Animal people - Help me understand

[Twirling Time]

I think she sounds lovely and delightful.

*says the woman who's about to go out front to feed the feral mama cat who birthed seven kittens nearly two months ago.
**anyone want a kitten? They'll be humanely trapped and spayed soon.

At this point they should be weaned. Seven kittens is a heck of a litter for a cat.

 

[Cosmo]

Love my two cats. They're great companions and fairly low maintenance. They don't love it when I travel, but they tolerate it, and the two get along fine and keep each other company. They're older now, 14 and 13 I think, and have been healthy indoor cats for as long as I've had them. I do not lead a lifestyle conducive to owning a dog. I travel way too much and spend too much time away from home in general. It would actually be totally irresponsible for me to get a dog.

 

[Octave]

I am a cat man

 

[BTExpress]

Love my two cats. They're great companions and fairly low maintenance. They don't love it when I travel, but they tolerate it, and the two get along fine and keep each other company. They're older now, 14 and 13 I think, and have been healthy indoor cats for as long as I've had them. I do not lead a lifestyle conducive to owning a dog. I travel way too much and spend too much time away from home in general. It would actually be totally irresponsible for me to get a dog.

That's why I never had a dog until I "inherited" one by marriage. But with two of us --- and the opposite hours we work --- our two dogs get tons of companionship. And they get along wonderfully with each other and our two cats.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Our cat just recently started going outside. He just hangs on our porch and doesn't leave the front yard.

I tried to get him to come in the other day, and he went crazy. I went to let him back out, and I saw that he had a friend — another neighborhood cat had just started wandering over to our place to play with him.

Then, my daughter made the mistake of feeding the neighborhood cat, so I'm not sure he'll ever leave now.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

There are dog sports. I've been into agility for almost 20 years. I'd compare it to autocross, where you set a line to obtain the fastest time over the course. I've competed mostly with Australian shepherds, but my latest dog is an English shepherd -- think oversized border collie. It's great fun for dog and handler.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

I am a cat man

Yeah ... we can see that.

(For those who don't know ... above is Greg Good, known as "Catman" at Carolina Panthers games. He died not too long ago. Octave just offered a jarring reminder.)

 

[DanielSimpsonDay]

So there is a fellow divorcée at church I've been thinking of asking out for a little while now. She has a lot going for her: smart, accomplished, cute, easygoing personality.

Two things have held me back. One is my natural shyness. But the other is that she and her daughters are big into pets and fostering stray animals.

Other than an aquarium and a couple of abortive attempts at an outside dog, we were not a pet family. Dad is allergic and mom inherited my granny's disdain for animals as unclean. As the neurotic, rule-following oldest child, this stuff is hard-coded into my DNA.

A lot of this came to a head for me today when I had to make a delivery to a pet supply place and the smell overpowered me when I walked in. I had forgotten that smell. Even though it was a fairly tidy shop, it still reeked of kibble and dander and misplaced priorities.

I have two children, so obviously I'm no stranger to cleaning up pee and poop from back in the day. But at least there were diapers to contain nearly all of the mess and a reasonable ashurance that particular task had an end date within sight.

So I ask you, the pet lovers of SJ.com, can my kind ever actually find lasting happiness with your kind? Did any of you ever used to be skittish around animals or at least dog-nostic before coming around?

In the big picture of your life's happiness, it's more important you overcome your shyness than it is your feelings about animals.

To demure from asking out a smart, accomplished, cute, easygoing woman because she and her daughters are Herbalife distributors and patchouli-reeking Phish phans big into pets and stray animals is not the way to go.

 

[BTExpress]

Hope she has an affection for Bluetick Coonhounds.

https://media.wbir.com/ashets/WBIR/images/842819/842819_750x422.jpg

 

[dixiehack]

She went to UAB (and Samford for grad school) but is sports agnostic. Sorry @Neutral Corner

 

[Neutral Corner]

<shrug> I'm used to it. We get the students who have been UA or AU all their lives. Grad students who got their bachelor's degree somewhere else. People who are there for career education, not the Joe College frat and football thing. While I know some kids who grew up UAB, the majority of the UAB fans I know actively chose to be at some point. Some, of course, are traditional graduates who did the college thing there.

I know lots of folks who earn a living on a UAB degree but never go to a game.