was offered to me before she was going to be handed in to the rescue centre, due to the family she was with splitting up, she has been a fantastic dog, she purrs when you sit with her and make a fuss, although she is currently having issues with a Histiocytoma on her nose, she is terribly lazy but loves being on the boat.

 

[Labrador]

A turkey is for Christmas, not for life. ??

[NeilB]

2 hours ago, Labrador said:

A turkey is for Christmas, not for life. ??

A turkey is most definitely not just for Christmas, it's normally good for Boxing day as well !!

[Chelsea14Ian]

And a lot of the year .

[vanessan]

21 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

So often do I hear folk say that they will get a dog when they retire. Dogs live for fifteen or more years, fifteen plus sixty five, unless you retire early, just a thought. When I was sixty five I was going to do so much, seven years later and I'm not as able as I was. 

As I've said before I live besides a public footpath, a very popular dog walk. A young girl that we see everyday is now making a good income by walking several dogs for elderly folk who are now unable to do so themselves. A sensitive issue perhaps, but a dog is for life, but who's life? 

A good point but perhaps a tad defeatist? We have two westies, 9 and 6. They make us walk twice a day, if we don’t take them I feel guilty! You certainly don’t have to be ultra fit to have a dog particularly if you have somewhere they can be exercised off the lead. A dog can be a wonderful companion to an elderly person.

[TheQ]

Our current Dog is 6 and I'm 60, So I think we can have one more, considering both my parents are still up and around and only lost their last dog a couple of years ago.

[HEM]

After various pets my wife/daughter found a Yorkshire Terrier in the Hamburg animal rescue place.
Claimed to have "been found on the street" which cannot be true as he runs in front of every car.

Said to be "about 10 years old".  We have him now for just over 3 1/2 years.

Behaves perfectly at home (does not beg at table,) & sleeps a lot but good for fairly long walks.
OK with everyone except very small children (bad experience?).

Photo taken shortly after he came to us:

 

[Polly]

We are without a cat for the first time since 1971, and yes, time isn't on our side, but it's more a case of not being tied by cat care and being able to go off whenever we like.

[PastorsDayOff]

Just about to adopt a 3-4 year old Staffy from the RSPCA; wife has wanted one for years, and I’ve run out of excuses. Seems that having a cat wasn’t going to be enough. But as long as I can train him to like sailing boats I’ll be happy.