How many pets does everyone have here?

[cfulhage]

Originally Posted by Regina U.

That's a great pic. They are all so cute!



Regina

Thank you! I think so too! I would like to hear more about Bubba's fish! I bet that was so cute! How did Fishy come to be his?

[OwnedbyMacaws]

Oh goodness! Can I just say too many?

They are all in the sig.

8 macaws (2 are orphans left on my doorstep and 2 are fosters turned permanent)

8 dogs (4 fosters that have recently been turned over permanently)

8 goldfish (who recently had fry [baby goldfish] which I promptly turned over to the pet shop)

8 cats (2 strays that have been taken in by my kids and 2 fosters of my g'ma who's having health problems)

And that's not counting the 2 kids, 1 husband, and 14 houseplants.

Like I said, too many.

[cfulhage]

Originally Posted by OwnedbyMacaws

Oh goodness! Can I just say too many?

They are all in the sig.

8 macaws (2 are orphans left on my doorstep and 2 are fosters turned permanent)

8 dogs (4 fosters that have recently been turned over permanently)

8 goldfish (who recently had fry [baby goldfish] which I promptly turned over to the pet shop)

8 cats (2 strays that have been taken in by my kids and 2 fosters of my g'ma who's having health problems)

And that's not counting the 2 kids, 1 husband, and 14 houseplants.

Like I said, too many.

wow! You have quite a variety of dogs! Very large dogs!! I'm sure that makes things interesting! Do you live on a farm?

[LMPego]

We just have the 2 birds. We used to have bettas, but I don't think I'd be able to keep Cory away from them now...

I want a hamster, but DBF isn't buying it...

[OwnedbyMacaws]

Originally Posted by cfulhage

wow! You have quite a variety of dogs! Very large dogs!! I'm sure that makes things interesting! Do you live on a farm?

No, unfortunately, I don't. I live in a big old house with a big yard on the outskirts of town. We're moving in March though! A house with enough room for everyone and 20 acres. I can't wait.

The dogs are all big. I'm partial to big ole dogs though.They came to us in a variety of ways, all rescues in one sort or another. I had stopped at 4 actually, but a friend of mine lost his home in a fire a little while back and his dogs came to stay with us for a while. Then he decided he wanted to take a job out of the country, so I am left now to either keep the dogs or find homes for them. They've all grown up together so I'm reluctant to seperate them and I'm not optimistic about finding one home for a Wolfhound, a Tibetian Mastiff, a Bernese Mountain Dog, and an Afghan Hound. I suspect they'll be staying. Heh, my hubby and I added it up one night, we have 850 lbs of dog and we go through about 5 50 lb sacks of dog food a month, sometimes 6.

One good thing though, I don't worry too much about trespassers or burglers. If I put my four largest together, I could rob a bank with no gun. Scary looking bunch....what everyone doesn't know is they are all a bunch of kittens at heart.

[Spinnergirl]

Originally Posted by OwnedbyMacaws

Oh goodness! Can I just say too many?

This was the poster I was waiting to hear from, yep it's you ownedbymacaws!!

I think you have the most "critters" of all!!

I still can not imagine your house..I'd be tripping over them dogs constantly cause they just gotta be wherever you are!! My two are bad enough but you have 8 and some are REALLY BIG....OMG!!

Nope no trespassers gonna be going to your house...the birds alone would probably make enough ruckus to keep them out!!

I couldn't do it..........at least I don't think I could. Cheers to you for doing it all!!

[OwnedbyMacaws]

Originally Posted by Spinnergirl

This was the poster I was waiting to hear from, yep it's you ownedbymacaws!!

I think you have the most "critters" of all!!

I still can not imagine your house..I'd be tripping over them dogs constantly cause they just gotta be wherever you are!! My two are bad enough but you have 8 and some are REALLY BIG....OMG!!

Nope no trespassers gonna be going to your house...the birds alone would probably make enough ruckus to keep them out!!

I couldn't do it..........at least I don't think I could. Cheers to you for doing it all!!

You know, lots of people say that to me. But really, it isn't that bad. The dogs don't care all that much about being where I am. They mostly stay outside (unless it rains) during the day. It's the kids they like to stay up under. LOL, as long as I feed them, they pretty much aren't interested in me. The cats are good too, as long as there is a place to sleep in the sun (usually my living room floor in front of the window) The birds are more trouble than anyone really, and either they aren't that bad, or I've gotten so used to it I don't notice anymore.

I never started out to have this many, it just sort of worked out that way and we've been lucky enough to get critters that fit right in with the others.

[Monica]

I have a hard enough time with 1 dog and 2 cats! Our dog is possible part sheep herder, and so one would think he'd be BEHIND you, but nope, he's walking slowly infront of you, maybe stopping to stretch, and there is no way around him!

Now the cats, well they are bouncing off the walls, zooming all around the floor like lazer beams, but when they quiet down, they like to snuggle up together, somewhere around the house, or go sleep with somebody! They can be absolute terrors when they get into things or get where they shouldn't be!

Of course then again, if I ever could, I would love to own a cheetah or even a gyr falcon if not a barn owl! I'll keep dreaming though!

[OwnedbyMacaws]

Lucy (the bassett hound) can sometimes be a problem with getting under your feet. It's not that she's trying to be under you, but she tends to get distracted easily and might stop mid-step to examine something on the floor. She's a bit short, so if you don't notice she's there, you fall over her. Generally this happens around doorways, LOL. Lilly (american bulldog) can also be a big baby about thunder as well. It's very hard to convince a scared 70 lb bulldog that your lap is not a safe haven.

The most active cats we have would be Lucky and Star, the two strays we took in and that's because they're kittens. They do a lot of batting things around and pouncing on feet and other critters (which gets tolerated fairly good naturedly I'd say). They can be pretty funny, springing from high places, but kittens are such fun anyway. All the cats were like that when they were kittens (at least the ones I had as kittens). I mean, Dash was named Dash for a very good reason. But all of them turned into slugs when we had them fixed and they got older and fatter.

Like I said, all my animals were rescues in one form or another except for Sunny, Mingh, and the last four goldfish we got. (some have quite interesting background stories) I just have a really hard time saying no to an animal in need of a home. It somehow seems worse to me to see an animal that was once loved and cared for loose it's home than one who never had one to begin with. Because of this, I've ended up with the band of misfits that I have. And honestly, despite the fact that I wouldn't have had this many, I also wouldn't want to miss knowing and loving a single one of them.

[OwnedbyMacaws]

You know, I got to thinking about it and decided I might want to post about something I've encountered before. Not that I think you folks are thinking this, but just in case, :~).

I've had people come into my house before and exclaim "Oh! It doesn't smell at all here." "It's not messy and furry like I thought it would be." and "It's so clean!".

Basically, they expect that with as many animals as I have, it will look like a pit or a dump or something. I spend a lot of time and effort into this not being the case. My house is pretty darn neat, in fact, in order to keep order in this house, I sometimes think I am overly neat.

Around here, you learn really quick not to leave things lying around. If you do, they get chewed (by teeth or beaks, both are destructive) they get lost (paws will bat them to places unknown and yet undiscovered) or they get eaten. So, early on, my boys learned if they liked their toys they put them away. I don't have a lot of knick knacks or things like that for the same reasons. Shoes get put in the closet, socks go in the hamper, and food gets thrown in the disposal (or else your dishes get a wash with a tongue, which has led to cleaning up vomit a time or two, ugh!)

I take the time every morning to clean out cages and litter boxes. All the dogs are housebroken and I vacuum and sweep everyday as well because someone is almost always shedding. I wash the dogs at least every other saturday, the cats once a month, and the birds weekly. I clean the fish tank out every other day (goldfish are messy and tanks smell quickly). The four of us spend at least an hour brushing everyone each night. (If you do it nightly, it doesn't take long) All the animals get crated or caged at night, and no one is allowed on the furniture except the cats. I wash bedding weekly, and I generally shampoo my carpets and furniture every other month.

We've all learned to run a tight ship here, because we have to for sanitary reasons as well as time allotment. We love these animals and we take care of them. But we don't live in a sty either. The living room where the birds live is a bit worn, due to birdy-redecorating, but other than that, if you walked in my house not knowing how many animals I had, you'd never know till you saw them all.

Like I said, I'm not saying the bb folks thought it, but I've had folks who did think that they'd be walking into a hovel when they came to my house, and I wanted to say it's just not so.

Thanks for letting me vent. LOL.