Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Pets? Probably Not.

Once I talked about pets. Now, Kid 4 is at it again. As his birthday approaches, he's asking for a turtle. Ick. They smell, I think. Husband agrees.

Advise me, wise ones. Does Kid 4 actually need a pet to become a well-rounded, upright, employable adult at some point?

And is there anything as easy as a turtle that smells less... um, stinky?
Posted by at
Labels: ,

12 comments:

  1. JayneTuesday, 08 December, 2009

    3:55am Becca? Really?

    We did the turtle thing when we were kids, and they definitely stink and they're covered in salmonella. You have to wash your hands every time you get close to it.
    I'm not a pet-person either, but I do have very fond memories of a little white mouse that my Mom gave us one year. It'd sit on my shoulder while I played the piano and it was just the sweetest thing. As long as the cage was regularly cleaned it didn't stink at all. And it didn't make any noise either! We loved it.
    If you're into mice as pets, of course:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. NellieTuesday, 08 December, 2009

    I wasn't good at the pet thing either. I think an ant farm or a pet bug will work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousTuesday, 08 December, 2009

    I'm not sure anything is really stink free as long as it's a pet. I do enjoy pets and we have 3. My little boys love their dog but I don't think they're necessary to being a well-developed human being. God loves wonderous variety and so do I!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cindy StaggTuesday, 08 December, 2009

    What about those little hamster toys that are all the rage these days? Or a Tamagochi? I'm definitely not a pet person.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AmandaTuesday, 08 December, 2009

    Fish? Easy to take care of, easy to feed, easy to clean, pretty to look at.
    I also agree with Jayne, loved my pet mice! Whats nice about fish and mice is that your kids can be fully responsible for taking care of them, unlike cats or dogs. Just remind them (stand over them and make sure) to clean the cage or bowl every other week or so.

    ReplyDelete
  6. HeatherTuesday, 08 December, 2009

    What about a hamster? Those are fun, but they smell.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Melanie JacobsonTuesday, 08 December, 2009

    My son bugged me forever for a pet. So I got him a plant. I told him if he could prove he was responsible enough to take care of the plant for three months, then he could have a pet. He got bored pretty quickly. The downside is that if he stays on top of the plant, you'll have to buy a pet. I vote for fish. We had a beta fish named Squid. That worked out pretty well.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kimberly VanderhorstTuesday, 08 December, 2009

    I have to echo Melanie. Beta fish rock the casbah. We did the hamster thing this past year and oh my the smell. No matter how often the cage was cleaned. Ew.

    My take on the pet issue? I don't work like mad to keep a nice home only to have it smell like animal urine.

    I'm a mean mom. What can I say?

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnnWednesday, 09 December, 2009

    I'll tell you what not to get. A newfoundland dog that weighs 175 pounds. Very smelly. But then so are some of my children.

    Beautiful blog, Becca.

    ReplyDelete
  10. SusanWednesday, 09 December, 2009

    My husband is an almost-vet so I should probably chime in on this. The thing is, he probably should be married to some woman who loves to have a hairy dog to curl up with while she watches tv at night. But that is so not me. My theory is that pets shouldn't live in the house. It's disgusting. But if you have a little land, a dog would probably be okay. Just make sure not to get a puppy. They take up more time than a newborn baby and I'm not exaggerating. Good luck. I'd love to hear what you decide. Sorry I really wasn't much help.

    ReplyDelete
  11. peter5Wednesday, 09 December, 2009

    If you lived in warmer country, an african desert tortoise is the perfect pet. we "borrowed" a ginormous one, 95 lbs, and it just paces the backyard and eats grass. we don't feed it anything else and we can leave for weeks and he's fine. i don't like pets either, i have 6 kids and a hubby, nuff said.

    ReplyDelete
  12. OmaHeckSaturday, 12 December, 2009

    back from "Blizzard-aha, NE" and ready to chime in...
    1) you had a turtle when you were young. it's name was Kaa because at that time we named all our pets after characters in Kipling's "The Jungle Book" (Rashka, Shere-Kahn and the turtle, Kaa) It lived outside mostly, then escaped under the chicken wire we put up to keep it in, and was never seen again.

    2) if stink is the real issue, there are non-smelly options. fish have been mentioned. while in grad school, we had a couple of fish and some really cool little frogs that lived in the bowl with them (they could hold their breath for a wicked long time and did so... cute little chirp when then came up for air). so very easy to maintain!

    there's something commital about a pet that differs from an electronic substitute.

    ReplyDelete

If you want to say it, I want to hear it. Bring it on.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)