Pets

icel

An estimated 63% of American households have a pet, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association.
These pets can be anything from dogs, cats and ferrets to fish and reptiles.
I'm sure many of us here on AP have pets even though not everyone lives in the US, so this thread is so that you can tell us about them! Post pictures of them, stories, how you ended up getting them, and what their personalities and quirks are.

My pets:

I have a pure breed fox terrier who's 7 years old but still looks like a puppy. This breed tends to be over energetic and very bouncy, but I guess mine is defective or something. She's usually very calm and mellow, and has a very nice temperament - she can stand being poked, petted and held for ages without even moving.

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! Whenever she's given a treat she grabs it in the slowest and most ridiculously tender fashion that it really surprises people who are used to dogs immediately snatching food out of people's hands. The first time we took her to the vet when we moved the assistants were so amused by this that they ended up giving her extra treats, so maybe she's just clever.
She's also had this strange habit ever since I could remember. She CONSTANTLY makes this weird.. strained moan kind of sound. And I mean constantly, like 24/7. When asking for the door to be opened, food, attention, in the car, looking out the window at birds, and even while sleeping.

I also have a 55 gallon fish-only saltwater tank in my room. (That is to say no corals/anemonies in it, they're pretty but way too much of a hassle)

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! I'm currently having a macro algae and green coralline explosion at the moment, so it doesnt look as nice as usual. Damn my luck of getting the only ugly kind of coralline in my tank and not the awesome purple type.
That plastic tube on the right is for a future moray eel.

Tomato Clownfish

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! This guy is the boss of the tank. He doesnt have an anemone to host, so he's taken residence in a large conch. He's always near it, sleeping and crapping all over it. It's dirty because he gets annoyed at the hermit crabs (Who are supposed to clean his mess) when they try to crawl inside it. In fact he gets annoyed at all the other fish when they come anywhere near it and chases them away.
In summary he's an asshole.

Yellowtail Damselfish

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! Tiny and super cute. His 'area' is behind the Clownfish's conch, and he actually sleeps in a hole in it on the back. He has an escape plan where he'll go through the spirals and pop out of the conch on the opening where the clownfish is, but he's smart enough to not do that very often. If you're looking around his area he'll come out and stare right into your eyes until you leave.

Purple Firefish

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Most wimpy and peaceful fish in the tank, he gets pushed around by the clownfish all the time.
Ironically he's actually the bravest of them all, when I put my hand or the clips in the tank he's the only one who doesnt dive for cover and sometimes even eats out of my hand.

Melanarus Wrasse

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! "Oh my god look at me I'm so pretty and insanely fast and I eat fucking EVERYTHING."
..He sleeps in the sand. I have absolutely no idea how he breathes and survives in there.

Sixline Wrasse

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! I swear, this thing is a ninja, it felt like I was playing freaking pokemon snap when trying to get his picture. When he sees a piece of food he'll dive bomb it at the speed of light and then immediately hide, repeating this over and over until he's full. When he's not eating he's always swimming between the live rocks so he's pretty stealthy.

puffin

I have a jack russel. Crazy, but I love her!

Cyan D. Funk

I once had a beta fish. His name was Ronaldo.

He lasted four years before DEATH got him. He now lives in the freeze until the day science can revive him.

Sea

I have a cat that always attacks me.

Flux

I have two small dogs. One is evil, and one is her daughter.
Some real nice fish you have there

Mokenda_mint

I have 2 Australian Shepherds. They're my babies

Retardia

I have 2 cats that always fighting each other.

Don Quichotte De Flamingo

i had a budgie who was called "slimer",cause at that time(and sure still) i was a ghostbusters-fan!:happy:

Jejune

A budgie called Slimer xD Cute.

Beautiful fishtank, icel! I want to touch your dog's fur, lol.

I've had a bunch of pets, but most of them met unfortunate ends. Currently I have an obese British Blue Shorthair who has a bunch of things wrong with her though she's still loveable, and a Totoiseshell who barely lives at home anymore because the neighbours always feed her- the two cats hate each other. And I have a very spoilt cockatiel.
One day I'd like to have another dog.

IrishLuigi

I had two cats.

Socky ran away.

Refii

I had a dog, his name was Eddy.
This dog was born a puppy under my sister's care as a gift from one of her ex's, she named it after the ex previous to that ex to spite him..
As a puppy things were great, then he grew, and she stopped caring about him, so I loved him. I took care of him, I ran with him, bathed him, walked with him and even took him to the doctor who he hated and tried to kill everyone involved because his ear got infected.

Then my sister gave him away because he no longer accepted her as his master and bit her when she tried to touch his infected ear, he never tried biting me when I put cream in his ear…
The bite was barely skin deep, he was just telling her he was in pain.

Women are heartless.. both with their men and their pets.
Dog's are the most loyal creature I've encountered in my life.

Strawcat

My cat

A total minx

TräshCät

i have a cat who's worse than a lil child …. T__T following me everywhere, talking all the time (and i don't understand a word), opening the doors ... puking on my bed XD

haa~ she can be really annoying coz she got clingy with age ... i still love my little baby. :3

MagiciteKefka

I had a rabbit 5 years ago, named Lucky. Unfortunately he fell down from the balcony ( kinda wierd, i know) 5 floors and died. Haven't gotten any other pet after that.

Strongbad456

I used to have 3 cats but sadly 2 of them had to be put out their misery because they were dying of Feline Leukemia. 1 still remains and she's about 13 now. She's fat, lazy, and awesome.

I also have a dog that's about 5 or 6. She's supposedly only a mix between a Beagle and Lab but she looks to also be part German Shepard. She's insane, barks at everything, despises other dogs, and hates people(except my family).

GetsugaZoro

Hum i have two cats, 3 paraqueets/budgies.

I had two turtle but they got really big so my father gave them to a friend that has a lake.

I also have a bunch of street cats that arent really mine but my mother feeds them and they are always at my door lol, two of them actually come to my house sometimes.

And i have chickens and rabits but its not in my house its in my grampa smallfarm wich is at 1 minute from my house.

DartG

We have two dogs, 1 in which is blind in one eye from some asshole shooting him with a bb'gun.

2 cats, one with extra toes(7 on 1 paw)

And some fish in a 20 gallon tank.

I have an empty 90gallon long that I don't know what to put in it, I may just put the fish from the 20 in there.

Badass SnoCone

I've wanted to get a dog since I was 3. Hasn't happened yet, and I don't think it ever will.

I had a fish, though. He lived for over a year, which was strange because the most one of my fish has ever lived for is like a week. He died last year.

:sad:

JIMMY!!!!!!!

puffin

Oh, i'm sorry about killing Jimmy, Sno.

Crossword

I have a cat, part calico, part tabby. She's six years old and is very friendly ,even around complete strangers, which is a sharp contrast to the previous cat, who was kind of neurotic and would run and hide whenever someone came over.

puffin

Wow, that completely reminds me of my pals cats. 0.o

Reyairia

This post is deleted!

Reyairia

@Badass:

I've wanted to get a dog since I was 3. Hasn't happened yet, and I don't think it ever will.

I had a fish, though. He lived for over a year, which was strange because the most one of my fish has ever lived for is like a week. He died last year.

:sad:

JIMMY!!!!!!!

Probably because you kept him in a bowl, didn't cycle the water before putting him in, and probably cleaned it only once a week.

Bettas should be able to live two to three years (seven if you're one of those fancy Thai expert fishkeepers), and kept in at least a tank 2.5 gallons (bowls are usually only 1 or 2) big. Heated and filtered.

Bettas DO NOT like small spaces. That's just a myth propagated by the pet industry to fool people into thinking they can get a pet that requires little money and even less effort. They're just hardy fish that can survive bad water quality for short periods of time. They live in slow moving rivers, not mud puddles. As for the whole "rice paddies" thing, rice paddies are effing huge.

That is far from a "mud puddle."

Goldfish can live up to 30 years in a pond, but can live up to ten in a ten gallon tank by themselves. However, they must be fancy goldfish. Comet, Common or Shubunkin goldfish are not suitable for tanks and are pond only fish (these are those cheap feeder fish). They get too big. Since goldfish are coldwater fish, they produce a lot of waste compared to tropical fish, they need double filtration (eg. 10 gal tank needs 20 gal filtration) but they don't need heaters. Goldfish also get very big.

People say "oh, well they just grow to the size of their tank." Yeah, they do. If you keep a child all their life in a closet they'll have stunted growth too. Stunted growth isn't healthy in humans, why would it be healthy with fish?

Here's a guide on how to cycle the water in case anybody is wondering:
With fish, better for community aquariums: http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/biologicalcycle/a/nitrogencycle.htm
Fishless cycling, better for smaller tanks and bettas: http://www.ehow.com/how_4890205_cycle-aquarium-using-fish.html

P.S. Bigger tanks are always better. Yes, you'll have to spend more on it, but in the end you don't have to maintain it as often, so it'll be better on your part.

The OP already mentioned our dog, but I have my own fish, Spiffy.

Hiroy

I had I dog when I lived in Trinidad. He was the best thing I ever had… until I returned from vacation and he went missing. My uncle had something to do with it, but he kept shrugging the topic off. His name was Joshua. Odd name for a dog, but my mom gave it to him. I called him Josh.

Malintex_Terek

Had a cat. He died, I cried.

His kittens still wander around the neighbourhood though.

skeletonbrook

Ive currently got two dogs a Maltese shiatsu charlie brown (although we just call him charlie) and a shihtzu molly i also used to have a gold fish called goku when i was 11

Cutty Fram

I have two Guinea Pigs named Dude and Walter

SieteFleur

I have a puppy named Panda

! He's a year and 3 months old right now, but he was a lot younger in this picture. It's my favorite photo of him, though

And 21 snakes of all different kinds. These are some of them:

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A tarantula named Bella:

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And 2 box turtles, 2 desert tortoises, and a ferret, but I don't have pictures of them right now

shaqfukobe32

I've got a Saint Bernard who likes to sit on peoples laps.

brennen.exe

^^ Haha, yeah, my parents have a Labradoodle that likes to sit on peoples' laps too. She's a giant. I think I have a pic of her… lemme see... yep. The picture is a little deceiving, but Gracie (white) stands a little above my waist, and I am 5'10.5", so she is pretty tall. It sounds silly, but people always ask if she has Great Dane in her, since she is so tall and strong. The black one (Cooper) is almost as tall as Gracie and is only about 8 months old. Anyway, all of their dogs think they are little lap dogs and always try to sit on you.

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Ivotas

I've both cat's and a dog. Most of the cat's roaming around and disappearing one by one (although we still suspect those accursed cat hunters to be responsible for this because it happened to pretty much everybody at in the neighbourhood :sad:). We've been left with just one cat once we moved. Sadly we had to put him to sleep because of sickness earlier this year. We had to the same thing to our dog three years ago. It was very heavy both times. Here's an old pic of the two of them with myself:

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You guys can't believe how much I miss them.
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Crossword

@puffin:

Wow, that completely reminds me of my pals cats. 0.o

Oh it gets better. At one point he had to be put on prozac, no joke.

Ghosty Crabber

I have 3 Leopard Geckos and 2 Dwarf Hamsters. My brother fed my hamsters tissue the other day, I hope he won't die anytime soon or something .__.

icel

@Jejune:

Beautiful fishtank, icel! I want to touch your dog's fur, lol.

No idea why you say that, it's a total mess ATM. Looks like a seaweed bed. XD

Your dog is so adorable, SieteFleur! The name is so fitting.
And I wish I could keep snakes, they're amazing but I'm too squeamish to feed them mammals. I prefer eels instead, I love seafood and eat it all the time and I can share it with the eel.

Speaking of eels, I got my snowflake moray eel today!

During acclimation

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Whoever says eels are ugly has never seen a snowflake moray. :wub:

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When I was going home I noticed that he spat out a barely digested fish that looked suspiciously like one of the damsels in the tank he was in at the store with. Guess I got a free fish.

iPenguin

Always had animals in my house. The ones I had since I was a kid (a cat and dog) recently passed away though. I also had a cockatiel who died an untimely death due to egg-bonding that was depressing.

Anyways, now its pretty much all young animals in the house. Two cats (each around one year old) and two cockatiels (2 and 5 years old). The birds are named Autumn and Xia; male and female. The male one was thought to be female thus why the name Autumn. I'm honestly glad he turned out to be male though so he won't have the egg problem. Autumn loves to tease the cats and dance around on the edge of the cage to provoke them.

The cats will watch but never do anything to harm them (and we always keep watch just in case).

The two cats are named Domyno and Blackjack. [hide][/hide]
Blackjack is the solid black one; he is the older one even if he is smaller. He's way more athletic as well. He enjoys playing with the rings from milk jugs.
Domyno is the black and white one and is much heavier than Blackjack, he also has big ears, big feet, and is generally clumsy. He also acts like a dog and will play fetch if you throw a feather ball for him.

They like to wrestle each other and get along quite well.

DartG

icel, about how much does it cost to put together a saltwater tank like that? I heard even 10 gallons cost hundreds of dollars to manage. I'm only looking for some clown fish right now, as they're only $8 at my local Petco.

Samurai Panda

Right now I've got 2 cats (one loves lying on my keyboard and the other likes lying on my paper when I'm drawing) and 2 King Charles Spaniels. I would really like a snake, but my parents are terrified of them, so I might be getting an iguana later this year as a compromise

Arei

I had a betta who lived for 3 years in a half gallon bowl, water was changed and treated weekly. But for next time I will put a betta in a larger tank, Roy seemed kinda bored with just that small space XD

Oh wow icel, your tank is awesome

I've got 3 dogs, 1 black lab (Buddy/M/3 1/2 yrs old) and 2 dachshunds (Beanie/F/almost 3 (mini)) & (Eddie/M/3ish (tweenie)). Eddie is a buttface though, I don't like him XD

I've had countless pets over the years, these are my current ones ^^ Hopefully soon I can get a new fish tank and a betta, it's been too long since I've had fish D;

I miss my Mojo :sad:

icel

@DanialG:

icel, about how much does it cost to put together a saltwater tank like that? I heard even 10 gallons cost hundreds of dollars to manage. I'm only looking for some clown fish right now, as they're only $8 at my local Petco.

It depends how how big you want it. If you're a beginner I recommend getting nothing smaller than a 30 gallon tank, which will be more than enough if the clownfish you're referring to is an ocellaris/false percula/percula kind. (Normal "nemo" clownfish, all 3 are pretty much the same thing) This is because the chemical and salinity levels are extremely hard to maintain at the right place in smaller tanks, so 10 gallon tanks are actually much more expensive and a pain than say a 55 gallon one. Leave those to the experts.

Now as for cost-there's two kinds of tanks you can have, fish only with liverock or reef tanks. The reef tanks are the ones that cost hundreds of dollars in upkeep, so unless you think having corals/anemonies are worth the huge amount of money and time reading several books on them and maintaining it, I don't recommend them.

Anyway, with either there's several things you absolutely need in any saltwater tank.

! Live rock: Not actually "live," but they're coral skeletons taken from the ocean. Because of this they have tons of beneficial bacteria in them that will help break down fish waste, so they work as a kind of biological filter. Also the rocks will make the fish feel more at home and give it somewhere to hide/sleep. When buying it make sure it's 'cured' live rock. Fiji live rock is the cheapest and costs around $2-$4 a pound.
! Live sand: Same concept as live rock. Caribbean live sand is good, around $1 per pound. Make sure you put in the live rock before the live sand so that the rocks are steady.
! Filter: There are several options for filters, I don't know too much about all of them. I have a good old hang-on-back marineland bio wheel filter, which tend to get the best reviews. It's pretty much silent, no mechanical noise.
If you're looking for hang-on-back filters they usually advertise the maximum tank size for freshwater tanks. Since saltwater tanks need a lot more filtration, always go one 'level' higher. So for example if you had a 55 gallon tank you'd need to get the 75 gallon filter.
! Protein skimmer: This is more or less optional, but strongly recommended. Pretty much a type of tube-like filter that makes bubbles. Bigger waste particles stick to the bubbles, and they go up the tube and get collected in a cup at the top. It's not a substitute for an actual filter though.
! Power head: A pump that circulates the water in the tank and oxygenates it.
! Heater: It gets cold at night! Make sure you get one that is the right size for the tank. The idea temperature is between 72° and 78° Fahrenheit.
! Thermometer: You need this to keep tabs on the temperature since sometimes heaters mess up or stop working.
! Hydrometer: A little plastic case thing that measures the salinity level of water when you pour it in it. This is essential if you're going to mix salt yourself.
! Stand: Make sure you have a place to put the tank on that is steady because tanks are extremely heavy. I met someone whose 250 gallon tank actually crashed through the second floor of his house!
They sell stands that are especially made to withstand the weight at petco/petsmart.
! Now, after you have everything set up here's the part that throws people off the most. If you got a new tank and the water/filter is brand new, you're going to let the tank sit for 3 months with all the equipment running. This is because you need to "cycle" the tank. Similar to the live rock idea, you need to let the water run so that the beneficial bacteria can grow and populate the tank. If you skip this, all your fish will die.
! If you're getting a used tank, make sure to take as much tank water as you can from the seller.

If that didn't scare you off, in total it would probably cost around $400-500 for the setup. I really recommend looking at craigslist, there's a lot of good deals for tanks there that already come with equipment. I managed to get my tank, live rock, live sand, protein skimmer, heater and my clownfish and yellowtail damselfish all for $150 off there. My filter was $50, power head was around $20 and the stand was another $150 for a total of around $370.
Maintenance is $10 a month for me. I buy 10 gallons of premixed saltwater at my local fish store every 3 weeks (cause I'm too lazy to mix it myself and they really purify the water well), and the filter pads need to be changed once a month. It's not too bad, it's only the initial cost that is expensive. :happy:

@Samurai:

Right now I've got 2 cats (one loves lying on my keyboard and the other likes lying on my paper when I'm drawing) and 2 King Charles Spaniels. I would really like a snake, but my parents are terrified of them, so I might be getting an iguana later this year as a compromise

Oh man, I love iguanas so much! Take pictures when you get it.

@Arei:

Oh wow icel, your tank is awesome

Awwh thank you! ^^

@Arei:

I've had countless pets over the years, these are my current ones ^^ Hopefully soon I can get a new fish tank and a betta, it's been too long since I've had fish D;

Bettas are so cool, my sister has one in her room that jumps out of the water to bite your finger. XD

Jejune

@icel:

No idea why you say that, it's a total mess ATM. Looks like a seaweed bed. XD

They're good looking weeds to a noob. Also your colourful fish liven it up.

@SieteFleur:

And 21 snakes of all different kinds. These are some of them:

! http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/2282/12847102120899812950100.jpg
! http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/7520/12847102194933138880100.jpg
! http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/466/12847102120913146282100.jpg

So coool :wub: I love snakes, probably wouldn't enjoy feeding them though, especially a large one, gack. The one in the last picture really reminds me of an attentive dog, it's cute.

brennen.exe

@Ivotas:

It was very heavy both times.

Yeah, it's really hard losing an animal. Two of mine passed in the last few years, and I still struggle with it when I think about them.

tigerlilly

I remember my very first pet, don't know if I can really call him "pet" because he was already there when I was born. This turtle was atleast 30 years older than me and was already my dad's pet when he was little. So I had to treat the old guy with respect. In the winter he was nowhere to be seen, but in the summer he would crawl around the place and bite poeple in the pinky toes if they didn't watch out. I think he confused them for berries or grapes, he was really getting senile… But atleast he would crawl out when I called him, a little bit like a dog. ^^
Other than that, he was quite lazy, would do nothing but eat his salad and crap himself whenever I gave him a refreshing shower with the hose. Gah. Really now. That's how old he was.
That's it, unless you got him his favourite food, which were jasmine petals. You would see his eyes pop out and big veins appear on his neck when he just smelled one of them. I swear to god I've never seen a turtle run this fast. Really fun to look at!
Unfortunately he died a couple of years ago and we still don't know how old he was exactly.

Local-chan

my new camera means I can do stuff like this. Anywho. Here is my dogs

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SieteFleur

@icel:

Your dog is so adorable, SieteFleur! The name is so fitting.
And I wish I could keep snakes, they're amazing but I'm too squeamish to feed them mammals. I prefer eels instead, I love seafood and eat it all the time and I can share it with the eel.

Thanks! Finally took a good up-to-date picture of him:

!
I'm sorry its humungous!!!
And yea, most snakes eat mammals but not all. Some, like Rough Green Snakes eat crickets and other small insects. I'm a scardey-cat when it comes to live crickets but if you're ok with them, maybe you could get one of those snakes
@Jejune:

So coool :wub: I love snakes, probably wouldn't enjoy feeding them though, especially a large one, gack. The one in the last picture really reminds me of an attentive dog, it's cute.

Thanks and yea I can't imagine feeding a rabbit or something like that to a larger one

Senshi Mizaka

I have some really poor quality pics of some of my pets that I took with my old camera. The touch screen was broken, so it was stuck on flash.

This is Rachmaninoff, aka Rocky. Some of you might remember her from the old thread.

Believe it or not, we have a dog, who surprisingly gets along quite well with all of the cats.

One of the newest additions to the cats. He's one of four siblings, who we haven't named yet. Obviously, he's not too happy to be held.

Crickeylynn

I have three cats, Miles James, Spencer Ryan, and Cali Rae. They are my babies, and are completely spoiled. I also have a gerbil called Bon Clay, and a 20 gallon tank with two goldfish, one just a fancy fantail, and the other is an Oranda. I have had pets all my life and can not image a life without one.

Bucephalus

Two cats. One of them was just very sick and lost a bunch of weight. I had to forcefeed him and he almost died, but luckily he's doing better now.

I've had a shitton of pets over the course of my life: six cats, one Snapping Turtle, 6+ fish and two birds. The birds died when I was really little, the turtle got too big (we dumped him into a marsh where we found him), and the rest of the cats either died or walked off one day never to return. I really love fish, so it's odd that I gave away my fish. All of them were freshwater fish, like goldfish and Koi. I think at a certain point they were just absolutely massive and they produced so much waste that the tank got dirty like once every two days. It was just exhausting having to clean it so much, and my lack of attentiveness for this job led to one of them getting some disease. We put them in the pond in a golf course. I would be interested in getting some fish that didn't get so damn big though. I mean, I did have those fish for 5+ years, so it's sort of expected that they got so huge, but I'd prefer fish that stayed relatively small.

KamenRiderNeko

I just adopted a kitty 3 days ago, she is a fluffy Tortishell kitten, only 8 months old. She seems a little shy at first, but once she warms up to you, she cuddles and purrs nonstop!

! Her name is Sadie-chan ^.^ She may look big for a kitten, but she actually only weighs 3.5 pounds. Its the fluff, lol.

! Sadie discovered the Christmas tree and decided to nom on the branches XD

Hannyabal

From the first pic,i am afaid she is a robot (lol jk)
She's cute,congratulation.

My family have 2 pets,they are a white cat & a husky (maybe he's Coolie)
But my cat is getting old without offspring. :V

Sniper King

I've got a dog and a cat. My dog's name is Niah and the cat is Sherbert.

In fact, here's my dog…(Dadooon!)

I thought I had a picture of Sherbert…guess not.

We got Niah...I think in February 2010...Sherbert we found in the basement when we moved into our current house in March 2009...They hate each other, but at times, Sherbert and Niah sleep together...