Question:
Hey guys....

I am looking for honesty here...I would never do it but there are days when I think it might be kind of nice to be animaless...just when I am having a bad day and everything seems to be working against me...you know those days, when the dogs poop on the floor, you get that cleaned up only to have the cat puke up a hairball on the bed you just changed the sheets on, then after you went to all the trouble to clean the ferrets cage from top to bottom one of them decides to poop on the shelf instead of the litter box, or better yet you let the ferrets out to play and they think litter box ha I don't need no stinkin' litter box and leave little poop and pee mines for you to step in, and you let the rabbits out to play and they decide that the room would look much better with hay and poop all over it...and the rats have kept you up all night rearranging their cage because you stupidly didn't put the papers in just the way they like them!!

How many of you out there have horror stories? We all know we love our pets but I would love to hear some other people talk about those days when the prospect of being without them seems like a good idea for about 2 minutes until they lick you or look at you with those I love you mommy eyes...or the aren't you proud of me I made a poop on the floor just for you look!!

Hope to hear some great stories to make me feel better!!

Take care

Shannon


Answer:
I know the feeling Shannon! Don't get me wrong I love all my pets very very much and more often than not I don't know what I would do without them, but there are those occassions when it would be nice to at least have a reduced number.
Like when -
The conures decide they want attention at 11pm and refuse to stop screaming at the top of their lungs to get it.
When the birds decide that the light switch cover, ceiling, wall, end table are much better chew toys than the nearly unlimited supply of things offered willingly.
When you just wake up or are just heading to bed and the lights are still off and you happen upon a hairball with your bare foot.
Or when your sweetheart chin decides to pee in your face as your showing a friend how nice they can be.
Sometimes it would be nice to just be able to go and not have to worry about what the animals are doing. They are a huge responsibility and differ from children as you can take kids along for the weekend, unfortunately there is no way to tote all of them along if we wanted to jsut get away.


Answer:
Like cleaning cat crap off the rug, buying a small carpet cleaner, spot cleaning the carpet and putting the machine away to find a fresh pile.
Vacuuming then the next morning finding clumps of cat hair all over the place
But - going to bed to read with one beside you, one on your feet and one snuggled under the covers with you kind of wipes all that out!


Answer:
Thanks guys...it is nice to know I am not the only one. Somedays I just want to call it quits and find everyone a new home...but then the mommy in me says..well I know all their likes and dislikes and what if someone else abuses them or what if..... and on and on. Then there are the times when I say when all these animals are gone I won't replace and them and then I end up bringing home another one that needed a home and wondering what the heck I am doing!!!

Oh well like my favorite quote says "Animals are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole" actually it says dogs, but I replaced that with animals, because I thought it was fitting!

Shannon


Answer:
The messes don't bother me as much as the noise does. Sometimes- and always late in the evening- everyone gets a wild hair and I am already tired so it is really hard to keep my patience. And it seems everyone gets sick at once and you lose one rodent, you will lose another one or two soon after- it gets very depressing when that happens.


Answer:
Well, I just have the one chinchilla and one fish, so I can't really complain. Of course, I do complain when I'm really tired and have to change the water in the fish tank (which I really don't like doing). I also wasn't too happy when I went to clean Buddy's cage yesterday and somehow cut my arm (right by the elbow) just before I was about to start cleaning.


Answer:
Yes, I know the feeling...but it usually isn't because of the pets only. It's like you said, Shannon. You come home from the worst day only to find that one of your cats (Sydney) shredded an entire roll of paper towel. You can't vaccuum it because the pieces are so large, so instead you pick it up piece by piece. Once you have that under control, you find out that the chinchillas decided to not use their litterpan which means you have to completely clean and sand two shelves after dousing them in vinegar. Once everyone is fed and happy, you finally lay down. You're almost asleep and then you hear the other cat throwing up. Yep, been there, done that. Then he gets into bed and snuggles right close to your face with the puke breath and you love him to bits.


Answer:
Originally Posted by Candycane
Then he gets into bed and snuggles right close to your face with the puke breath and you love him to bits.
Puke breath! I love it!!

I very rarely get overwhelmed with the kitties, although I wish sometimes Aoife wasn't quite as vocal as she is

I was frequently overwhelmed with the rats, though - I had so many so close in age and they all ran into the inevitable health problems as they aged, all around the same time. I spent I'm sure over $1,000 on vet visits, meds, a nebulizer for their respiratory problems, and hours of anxiety and despair that nothing I was doing was making them better...yes, that was definitely overwhelming and not a place I'd like to revisit.

But the kitties don't overwhelm me. They're all in good health and aside from the occasional puddle of puke on the floor, the occasional tootsie-roll that didn't quite make it into the litterbox and the occasional pee-soaked backpack (when Aoife is in a strop she pees in my bag if I leave it on the floor - I once saw her climb into my backpack, have a pee, then jump out, looking at me as if to say, "There for ya now, beawtch!!!"), it's all good.


Answer:
Yes, sometimes it is going great for a long length of time...then just when something stressful outside of the house is going on (like that is just what you need now) is when they decide its time to misbehave like taking to pooping in the plants, shredding the front of the speaker or clawing the dining room chairs or sneaking out the door as soon as it is open a crack and immediately eating my long spikey grasslike plant that is in the flowerbed which means finding at least 3 piles of puke in the next 24 hours. Then Toffee decides it is fun to get in the plants and dig...something she never thought of doing for 2 years, but now thinks it is something she "must" do at all costs!! Somedays I feel like all I do is clean up pet messes.
But then they give you those begging eyes and kiss and a snuggle and I melt.


Answer:
I only get overwhelmed when I bring home too many sick foster kittens... I seem to handle my own pets just fine as we have our routine down pretty well.