Straw poll: first pet

[serenissima]

[Poll #1314081]
I don't promise to abide by the results, of course, but I am trying to draw on collective wisdom.

This will be the first pet I've cared for other than freshwater fish. I will be the primary caregiver (does that term apply to pets?). I want the learning curve to be easy.

We have a spacious house and a tiny fenced yard without any shade. The animal would be indoors most of the time, outdoors only when supervised. We are in a quiet neighborhood, so walks are entirely feasible.

aristeros is allergic to some cats. The floor of our house is not carpeted, except for the bedroom.

aristeros is out of the house most of the day for work. I will be out of the house half the day twice a week this coming spring semester, and for a couple hours at a time on the other weekdays. We go on trips out of town about twice a year.

If there's any other relevant information I should add, comment to that effect and I'll edit the post accordingly.

Comments

[taldragon.livejournal.com]

the carpeting (or lack of) doesnt matter - in fact, i'd say lack of carpeting is preferable because it's easier to vacuum or sweep.

Cats

[rhynyx.livejournal.com]

I totally vote for cats, but I'm also totally biased. A couple things about cats that most non-cat-owners aren't usually aware of:

If you get a cat as a kitten (and if you do, I'd highly suggest getting a pair of littermates -- it means at 2am they want to play with each other, not you), you can train it to do almost anything. I don't mean like a dog, where you can train it to do tricks, although if you work REALLY hard, you can do that too. I mean easy stuff -- like harness-training the cat, or taking the cat in the car without complaint (just take her/him to places other than the vet sometimes, so the car rides don't always end in misery), or to enjoy being in the water (regular baths as a kitten!).

He's allergic? That's okay -- train a kitten to be okay with bath time, and then you can bathe it on a semi-regular basis (say, once a month or so), and it cuts WAAAAAAAY down on the dander. If he's only mildly allergic, this could be enough to keep it from being a problem at all. You can also get (or make) a gentle baby wipe (they sell versions specifically for cats in the petstores) to use between baths to cut down dander further.

Training a kitten to harness, and then car means you can take the cat with you on your out of town trips if you want. Alternately, cats tend to be less demanding of your constant attention (although that totally depends on the cat -- my Lilit wants attention when she wants it, and will not stop yowling until I pay attention to her), so it's less of a problem to be away all day, or even for brief periods of time, to have someone just come in to feed the cats twice a day while you're gone.

Now, I'm not against having a dog -- Ben and I have discussed getting one at some point. But our lives are just not at a point where we could now. We're both gone from home so much, and seriously, if I had to walk a dog in the middle of one of our fricken' random snowstorms, or get up at 6 in the morning because the dog had to pee, I think I'd crack. On the other hand, litterboxes suck, so it's really a lose-lose proposition either way.

My experience with dogs, which is rather limited, does include a year of living with one of the smartest dogs I've ever met who had one of the dumbest owners I've ever met and watching the interactions there. What I saw was a year old puppy who needed lots of space to run around. It wasn't available in our house, but there was a dog park around the corner that would do (although he didn't get to go there very often). He needed to go out every 6 hours or he'd have an accident (and then be yelled at for it, poor thing). And when he was upstairs (where we lived), he needed constant attention.

Dogs are followers, Cats are friends. A lot depends on how you want to interact with the animal. Do you want someone who looks to you as alpha of the pack, always to be obeyed (well, most of the time), or someone who sees you as Mama, to be listened to most of the time, but the rest of the time, maybe I'll just go sit over here and do my thing, except when I need comfort and love.

Can you tell I'm a lifelong cat-owner? :)

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

That's why we're hoping the allergy won't be a problem -- provided we train ourselves to vacuum or sweep regularly.

Re: Cats

[taldragon.livejournal.com]

"Dogs are followers, Cats are friends" - not quite: dogs have owners, cats have staff ;)

also, Darial might find the allergy lessens the longer he lives with the cat. that's what mine does.

[stryck.livejournal.com]

Depends. Do you want a cuddly pet that's low maintenance, or do you want a pet that you can take with you outside to do stuff?

Cats are good for sedentary folks who want company.

Dogs are good for folks who like taking regular walks and playing games outdoors.

Dogs are more work than cats (in my opinion), so I'd go with cats if you can work around the allergy issue.

[403.livejournal.com]

Cats are definately the lower-maintenance pet. Particularly if you get two, so they have someone to interact with who's a native speaker of Cat. (As an added plus, if you get a kitten, they can be trained to use a toilet as their "litterbox". Although there is the downside of having to leave the bathroom door open at all times.)

If you decide on one or more dogs, I'd suggest the smaller breeds. Otherwise you'll spend a lot of time walking them, and maybe need to train them to behave off-leash in unfamiliar environments/with other animals (depending on just how active they need to be to stay healthy).