The Vent and Rant Thread

[ownedbycats]

(hugs)

[neil_swann80]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I've had multiple pets for many years, but this is the first time all three of them fell ill at the same time. What a piece of bad luck.

I lost my pups (I'd had them both for 14 years from 10 weeks old) 5 weeks apart. It broke me. It's been two years and it still hurts. I miss seeing my little doglets waiting to greet me at the bottom of the stairs, tails wagging like little helicopters.

It does hurt, but it's the deal we knowingly make to have fur-babies (with their unfairly short lifespans) in our lives. I hope you're doing ok Sirtel.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by neil_swann80

I lost my pups (I'd had them both for 14 years from 10 weeks old) 5 weeks apart. It broke me. It's been two years and it still hurts. I miss seeing my little doglets waiting to greet me at the bottom of the stairs, tails wagging like little helicopters.

That must have been awful. My heartfelt sympathies to you.

I've lost two cats within a year before, and my sister lost her two doggies also within a year (one of them wasn't even all that old, but he had serious complications from diabetes), but not within weeks.

It hurts, yes. But as you said, there's nothing to be done. It is as it is. Unless one adopts a Greenland shark as a pet, those are said to live for several hundred years (yes, literally). Then of course the problem would be reversed - the shark would have to lose its humans many times over.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

That must have been awful. My heartfelt sympathies to you.

I've lost two cats within a year before, and my sister lost her two doggies also within a year (one of them wasn't even all that old, but he had serious complications from diabetes), but not within weeks.

It hurts, yes. But as you said, there's nothing to be done. It is as it is. Unless one adopts a Greenland shark as a pet, those are said to live for several hundred years (yes, literally). Then of course the problem would be reversed - the shark would have to lose its humans many times over.

Hmmm...not sure, as long as the kibble kept up, if the Shark would really care.

If it did, and if you did (caring gets complicated here, keeping a pet that would eat you), you'd have the parrot/turtle/?? A situation where you have to obsess about who will take over the animal's care when you're gone.

It's hard enough--believe me, I know--making arrangements with people you can trust to be the caretakers for your extant "normal" pets (cats, dogs, horses, hamsters, lizards and the such); you could never dead-hand from the grave to control who gets Bruce the Shark, 100 years after you're dead.

I would...it would slay me, not being able to be SURE that the animal would get the kind of care I would give it. It drives me crazy NOW, and I know the people that I've appointed in my will for this. Sheesh.

Great. Now, I'm gonna worry about Bruce. FFS.

Hitch

[mlewis78]

I am sorry, Sirtel.

[DNSB]

Hmmm... with a gestation period of 8-18 years, Greenland sharks make an elephant look like it pops out babies rapidly.

[BetterRed]

Some species of jelly fish create clones when they die.

[Comfy.n]

Tardigrades are microscopic eight-legged animals that have been to outer space and would likely survive the apocalypse. Bonus: They look like adorable miniature bears.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

Tardigrades are microscopic eight-legged animals that have been to outer space and would likely survive the apocalypse. Bonus: They look like adorable miniature bears.

Unfortunately you can't see them without a magnification device, as the largest are still only 1mm tall. And the individual lifespan is pretty short as well, no more than 2 years, unless they go dormant (then they can last up to 30 years, which is still much shorter than an average human).

But they're adorable, yes.

[Comfy.n]

yeah, I hadn't looked up their lifespan, but I liked that "survive the apocalypse" bit

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Comfy.n

yeah, I hadn't looked up their lifespan, but I liked that "survive the apocalypse" bit

Cockroaches are said to survive it too (I didn't bother to check just now), and they ARE kept as pets. I wouldn't want to keep a cockroach, though. A spider, possibly, but the eating habits of spiders are pretty nasty, so I'm not even sure about them.

[Comfy.n]

my mother once had a turtle, hasn't lived that much as the stats say they do

and we've had also some lovely Psittacidae for like 50 years. One hasn't lived much but still brings memories. Then two yorkshires, one is alive and hopping. In some not distant past I enjoyed the new year's eve with the other

[Sirtel]

I like most animals, but I'm too lazy to personally keep anyone but cats. Most other species require more work if you want them to thrive, and dogs the most of all.

We had a fish tank when I was a child, and I participated in caring about it. But small fish tend not to live very long, and it was sad to see a dying fish. You can't even take them to the vet.

[Rumpelteazer]

I'm sorry Sirtel, losing a kitty is hard, but what you're going through us super tough. Hugs for you and the cats.

Almost all my live we've had cats, only for a two year period we didn't have any. Then the mouse problem got so bad (inner city with 3 restaurants and one café sharing walls with us) and I missed having cats so much that I was willing to force my parents to get a new cat. Which wasn't necessary because they missed having cats, too.

My sister and I want to get a cat when we move to our new house, after we're settled. We first need to make the garden cat-proof, because we don't want an outdoor cat. It also has to be able to live with other cats, since we promised to take in Luna and Maru when my parents can't take care of them anymore.

Luna and Maru are doing well. They probably miss the birds from the vacation park. But they seem to be settling in okay. They're still getting used to having a gallery hallway outside the front door. The bedroom and the kitchen have windows looking onto it and they get skittish when a neighbour walks by. But maybe once they get used to strangers walking by they will also get less skittish when my parents have visitors. Since moving out of the old house Luna hasn't peed outside of the litter box and my mother is now slowly weaning her off her medication. Luna is a lot more playful, relaxed and has become extremely cuddly.

[Deskisamess]

My heart goes out to those dealing with the loss of a pet or pets. It's something we've gone through many times in our 47 year marriage, and something we've decided we don't want to face again. It is the main reason we are cat free now.

Atticus was a real boy, there was no finer cat. Making the decision to put him down at 15 before the cancer made his days painful was one of the toughest decisions we've been faced with. It still chokes us up after all these years. Poncho didn't get to that age, we lost him in 1982 at the age of 6. Ranger was only 8, he was another huge black & white, and was so cool.

Saying goodbye to a pet is a pain like no other.