Inside Motherhood

Kids and pets

by Sherry on February 25th, 2008

In our household we currently have one cat. We’ve also had two rats and a couple of hamsters. Unfortunately, hamsters and rats don’t have the longest life expectancy in the world so they’ve all left us. The cat is still kicking at only about nine years old but she’s not really the best pet ever because she’s terrified of everyone but me - that’s not from being terrorized by the kids, she’s always been like that. She’s a sweetheart but she’s no fun for the kids.

We’ve talked about getting a dog in the Spring. My oldest wants one today (or yesterday) but we live in an apartment building and the thought of having to go out in Winter weather fifty times a day while its being housetrained, well, not appealing. I’d rather start that process in nicer weather so it’s not so bad going out on a frequent basis, and then by the time Winter comes around it will be better.

I’ve been looking into dogs that are generally good with kids and also don’t require a lot of extreme free space since we don’t have the biggest home ever. I used to have a nice mixed breed that was big enough to wrestle around with but not too big for apartment living.

I’m really excited about the idea of a dog again. I’ve missed having one around. I grew up with cats but ended up discovering I’m more of a dog person (though of course I wouldn’t neglect my cat either).

Do you have pets with your kids?

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