What do people think about your pets?

This is going to sound silly, but I've been wondering what your family usually thinks of you having pets.

I started with one cat in my appartment, which was ok... Well my mom though that it was a bit fast (I moved in one week earlier, was all unpacked one day later but for them it was still too fast). Then I moved here, bringing my cat (no way I would leave my cat), and my husband already had 3. My mom thought it was a lot.

I mentionned wanting a dog, and she was all like 'that's too much, what about the cats, bla bla bla'... Well I let it pass but I got Boris anyway. She wasn't too critical once I got him, but first thing she asked of course is how the cats reacted

So, anyway. I'm going to get that puppy on Saturday. It seems everyone in my husband's family thinks we are crazy to get another, and I haven't even dared telling my mom, and I'm not even sure I will before she comes visit. Are your family as critical as this??? I really don't take it well, we don't have children yet (not our choice, working on it though), I don't work (not my choice either), but I have lots of time for them as I don't work, and we have a fenced yard, we took Boris to training classes, it's not like they are unhappy or we are irresponsible owners! It's like it's a bad thing to want another dog to play with Boris when I'm too busy to play with him.

Anyway, I had to rant. Just wondering if anyone's else's friends or families think they are crazy as soon as they have more than 2 pets...

No, my family thinks I'm nuts and criticizes me for plenty of other reasons though, lol! My sister, who can do no wrong, has a Jack Russell, a German Shepherd and a cat with a nasty disposition, so they can't say anything to me about the animals . . .

My father-in-law thinks we're crazy and is always suggesting that we give some away. Then is says not to get any more. I guess you can tell he's a big animal lover. Our pets are our family and they are here to stay.

I definitely hear it from my mom and stepdad, they are constantly saying 3 dogs is way too many and you must be crazy. When we had our new carpet put in last week all they would say is "are you stupid, those dogs are going to ruin your new carpet"? Oh well, I look at it this way, opinions are like a**holes and everyone has one.... LOL

My mother thinks it's disgusting to have so many pets in the house. She just about fainted the first time she saw Nike on the counter, and always brings her lintbrush "Because I'll just be covered when we leave"! (My house is NEVER dirty, by the way, but my mom and I have 2 different definitions of clean!) And they ARE NOT children, it's crazy to love animals like people! My sister won't come to my house because she thinks the girls are going to eat her kids! Beyond that, I think the rest of our family is kind of amused by it! They think it's cute that I fall in love with every stray I meet, and think it's hilarious that Greg can't say no! The nice thing is, even with how my mom feels, if we had a medical emergency we couldn't handle financially, we could go to either of our parents and they wouldn't let our babies die b/c of money. When Serene was sick last year, my parents asked if we needed money. It was cute b/c mom wouldn't say the $ was for Serene, it was "I don't want you guys to go without because of that vet bill". Of course we could handle it ourselves, but it was nice to hear!

My in-laws think I am nuts to let Sunny in the house and think I treat him too much like a person. Oh well. Tim thought so too...until he spent a day with Sunny snuggling up to him while he watched tv, then went for a walk in the park where the little guy barely left his side. Didn't take too much for him to be won over The in-laws are definatly of the mindset that dogs are for protection and hunting companions, belong outside and get fed scraps only. They CERTAINLY don't get fed special food or have too much money spent on them I think the mom in law has changed her tune slightly since she watched him over the weekend. Daddy is waaayyy too much the traditionalist in the family. As for MY parents they have their own crazy puppy and have never been without a dog as long as I was alive (except for that few months after Dixie died and before they got Angel) and love it when I bring Sunny over. They always comment on how well behaved and cute he is, and think it is precious how their little girl and Sunny play together.

My parents say pets belong outside. They have never said much to me about my pets except their opinion on if they should be in or out, but since I rebelled against my dogs being outside when I was 17 and refused to listen, so they know its a waste of time with me.

Yup...I had 4 dogs, now 3 and my family thinks I'm possessed. (which I am, of course) My Dad thought I was nuts to get a Doberman, to spend that kind of money...he loved the Lab, thinks the Chi's are cute, but useless. He thinks all Dobermans are vicious, unpredictable dogs, even though Lyric is affectionate with him, so sweet... and he's nice to Lyric too, but he still maintains that they're not good companion dogs. I think he's nuts because I've never had a more loyal, affectionate, smart dog.

Anyhow, yes...they think I'm nuts. It's a bit of a hassle when I do want to travel there to visit and then I hear, "I told you so." But all in all, they like my dogs and realize that they are my life. And they do see why I love them so and respect what I've done or how I handle them and especially Lyric...how he's turning out so lovely and gentlemanly. LOL. Now I get to say, "I told you so." LOL.

I have 5 large dogs, 2 horses, and a cat. My parents don't think any thing of it as they grew up on farms. My mothers father also rescued and raised orphaned wild animals at one time my mother family had their cows, horses, goats, 40 cats and kittens (no spaying at that time), 2 dogs, red fox, 2 black bears, 2 moose, 1 deer, 2 crows, spider monkey, donkey, chickens (many), pigs etc.
So, no my parents and family don't even blink an eye at the amount of animals I have. My parents consider my dogs to be their granddogs since I did not have any children they treat my dogs like grandchildren When I was growing up we always had 3 or more dogs, at least 5 cats at one time, rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters, fish etc. we always had a big animal family which was great.

As many things as my Mom rides me about, she does say that if anyone wants an animal to have a wonderful, loving disposition they should let me raise it, lol!

When I had three dogs and a cat, my aunt and uncle come over and the three dogs are very interested in her, mostly due to the ton of perfume she wore. My 90+ pound yellow Lab Joe crawled up on the couch next to her, to get a good whiff, while the Pit mix Gus was wanting to climb up on her too, and my Lab/Beagle mix, Blackie, was doing her best to get something to eat from her. Then the cat Orville, "That's the biggest cat I have ever seen !" comes out and plops down on the floor and starts rolling around like a drunk.

She's a mess, she can barely take one dog being around her and my lab is trying to neck with her and she's getting all freaked out. My uncle is loving it, and for some reason, decides to start messing with the cat. He grabs the cat's tail and Orville starts getting all worked up. He wants to play, and he played ROUGH. I told my uncle, "Dont try rubbing his stomach, he will get you!" He starts saying, "What are you gonna do?" over and over again, and about the third time he touches his stomach, he doesn't pull his hand back quick enough, and Orville chomps down and swings the back legs up and digs his claws into his arm and rakes the hell out of him. He's yelling "Jeezus!, Jeezus! Jeezus!" again and again. Finally, Orville lets him go, and does that little cat dance, runs away and comes back and "attacks" one of his legs. Orville's eyes were all dialated and he looked totally nuts. My Uncle was laughing while about a half dozen streams of blood ran down his arm, and he's trying to get the cat off his leg. My aunt told my uncle that they were going to the ER when they left. I almost choked on my tea at that. I showed her my arms, all scabbed up and scarred from playing with the cat. We gave my uncle the bottle of peroxide and he was fine.

My aunt said as she was going out the door, "I liked the cat, but those three dogs drove me crazy!" I just shook my head...

LOL Ratboy!

since the day i was born they have been creeping to my mother's house thru the woods and down the street..in all of my baby pics and small child pics there is always cats and dogs present..so my family pretty much accepts that it is a part of my dna..some kind of radar beep that critters just zone in on..truely i am not making this up. There are many many times that they could have critisized my having them when money was tight, even when i wasnt' sure of where i was going but they never did..especially GG bless her a thousand times over for understanding that without them, i couldn't and wouldn't be me.

You know, they are a little. They love animals but I had a cat for a couple of years before I got Brady. I was afraid to get another animal because I thought 2 pets was going to be a lot, but then I started thinking abuot how I grew up and we only had one dog at a time, and I realized that my parents instilled that in me somehow. So I got my dog, I still have my cat and I wish I had a farm so that I could have 3 dogs and 4 cats! Horses too! I tell them I want another animal, and they are like isn't that too much? Not because they disagree with it, but I think because they have never experienced it. They don't care as long as we can take care of my animals and myself and hubby. Maybe it is just the inexperience of not having a lot of animals at one time that they are asking about it?

Well, we've just got our girls. Relatives don't really think we're too crazy - well, at least not my Mom's side...most of her relatives like dogs OK, but my Dad's side probably think we're nutso for having three dogs. However, many people think my older sister, Abbie is crazy. Including relatives. Why? Because....she has nine dogs. She has twelve cats. She fosters dogs (how do you think she ended up with nine dogs?). She is planning on moving to acreage with her two kids, animals, and husband, and getting horses. She has rats. She has fish. She has a bird. At one time she had eighteen rats living in her house and twenty dogs (thanks to fostering a litter of puppies). N-U-T-S-O ? And she doesn't mind - she's even listed them as the "_______ Zoo" in the phone book. That's what shows up on caller ID whenever she phones us.
I'm probably the only one in my family who doesn't think she has mental problems. That'll probably be me someday, only minus the kids and husband.

My kids think that I treat the animals better then them.LOL My husband thinks I'm insane the way I talk to them.

My parents love all my animals and actually encourage me to get more! lol! we started off with Cavan (the horse) then they were riding me about Cavan being lonely, so we got him two play mates ( Lala and Tolstoy (Shetland ponies)) We got Gus and my parents are nagging about getting him a friend to play with, even though they have just the one dog and cat! We get Katelina (Cat) And mum keeps hinting that it really is no trouble having more cats!! lol! I think I give them a good excuse to go wild because I am easily talked into getting more animals! lol!

My parents HATE animals! When we got our first cat they told us to get rid of her after we had our daughter, then we got another cat (which they don't know about yet and we've had him for a year). We didn't even tell them we got the dogs but they know about Mack because they saw him but we didn't even tell them about Shelby until she started having the chemo done. They don't know about Hannah, well they know about her they just think we're puppy sitting for awhile. I am actually afraid to tell my parents we have another dog because I don't want to deal with all the crap that they give us about animals.

I grew up in an animal loving family, thank God! Had up to 7 golden retriever at one time! And at one point, two horses, 2 cats, and one raccoon! And of course the fish and hamsters and mice, too.

My parents are great about animals obviousely. My dads side of the family for the most part are fairly excepting of my life choices. Almost everyone on his side of the family has atleast one pet be it a dog or a goldfish. Though none of them are my biggest fan my siblings and I are mutts of the family and my dads family especially still has problems with a Irishmen marrying a Italian women weird I know! But they do like my dogs. My mums side of the family thinks we're completely crazy my grandmum on my mums side cannot come to my house or my parents with out getting upset to wear she cries!!!!!!! We're not dirty at all my house is so clean I have been so paranoid about cleaning people often tell me if they did'nt know any better they would think I did'nt keep any of my pets inside.
Some tell me i need to sell all my dogs and narrow it done to a team of 10 but I say no I would'nt have it any other way! Like I have said before alot of my relatives say my amount of animals are the reason I will never be MARRIED!!!!Haha yeah right.