If You Don't Want To Lose A Pet Get A Tortoise, Parrot or Koi. No More Pets For Me.

[TheMastersNemesis]

The aforementioned pets will outlive most people. You can will them to your heirs.

Losing pets is one of the hardest things next to losing a loved one. Well, pets are loved ones. Anyway have decided not to have any more pets. Still have fish in the pond. Will have to find a home for them someday.

Personally we have lost 2 cats to old age and put one down with kidney failure at 12 and a dog at 13 about 18 months ago. Losing Shadow was the worst but the cats were really tough too. So we will have no more pets for two reasons. One we are old enough that our pet might outlast us with no where to go. The other is that it is just too hard to lose a dear pet anymore.

I still miss our dog. She was very intelligent and probably an Australian Kelpi. The most profound thing about losing a pet is the empty space left in the household.

One good thing though, we have so many wild pets here in this Denver suburb. We have nesting hawks, occasional bald eagle, birds of many varieties, prairie dogs, rabbits, squirrels, others cats, others dogs, geese, horned owls (That sometime hoot at night. There were 3 nearby before Christmas), mini hawks (that terrify the birds), coyotes, downy wood pecker, Flicker woodpecker, doves, skunk, raccoon (who eats my grapes,) et al. On my golf course we have egrets, cormorant, White pelican (occasionally), kingfisher, geese, ducks, et al. 40 years living here with all this wildlife and I am in the city.

So I have plenty of animals to enjoy in the area. We have all these creatures in a Denver suburb and my house is just a mile from US 36 that carries thousands of cars a day on the other side of vacant land.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Ah, I hear you, my dear TheMastersNemesis...

My husband and I decided no more pets for us either... We have a hard enough time just taking care of ourselves any more...

[TheMastersNemesis]

16. Also Taking Care Of A Pet Is A Huge Responsibility

Our dog was well taken care of and was taken to the vet for checkups regularly. We had the resources but it was expensive. She was a stray who showed up in 2003. Could not find owners so we kept her. And we always hated to leave her when we went out of town which was 3 times a year. We can now travel without a time table. We always worried about her when out of town or even when running errands. She always missed us terribly and that made us sad.

She was great in that our neighbor put the dog door in during the day. Our yard was accessible to her during the day and inaccessible to wildlife and the public. She never messed anything up, never dug stuff up, and could be trusted in the house 100%
She was a perfect dog in many ways. She was nervous around children. Think she had been handled to harshly by children as a pup.

[MADem]

2. Maybe you could foster pets. You'd still have to say goodbye to them, but you'd

be helping out a shelter by providing "overflow" accommodations until the pets can be permanently placed. And you'd be saying goodbye without them dying on you--they'd be going to their permanent homes.

[Arugula Latte]

6. I think this is a very good idea.

[Art_from_Ark]

3. To some people, furry housepets are a lifeline

I think my mom's furry friends may have extended her life by several years.

[Midnight Writer]

4. As a retired mailman, I saw so many loving pets left behind by their owners

Lots of seniors on my route, many with pets that were the most important company they had. Then, inevitably, the senior would pass away or go to a care facility, and their loving pets would be screwed. I saw this many many times.

I stopped and talked with the son of an elderly woman who passed away. The son was cleaning out her house. He told me that the old woman was crazy, actually had three cats living INSIDE the house. He took the cats out into the back yard and shot them with his bow (apparently just for sport), then threw them into the trash. He seemed to think this was pretty funny.

I am now nearly seventy, with a dog and two cats, all over twelve years old. They are the last for me, too. I can't bear the thought of leaving behind trusting pets who rely on me. I worry every day that I will not be able to see them through to a humane end.

[Samantha]

5. It is funny you brought this up because I was discussing it yesterday with a neighbor

I have four cats and a dog which is now blind. She has lived with me since she was ten weeks old, and will be 14 in April. She lost her sight a couple of years ago. The cats I have written about in several threads here on DU; I call them collectively "Nikita's Kids."

A neighbor of mine who worked extensively in animal rescue and adoption passed away recently. I started thinking about should this happen to me, what would happen to my pets. I last evening made arrangements with another neighbor to come into my home to take care of my pets should something happen that I needed to be hospitalized. My family would simply pick them all up and take them to an animal shelter. No one would adopt them from my family. I am looking for a no-kill shelter where my animals can be taken should that become necessary. I will be leaving complete instructions with my will.

So there you go. You are never too old to have a pet! Having pets around the house to love will probably make you live longer.

Sam

[raccoon]

14. Boy, that man is an oxygen-wasting psycho. nt

[pnwmom]

7. We know how hard it is and that one animal cannot replace another.

On the other hand, our new dog has been so healing.

You didn't mention the possibility of adopting an older dog -- that you wouldn't have to worry about outliving. There might be a dog sitting in a shelter right now that would love to spend his or her last years with you.

I'm very sorry for your loss -- I do know how it feels.

[SheilaT]

8. While it is sad to out live your furry companions,

to me it is well worth the pain to have them for however long they live.

And if you to have pets you expect to outlive you, make absolutely certain you have someone who really will take them in if you pass on before them.

When I did volunteer work at an animal shelter, the saddest cases we got in were dogs or cats whose human had died or moved into a nursing home, and there was no one able or willing to take them in. Sometimes the pets were in poor shape because the owner hadn't been able to take good care of them in the last months. Sometimes there were two, who were so tightly bonded they were going to be needed to be adopted out together. And that never happened with older animals.

Right now I don't have any cats -- my preferred pet. I'm doing too much travelling to be a responsible owner right now, although at one point not too long ago I had three. Someday, when I'm ready to have cats again, I'll go to the animal shelter and adopt the oldest one they have. Or taken in a pair whose previous owner had to give them up.

And I've told my sons that if someday I need to be put in some sort of home, please try to get me in one that has cats. No dogs for me, but cats.

Actually, more places like that should have resident cats or dogs.

[vicman]

9. Maybe it isn't just about YOU

Your pets didn't hurt you intentionally. You seem like a decent and respectable pet parent. Your age is the only valid point you make here. That's a decision we all have to make and I respect that. You have to remember what YOU meant in all your pet's lives. You and they gained much more than either of you lost.

[KT2000]

13. love what you said -

it is so true. thanks.

[Tab]

10. We've been trying to get to this point

(not that we die, but that are pets are taken care of).

I've always loved dogs; my first wife did breeding and training, and my current love of my life was with the humane society and does rescues. 3 of our 4 dogs are rescues. But we can't keep it up forever, and it complicates relocation.

I want to get down to either two (so they can play with each other) or none. Unfortunately, my favorite, who is the only non-rescue, is a shih-tzu, and I'd hate to give him up.

But yeah, people buy parrots and stuff, but those things live for 70+ years. It's hard to ask a relative to take on a 30+ commitment, particularly if they don't have that themselves.

[Contrary1]

11. I am done too.

We had a rescue kitty euthanized right before Christmas. Elvis was 16. We have lost three cats in the last 13 months. Elvis' brother, B.T. around Christmas of '14, and their mother in January. One male of the litter is left. He will be 17 in May. Four kitties and one dog still with us...all rescues.

Our pets tend to live a long time, probably because I baby them so much. It breaks my heart to have to let them go.

I think my rescue days are over. It saddens me, but I'm not likely to outlive any new ones.

Of course, if a homeless furry creature should happen to find my back porch, I would most likely have to think on it for a few minutes, before adding them to the zoo.

[KT2000]

12. OK - but -

you never know what the future holds. Stray kitties have a way of finding the right people. Shelters have cats and dogs that had to be given up for whatever reason. They may be middle aged or older but still need homes. Look at the pictures the shelters post in your paper.
Do you have no-kill shelters in your area? You could make arrangements with them in the event they outlive you. Make sure a compassionate person will be in charge of relocating the pet if that is necessary.

These animals that I have come to know as angels on earth fill up the empty spaces in our homes and the holes in our hearts. They make us better people.
I was just thinking today about the story of when a person dies they are greeted with their loved ones - it better be my cats that have passed on before me.

[cali]

15. Death is part of life. I don't know quite how it happened but I've become the

final caretaker for aging and sick dogs. It's been both joyful and filled with tears. My current dog is a pit bull who was abused as a youngster. He was then adopted by my son's ex-girlfriend. She was fantastic with him but for various reasons couldn't keep him. He's not old but he has a tumor. Removing it isn't an option. Vet says he could live another couple of years. He's a great dog and a happy one. I consider it a privilege to have him.

[Wilms]

17. I hear ya.

But do keep in mind that from the perspective of your dogs, you were there to see them through.

The only thing worse than a dog dying is it's human dying beforehand.

But like I said...I hear you.

[hobbit709]

18. I'll stick with these two, much more companionship that a turtle or a carp.

[TheMastersNemesis]

21. I Would Too. Dogs Are Good Companions. Your Black Dog Looks Like Our Shadow.

[pintobean]

19. That's really bad advice.

Willing a pet with a long lifespan is selfish. It's unfair to the heir, and the pet.

[Blue_Tires]

20. Those aren't pets you're talking about, those are "critters"

Besides, my rescue dog was abandoned, left on the street (as a true "apartment lapdog", she had no concept of living outside on her own) and would have had a much worse fate had we not adopted her...