At our local Humane Society, they have a rule that before adopting a pet, everyone in the household is supposed to come in and meet the pet—the idea being that if any family member and pet don’t “mesh,” the adoption might not be successful. When I think back over our many years of family life, it is interesting to think of exactly HOW pets came into our family fold…
A couple of our cats have been chosen as family projects, but we’ve had a few who found us too. Our recently-deceased cat Norma came to us in the midst of a thunderstorm and tornado warning while we were living in the Midwest over ten years ago. She settled in as the kookiest member of our family for over a decade before she finally passed away from old age.
I’ve also agreed to “foster” pets until a suitable home could be found and those pets have become absorbed into our world too. Once they were actually in our home and the kids had re-named them—they were ours. We’re not really the sort of family to give someone back or let them out of the family easily.
We’ve had pets that were given as gifts and I’m certain each one of my children has brought home at least one creature from the animal kingdom at one point or another. So, in reality, I guess in our family—everyone and anyone gets to choose our pets—and we allow for them to choose us too! I am wondering how things will go once my children have left home. I imagine I will continue to have pets, maybe I’ll actually finally adopt that dog I’ve been talking about for the past several years (life as a busy, single mom hasn’t been too conducive to a dog partnership). I most likely will NOT have the menagerie of fish, gerbils, hamsters and guinea pigs that have characterized the “family” home…
See Also: A Family or Home With Pets and When Your Child’s Pet Dies