2279986026_85af7a063a_m Happy Fatherhood Friday!

We are not there yet but we are getting close. Our kids haven’t brought up the idea of getting a dog or some other pet but it’s coming. I can feel it. Our oldest has mentioned pets briefly in the past but we were able to quickly diffuse the situation. I must also preface this by letting you know that I’m not the biggest fan of animals in the house anyway. I’ve had some bad experiences. It’s not that we are totally against getting a pet of some sort but we really want to wait for both kids to get a little older so they can have a say in the decision. The biggest issue however is what kind of pet to get. That’s where we get into trouble.

You see I’m allergic to cats, we are not the greatest fans of most dogs and we really don’t want something that will require a lot of maintenance. So immediately what pops into my mind that would make the perfect pet is a rock but I don’t think I’d really have too much support for that. It doesn’t do much for one’s cute cuddly itch that occasionally needs scratched.

A number of weeks my wife went through a cat phase that lasted a little longer than her usual phases. She had the perfect breed that would work well with my allergies. A Savannah cat. For those who are unaware of this particular breed it is a hybrid between a wild Serval cat and a common house cat. The Serval is a 40ish pound cat found typically in Africa. It has long legs, beautiful patterns and can jump. And I do mean jump. I actually gave this possibility a listen since they do tend to be hypoallergenic and apparently they do make good house pets once you get the purity of the mix down a bit (F3-F5). The price is something that I did have a problem with but we came to realize that we could mitigate that issue with enough searching around.

This was all great, fine and wonderful for a while. I was actually getting very interested and helped in the research. Then one weekend morning as my wife and I were slowly starting to wake up (we have GREAT sleepers), my wife asked me: “If we had a cat, what would it be doing right now?” After going through all of the possibilities such as jumping into bed with us, meowing incessantly, wanting to be fed, etc., we both agreed: NO CAT! Done and done.

Next up was a dog. My wife has pretty much always had a dog growing up and we have had one since getting together. She was a beautiful and loving dog but she also shed like MAD and was way too energetic for us. We’re pretty mellow people in general. We cared for Dillon for a handful of years until my oldest was born and things went downhill from there. We quickly found that she needed to be the center of our attention and there was no way of getting around it. Finally we came to the difficult decision to let someone else enjoy her who could give her a more appropriate life. It sucked but it had to be done. So, when my wife brought up the idea of another dog I immediately thought against it. Smart people learn from their mistakes, dumb people repeat them. I entertained her for about a week and even went to the shelter to see what they had and to take pictures. Basically, once I showed her the pictures she realized the insanity and dropped the idea.

Outside of a cat or dog we really haven’t discussed the possibility of another kind of pet. Honestly, if anything, I could see us getting something like a beta fish at first and then work our way up. We really want to make sure that the kids understand the undertaking of owning a pet.

I think that at some point in the future we will be a family that can handle a small dog that doesn’t shed too much. I figure if it’s small enough then the house is big enough for it to get the exercise it needs, it won’t be as difficult to either leave it with someone when we go out of town or take it with us and it won’t ever really be a threat to the kids.

What do you think? Do you have a pet? What kind? Any advice on our (possible) future member of the family?

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