What Is, or Was, Your Very First Pet?

[Doctor-S]

What is (or was) your very first pet?

My first cat was a gentle little Calico cat.

I was 5-yo at the time, and the cat was about 12-months-old.

A few weeks later, my family adopted a lively Dalmatian puppy.
When I was growing-up, we always had family pets in our home!

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[EB73674]

Little black Lab named Marin, who was dumb as a brick and afraid of her own shadow, but the absolute SWEETEST thing to ever exist. There are photos of me around age 2 digging my hands into her food dish while she was eating (before any of us had a clue how dangerous it was), plus soooo many times I dressed her up in a t-shirt and mittens on her paws. We never went a period of more than a month or two without animals in the house!

 

[RespectTheChemistry]

I love this thread idea. Thank you for making this, Doc S. 🙂

Tigger. 🙂 As his name suggests, Tigger was an orange tabby. (Aren't orange boys just the best? 🙂 )

He has an interesting rescue story. My mom worked at an elementary school that served Section 8 housing. Tigger was a stray living by the dumpster of that apartment building. One morning on her way to the bus, a sixth grade girl living in the apartment building heard a teenage boy say he was going to "rape and kill" the cat. So, the girl saved Tigger's life. She hid him in her backpack and took him to school. It didn't take long for school staff to find a live cat in a child's cubby. My mom's principal at the time was not very nice. She marched into the office holding Tigger under his little shoulders as far away from her body as possible. My mom still remembers the exact sharply uttered words when she marched into the office and exclaimed, "I WANT THIS THING OUT OF MY SIGHT". My mom was right there and said something to the effect of, "Alright, I live 5 minutes away. I'll drop him off at my house and come right back."

Then, we had a pet cat!

My brother and I were really little at the time. That's how he got the name Tigger. I was 3 and loved Winnie the Pooh! 🙂

He loved water. It was the funniest thing for a cat. When I would take baths, he would come by the edge and play with me and bat at the water and my bath toys.

ETA: He loved fetch too. 🙂 He was a good boy.

 

[Jess Monster]

Family Pet: Golden Mistletoe AKA Misty, a lovely little red female Golden Retriever that my aunt gifted my family for Christmas when I was four (it was a surprise for my brother and I but my parents were well aware of the gift). She lived until about my junior or senior year of high school. By then, we had added Arabella, another female Golden, into the mix.

Individual Pet: Nibbles, an adorable male blue Dutch rabbit that I had been eyeballing at the local pet-shop for a few weeks before my seventh birthday. He was also my first show rabbit when I became old enough to enter 4-H but I retired him once I got more rabbits. He and some of my show rabbits met a traumatic end, as so many rabbits do, around my twelfth birthday. I continued to show rabbits but wouldn’t have a true pet rabbit again until my sophomore year of undergrad, when I brought home my sweet little Asche, a black Mini Lop, to be a spoiled proper house bunny. Next year I will be going on 30 years of keeping rabbits.

 

[that redhead]

As a little kid we had a black cat named Frank. He was always such a good sport around my sister and me. I remember he was euthanized for feline leukemia when it was in elementary school.

We got our yellow lab Daisy when I was maybe 9 or so, and she was also an absolute gem.

My current dog is also a saint with our kids and I know they will remember him fondly🙂

 

[Doctor-S]

I forgot to mention:

When I was growing up, there was a little fire station near my home.

The fire fighters LOVED our spotted Dalmatian puppy!

Fire stations and Dalmatian dogs have a long tradition together.

Not exact pic of our dog, but similar image

 

[SparksAndStripes]

My family got a kitten while my mom was pregnant with me and I grew up with her. She was a beautiful tortoiseshell kitty. Even though she was technically a family pet, everyone knew she was really “my” cat. She was my best friend growing up, and I credit her largely for my deep passion for animals and cats in particular. We were practically inseparable until she passed away when we were 15. I’ve had the privilege of working with and owning a huge variety of animals, but cats will always be my heart and soul. I have never lived a day in my life without a cat, and I never plan to.

 

[GeckoKD6]

Mine was two little African Dwarf Frogs! My parents surprised me with them for Christmas after years of begging for a dog! None of us knew how to take care of them back then, but it started a long chain of fish and snails that ended in me now having a gecko and two dogs!

 

[RespectTheChemistry]

Mine was two little African Dwarf Frogs! My parents surprised me with them for Christmas after years of begging for a dog! None of us knew how to take care of them back then, but it started a long chain of fish and snails that ended in me now having a gecko and two dogs!

I met a gecko in person for the first time recently! The kid I nanny for (9) just got one as a pet this summer. He's obsessed with it. There's something about seeing a fourth grade boy be so nurturing to this little thing that's just so heartwarming.

His dad and I were laughing though because we both imagined geckos would be green in real life based on the insurance commercials!

 

[riderrapidash]

Mine was a little mixed breed terrier that my parents had rescued on deployment from Puerto Rico. Found her running alongside the road covered in mange. They took her to a vet and got her cured and jumped through a ton of hoops to bring her back to the mainland. Met her (technically) a few days after I was born and she ended up living until I was around 7- making her around 16! Had an amazing, long life for a dog with such a rough beginning. Got my love of animals started very early.