CONS of having a pet
 

The purpose of this thread is to educate people thinking of getting a pet about the down falls of having pets. Us pet lovers all love our pets, but there are times when it is difficult too, often people thinking about getting pets don't know about this side and just see pets as an impulse buy and being "cute". I encourage all of you to post true stories about difficult situations (cost, loss, sickness, etc.) you have had with your pet in hopes to educate EVERYONE before they make a decision that may not be the best one for them.

add to this...your pet must be fed and watered at least once a day and arrangements made for a cat box or a walk. you can't leave town without making sure this is handled.

I have 2 cats. My male cat was spiteful against an ex-boyfriend. Call it intuition, but every time this guy came over, he used to spray or throw up. I couldn't have the guy come over (my cat was right, he was a bad guy) because I was afraid he would destroy my apartment.

If you don't clean the litterbox your house will SMELL.

Cats=hair EVERYWHERE.

I am anal and vacuum daily and dust several times per week cuz of this. Bed linens often have to be changed several times per week cuz of this too. (Can be a pain in the butt especially if you have to carry a heavy comforter to the laundromat regularly).

Winney, brush your cats... Also, if they're long haired, take them to a groomer and get them summer cuts (have 'em shaved). They really like it actually.

And yes, cat boxes are a pain. We have 2 cats and the boxes must be tended to daily -- sometimes more than once a day.

Yeah, I do. I just get really anal sometimes LOL. I think it's cuz I life in a small apartment and the hair is noticeable to me.

I miss having a dog but not enough to actually get one. I'm never home in the first place nor do I have enough time in the morning to get up & take a dog out. Sometimes I work more than 8 hours & wouldn't be able to come home at a decent hour to take a dog for a walk!

As for cats-their hair gets everywhere & I'm allergic to them.

Another con is that if you live in an apt. complex you may have to pay a deposit & then a monthly maintenance fee to have a pet!

To me, it just isn't worth it!

A big con for having a pet is figuring out what to do with them if you go on an extended vacation.

I'm trying to fly my boyfriend into Orlando next month but we're still figuring out what to do with his dog. It's stressful because his dog gets really upset when we put it in a kennel. He doesn't eat and whimpers the whole time because he fears we've abandoned him. We brought him to a kennel at our vet's office one time and when we went to pick him up, the vet assistant came out to us and said, "Errr...can you guys go back there and get him out of the cage? I don't think he likes me, he keeps growling at me." Our dog had never done that to us before so we're guessing he was just scared. Of course, when we went back there to get him, he got all excited and started licking us. :) We thought about putting the dog on the plane but I feel like it's almost abuse to stick them in a cargo carrier like that even if you give them a sedative. My boyfriend could ask a friend to watch the dog while he's gone but he feels like he'd be inconveniencing his friend.

It can be a real hassle but, in the end, it's worth it. I love my boyfriend's dog and I wouldn't give him up just because of the little bit of stress he causes when planning a vacation. :)

Con: Change stresses out your pet, and could lead to unacceptable behaviour (like peeing on your brand new couch grrr). Behaviour modifcation is especially hard in cats.

It's a lot harder to find a rental if you have an animal (especially a dog)

You can't just pick up and leave for the weekend because you need to find a kennel or petsitter.

Vet bills. If you're going to own a pet, you must be responsible enough to be willing to shell out money to the vet when they're ill or even just need things like vaccines. Within the past 5 years, we've spent a staggering amount of money on vet services (2 torn ACLs on our terrier mix, 5 operations to remover bladder stones from our Schnauzer, various x-rays, special dogfood...)

Have you ever seen the ad in magazines that has a cute little puppy on it & the heading says "He doesn't know that you can't afford medicine" or something like that? It breaks my heart everytime I see it. I know that I can't afford to shell out a ton of money on a pet-even just for shots. I'd love to have one but will have to have a little more stability (physically & financially) before I can do so.

I'm figuring out the cons now with my new kitten. We've had her for about a week now, and while she's cute during the day, she's a pain at night. She's gets a second wind or something and goes CRAZY at night. She runs around and goes into "attack kitty" mode where she's trying to catch everything, like shadows by my face or something and ends up clawing me with her needle like claws. So she ends up waking me up. Like right now. Last night I couldn't fall asleep till like 4 a.m. and am now awake at 7:00 a.m. because she kept running around and being "attack kitty".

She also tried to naw at very expensive/important computer wires.

She's a cutie when she's calmed down, but geez, I've woken up early or in the middle of the night about 3 or 4 times now.

Um...it SHITS!

On the floor, on your funiture, on the walls, etc.

Not only my bird suffers from severe fecal incontinience, he won't shut the hell up! There are times that he squaks 3 or 4 in the morning.

I'm giving it a away to one of my kid cousins. I have no more patience for this birdy. :(

It can bite your face and make you look gnarly.

-Rudey

Really, poo is the worst of it. Cats also like to throw up, but only on carpeting or the bed. It also weirds me out a little bit to think that every flat surface in my place has had a cat butt on it at some point.

Hah hah. Dogs, too. My boyfriend's dog will be in the kitchen and will start getting sick. Instead of staying in the kitchen where we can throw up on an easy-to-clean tile floor, he runs into the carpeted living room and throws up. I feel like he does this to spite us.