Your first pet

[Billy ray]

As a child, i remember the first pet i got, was a dumped ginger kitten that my aunt collected (as part of a litter of 4) from the Brand Highway north of Perth.
We called it Highway because we were clever like that. the other 3 went to different houses (friends of my aunt)

i was about 6 at the time, and had it until i was about 16.

When it died (horrible death i wont go into), it was probably the first thing i ever had that died. then in the next 12 months or so i proceeded to lose two grandparents, some great uncles and a great aunt.

so, GD folks, what was your first pet?

 

[MatthewB]

my first pet was a dog, she was a year older than me, mum and dad had been married for a few months, one day dad came home late after work, mum was angry, eventually dad walked in the door with a Labrador puppy and all was forgiven, apparently i poured blue dye over her and we had a blue Labrador instead of a yellow one

i cant watch Marley and Me anymore, then ending is pretty much how our dog died and how we said goodbye to her, she lived to be 14

 

[Gough]

Bruiser of a tom called Mossy that my folks got just before I was born. We got him in Melbourne, he moved with us to Brisbane back to Melbourne (he escaped at Tullamrine, he was a big cat and they under dosed him) over to Perth and then to Adelaide. Each time within a week of moving in he'd have belted the shit out of the other neighbourhood cats and ruled the roost. He stroked out when he was about fourteen.

 

[Pistol Night]

Goldfish called Abraham

 

[Lethality]

My first pet was a big dog that bit half my arm off when i tugged on its skin. I was only a toddler at the time and my parents were cool and we kept the dog. Many parents these days or even then would have had the dog put down. In retrospect I can totally see that the dog did the right thing, it could have totally killed me if it wanted but it just took a bite out of me and left it at that. My parents were at fault for leaving me alone with it at that age.

It was a great dog, very smart, and useful as a guard dog as well.

Oddly enough I wasn't really affected when the dog died. I was probably sad but it hasn't stayed with me like other pet deaths that have shaped my perspective on things like grief and veganism.

My last pet died a few years ago and it was just a stray cat that gradually moved in with me. So it wasn't even officially my cat at any stage. I thought I was going to help it age gracefully and in comfort but then one day I came home and it had died suddenly, aged around 10 according to the vet. Probably snuck outside (it didn't like being an indoor cat so I left the window open for it) and got sick from eating something. It came home and died on the couch.

 

[gaskin]

English Staffy we got when I was 7 and she died about a month after I turned 18. Great dog. She had an absolutely beautiful brindle coat on her. My dad used to say she wasn't always the best dog in the world but she gave us everything she had to give. I miss her to this day almost 12 years later.

I would get another English Staffy in a heartbeat. They are the best dogs.

 

[Gralin]

A cat that probably was there first given how young I was when it died

 

[Caesar]

Stop trying to get the answers to my security questions

 

[Billy ray]

Stop trying to get the answers to my security questions

Damn. Got me. I wont do my next few which were going to be a spiel about my first teacher and then first overseas holiday

 

[Roobs321]

A pair of goldfish around the time I started school, although there were some identifiable bird visitors by then too that I’d leave something out for and say hi.

Apparently we had a stray cat for a while when I was a newborn, but it was the origin story of my father being a cat hater so it kinda got cancelled from the fam folklore. Maybe he caught it in the act of fking me over or something

When I think early encounters with animals I think of the old dogs of family friends and also those creepy black swans from the Cato Park lake in Stawell (graceful regal things but understandably no patience for little nuisance kids)

 

[Gough]

A pair of goldfish around the time I started school, although there were some identifiable bird visitors by then too that I’d leave something out for and say hi.

Apparently we had a stray cat for a while when I was a newborn, but it was the origin story of my father being a cat hater so it kinda got cancelled from the fam folklore. Maybe he caught it in the act of fking me over or something

When I think early encounters with animals I think of the old dogs of family friends and also those creepy black swans from the Cato Park lake in Stawell (graceful regal things but understandably no patience for little nuisance kids)

We got a pair of budgies at some point that we called Charles and Di and Di pecked Charles to death.

 

[FRUMPY]

Golden Retriever - not sure when we got him but i always remember having him as a pet (my auntie bred them for a couple of litters) - always found it interesting when we would take out dog to their place if they remembered they were mother and son....(rarely met each other but a couple of times they did) - got put down at around age 14

Then we got a cat, had it for a while but it was an outside only cat (be very frowned upon these days) - birds didnt last long in our backyard - not sure what happened to it tbh

Then we got a stray dog. Found it on my grandparents farm and we kept it. was a great little dog. taught it to chase tennis balls and it lived to chase them, she ****ing loved it - got out and hit by a car about aged 12 (i reckon we had her for about 10 years)

 

[the_interloper]

We apparently had a labrador which pushed my oldest brother down the stairs at 18 months old, he broke his collarbone believe it or not.

 

[Richard Pryor]

Oscar cichlids. Have a lot of personality for a fish.

 

[FRUMPY]

We had fish as well until i accidentally threw a billiards ball through the front of the tank, just stood and watched about 60 litres of water empty onto the carpet below.....and the folks running over going 'WTF just happened?'

 

[Richard Pryor]

We had fish as well until i accidentally threw a billiards ball through the front of the tank, just stood and watched about 60 litres of water empty onto the carpet below.....and the folks running over going 'WTF just happened?'

The biggest downside of fish is even barring accidents like this I swear tanks end up in a crisis which takes up a whole day every few months.

 

[footyfan1978]

Never had a first pet.
Had pets but usually just family pets or ones in houses I rented with others.
Never felt the need to have one of my own.
If there an animal in house it just normal to be friendly with them or socially stir them up.
Any cat I will get along with and 95% of dogs too.
Had goats, rabbits and geese on family property as a kid. Did not really like the geese.

 

[FRUMPY]

The biggest downside of fish is even barring accidents like this I swear tanks end up in a crisis which takes up a whole day every few months.

We had a metre long fishtank for quite a while until we moved recently. As long as you change the 10-20% of the water each week then it usually keeps itself pretty clean. Give the glass a clean every now and again. But forget to do it for a while and it can get pretty messy.

 

[Caesar]

i accidentally threw a billiards ball through the front of the tank

So this was an anomaly in your otherwise-normal routine of billiard ball-throwing?

 

[FRUMPY]

So this was an anomaly in your otherwise-normal routine of billiard ball-throwing?

haha was waiting for a question like that. wasnt a deliberate throw. you know how you roll a ball up to the other end and it comes back to you? i was doing that and doing it harder and harder until i held on to it a little longer and it didnt roll, it went in the air into the fish tank about 2 mtrs from the pool table.....