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who here has a pat?

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I've had dogs, cats, birds, fish, and various rodents over the years so I have just a few words of advice: Get a CAT.

Let me tell you why you shouldn't get any of the other pats you mentioned. We'll start with dogs. Dogs require too much attention. You have to walk them at least twice a day or they'll shit and piss in your house. Plus dogs are pack animals which means they need constant attention and reassurance from the rest of the pack...meaning you...so if you have only one, they tend to get lonely during the day and start destroying things around your house until you return home. They also require grooming on a fairly regular basis or they start to smell worse than your dirty laundry. Oh, and vet bills.

Birds are just annoying and useless. They are also messy and prone to rare diseases and mites. They also are capable of flight so if you let them out they just shit and piss in places you'd never even think to clean. They don't love you, they don't understand you, they probably don't even like you, they just tolerate you because you feed them.

Rodents are like birds except they can't fly and they are even more useless.

Fish are like rodents but more useless still. Fish do have one redeeming quality though, you can flush them down the toilet when they die...try that with a guinea pig, or a parrot, or a German Shepherd.

Back to the cat. I've had many cats as pets over the years. They are affectionate, they are very low maintenance, they are self cleaning (seriously, I've owned many cats and never washed a single one-flea baths don't count, I think I still have scars from that incident though). As for fleas, thankfully there is a miracle drug called Advantage you just put on the cat once a month and you can avoid bathing your cat forever.

The single best reason to own a cat is you can lead a pretty normal life and not have to constantly be worrying about what they may be doing while you aren't there. You can even go away for a few days and just leave them a large bowl of food, plenty of water, and a clean litter box and they'll be fine. Can't do that with a dog.
 
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being in 3 different apartments with cats in the past month has killed my desire to ever get one... it just felt like there was hair, everywhere.
 
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coldmeat said:
If you get a cat, you get a pet. If you get a dog, you get a best friend.
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True, but this has both advantages and disadvantages. Dogs need lots of attention all the time. Hard to leave the house for more than a few hours at a time unless you have someone to look after the dog, or can take it with you. Don't get a dog unless you're ready to spend 25% of your life (and money) taking care of it.

Cats are kind of like "Dog Lite". Usually not as affectionate, but not as demanding and high-maintenance either. Also, it depends on the individual. Some of the cats we've had were more like dogs, always giving you attention/demanding attention from you. Others kept to themselves.

Right now I have both a cat and a dog, which works great. The dog definitely thinks the cat is part of the pack. The cat thinks the dog is annoying and disgusting.
 
Not sure if you're looking to get a pet or an agender friend.

If you're looking to get a dog/cat, are you willing to be responsible for it's needs for it's lifetime(10-15 years)?
 
JimmiG said:
True, but this has both advantages and disadvantages. Dogs need lots of attention all the time. Hard to leave the house for more than a few hours at a time unless you have someone to look after the dog, or can take it with you. Don't get a dog unless you're ready to spend 25% of your life (and money) taking care of it.

Cats are kind of like "Dog Lite". Usually not as affectionate, but not as demanding and high-maintenance either. Also, it depends on the individual. Some of the cats we've had were more like dogs, always giving you attention/demanding attention from you. Others kept to themselves.

Right now I have both a cat and a dog, which works great. The dog definitely thinks the cat is part of the pack. The cat thinks the dog is annoying and disgusting.
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25% of your money? Are you serious? Do you make $2 an hour? I don't see how it costs anymore to keep a dog than it does to keep a cat.

You must be a terrible pet owner if it takes you that much time and money to manage a dog.
 
coldmeat said:
25% of your money? Are you serious? Do you make $2 an hour? I don't see how it costs anymore to keep a dog than it does to keep a cat.

You must be a terrible pet owner if it takes you that much time and money to manage a dog.
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Depends on the dog I guess. I have a medium sized dog and she can go through a 40lb bag of dog food in a few weeks. It would take my cat a year to eat 40lbs worth of cat food.
 
JulesMaximus said:
Let me tell you why you shouldn't get any of the other pats you mentioned. We'll start with dogs. Dogs require too much attention. You have to walk them at least twice a day or they'll shit and piss in your house. Plus dogs are pack animals which means they need constant attention and reassurance from the rest of the pack...meaning you...so if you have only one, they tend to get lonely during the day and start destroying things around your house until you return home. They also require grooming on a fairly regular basis or they start to smell worse than your dirty laundry. Oh, and vet bills.
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Wow, you need to train your dog better if that's how it acts.

We don't have to walk our dog twice a day to keep her from destroying the house. We do try to walk her daily but if that doesn't happen due to the weather she is still fine. She doesn't destory thing when we leave here alone for several hours during the day either and she hasn't had any training whatsoever.
 
Jules makes a good argument for a cat. Only problem then is the freaking cat hair everywhere. I was so glad to get away from pet hair when I moved out.
 
Puddle Jumper said:
Wow, you need to train your dog better if that's how it acts.

We don't have to walk our dog twice a day to keep her from destroying the house. We do try to walk her daily but if that doesn't happen due to the weather she is still fine. She doesn't destory thing when we leave here alone for several hours during the day either and she hasn't had any training whatsoever.
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He could adopt an older dog like a Greyhound that's just a coach potatoe in the house during the day and doesn't need lots of exercise.
 
Puddle Jumper said:
Wow, you need to train your dog better if that's how it acts.

We don't have to walk our dog twice a day to keep her from destroying the house. We do try to walk her daily but if that doesn't happen due to the weather she is still fine. She doesn't destory thing when we leave here alone for several hours during the day either and she hasn't had any training whatsoever.
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Our dog is 12 and probably won't be around much longer. We got her when she was 4 months old though and she was a huge pain in the ass for the first few years we had her. We actually crated her for the first year or so in our garage because we couldn't leave her alone in the house. Lab mix, great dog but hyper as a pup. Now she just lays around the house and farts and costs us a small fortune in vet bills every few months.

My wife and I are both in agreement. When she dies...no more dogs.

We do have a cat though and have always had cats. Short hair cats are great pets.
 
JulesMaximus said:
I've had dogs, cats, birds, fish, and various rodents over the years so I have just a few words of advice: Get a CAT.
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This. Cats are the easiest and give you the best return on investment (time and money). They can be affectionate (more or less, depending on the cat) and pretty much care for themselves and don't require much attention. All you need to do is remember to feed them and change their litter.

Fish are living decorations; low cost, but not at all rewarding to care for.

Dogs are wonderful pets but don't even consider one if you live alone and don't have a lot of time to dedicate towards walks and attention and whatnot.

Birds are, IMO, more like small flying dogs than flying rodents. A hand-tamed bird will imprint on you and will want to spend ALL its time with you. My parents have a cockatiel (used to have two of them) who is absolutely in love with my mom and hates everyone else. Like dogs, they require a lot of attention (even more than dogs, I think), and they make a mess everywhere. I bird-sat for a week once and I'm still finding bird shit everywhere. Having a bird is a major commitment, not only because they're messy and require constant attention, but because they live a long time. Longer than dogs or even cats. The only reason my parents have one is because I wanted one when I was little and because my mom works from home.

I've never cared for rodents as pets. They die off like crazy. I guess they are cute though.

Get a cat.
 
mb said:
Jules makes a good argument for a cat. Only problem then is the freaking cat hair everywhere. I was so glad to get away from pet hair when I moved out.
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We've always had short haired cats. You can brush them in the spring and summer to keep the shedding under control.
 
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