Yeuch! We had a tropical fish tank for a while. Was quite theraputic. Until my husband bought 2 kissing gouramis. Evil little gits! Bullied all other fish and tried to eat one of my silver dollars alive (big chunks missing out of his side, and them harrying him for days). I tolerated it for a few days then put the little bastards down the toilet.

Currently we have 3 cats, 2 of whom hate me (and I have the tetanus jabs to prove it!), but I love them, and will keep trying to encourage the other cat to show them the error of their ways.

They're not all like yours were. I had two. One died after a year but the other lived 15 years and reached 8" long and never ever bullied any other fish.

It's cruel to put any fish down the loo. You should have taken them back to the shop where you boiught them.

Yes, we got a cat from the local cat sanctuary but he paid us no attention whatsoever. He spent most of his time outside. He only really came home for something to eat. About a year after we got him we had had enough. We took him back and traded him for another cat, who we still have to this very day.

^

Thread should be retitled "Ever had a crap owner?".

No, it should be titled "Ever Had a Pet That Didn't Do What You Wanted It To, So You Got Rid Of It.".

I only put them down the loo coz I cause I couldn't work out how to strangle them! They ate my other fish ALIVE and got all that was comming!

I completely agree. I can't believe some of what I'm reading. Flushing fish down the loo is bad enough but getting rid of a poor cat just because it likes to go outside a lot and isn't particularly affectionate, well, I hope that cat got re-homed to more understanding and sympathetic owners. Cats have differing personalities and not all are overtly affectionate, I accept my cats for what they are.

This is a horrible thread. The majority of people on here should be banned from owning animals. Would they get rid of their children because they didn`t turn out how they hoped? (Yeah, they probably would).

I'm not one to judge, but I tend to agree. Flushing alive fish down the toilet for doing what's natural to them, and not researching them properly, and having a gerbil put down (provided this really did happen) for being aggressive is quite shocking, not in comparison to anything in particular, but in the context of keeping animals in the first place.

I accept that some of the animals I keep are naturally aggressive, several are not suited for, or can't be handled at all, this is fine for me, I keep the majority of my animals out of fascination for them, they aren't disposable toys.

Umm, I'm sorry but we didn't 'not research' gouamis before we got this pair. In fact there were several other gouramis in the tank. This pair were just a couple of nasty ****ers, and their behaviour was the cause of their demise. They tried to eat my wee dollar, who never caused no harm to nobody, alive. He died from the horrendous wounds they inflicted on him a few weeks later.
You get a pet, then get another one who tries to eat it alive, and see if you can be so high-handed about it.

There's different species of Gouramis, they have differing requirements, some species are much more peaceful than others, some get huge. This species can get quite big, and are known to be territorial especially and can be aggressive. What they were doing was completely natural to them, and with a little research into Kissing Gourami would have been avoided I guess. You get this happening with tropical fish though, I've read of lots of people who buy little catfish and then wonder where all they're neons are gone.

I keep a tank of Exodon paradoxus, a small Piranha-like Fish that would slowly kill any other Fish large enough not to eat them, so I keep them separate from all my other Fish. If I was in a situation where one of my animals had eaten another of my animals because of my negligence I wouldn't punish the offending animal, certainly not kill it, it's not they're fault they acted as they did, that's they're natural behaviour, it would be mine for allowing it to happen. I would remove them/it from the tank into another one, or if I didn't have one at hand return them to where I got them, or any shop that sells that animal.

I used to keep African Striped Grass Mice, one time one of them attacked another and injured it, if I didn't intervene it probably would have been killed (and partially eaten.) I removed the aggressive Mouse to another tank, both lived for around 3 years or so. If the injured mouse had died I wouldn't have killed the aggressive mouse, that wouldn't make any sense

Exactly. I had a male Betta in my community tank that turned out to be an absolute b'stard - it's favourite pass-time was to swim round the tank at breakneck spead with a guppy tail in its mouth - with the poor guppy still attached. Can't punish it for that - it was moved into another tank that only had Corys in it. They got along fine.

My brothers rabbit and hamster were both a bit crazy, you could not touch them...even looking at them would make them go into a fit of rage. The rabbit was re-homed at some point, not sure what happened to the hamster.

This is true.

And burton07 ... "No, it should be titled "Ever Had a Pet That Didn't Do What You Wanted It To, So You Got Rid Of It."."

Call the RSPCA.

Sea Monkeys. Wasn't expecting little people in a castle but they are tiny things, just specks in the water. I kept them for about a year, must have been umpteen generations so I think I was a good owner. Eventually there were no more specks in the water so it went down the sink but there may have been some unhatched eggs so my monkeys' descendants could still be swimming around the sewers.

A crappy cat.

Originally Posted by annette kurten
one of my daughters has a hamster that they`re all terrified of, it draws blood regularly and it`s massive because the baby feeds it through the bars when no one`s looking.

If it bites then they haven't handled it enough at the beginning to tame it. Hamsters shouldn't bite and all that food will shorten it's life.


When you say for no reason, how about "there's a predator in the room, I'd better warn it off"?

I had 2 stick insects when I was a kid called Torvil & Dean. The only thing they did was poo. I "set them free" in our garden.

Really?

What do they prey on (other than next door's cabbage)?

A prey animal is an animal that is prey(food) to a preditor.
A Preditor is an animal that preys (hunts) on prey animals.

To confuse the issue, predator birds are known as 'birds of prey'

English isn't the most straight forward language

I so knew that? Doh. Just didn't think it through.

Although I still don't understand why that makes them unsuitable for children?

I guess it's the picking-up = you want to eat me thing.

Well, if you go back and read what I said...


1) I said young children - not all children

2) Kids want to interact with their pets and it's easier to get a response from a cat or a dog. Buns can be very responsive but building confidence and trust often takes time and patience and small kids want a quick fix of amusement - unless they've got very thoughtful, animal-aware parents.

Also, rabbits being prey animals , they spook easily so sudden movements - typical of young children - can scare them. All in all, for children generally but small kids particularly, a rabbit is not an easy pet but they are a pet that, casually purchased, can end up with an absolutely shit life, shut alone in a small pen in a garage or at the bottom of a garden, with little company or attention from children or adults.

For a very active, social animal like a rabbit, that amounts to cruelty.

I think this thread is mean to animals! Animals are what you make them unless they have a reason for being nervous.

My dog Monty was abused as a pup, I got him from the RSPCA, he was the most friendliest of dogs with people he got to know but was very weary of strangers, did that make him a rubbish pet? No it didn't it just meant that we had to be careful around people and inform them that he may bark or lash out if they attempted to stroke him.

As for rabbits and guinea pigs, they are naturally terrified of us, I run a homebased sanctuay for cavies and buns and many of our long termers were naturally frightened when they first came to live here, but by talking to them through the cage bars and gentle stroking they soon gain your trust.

All our rabbits are lovely, we have one Emmalena who prefers the company of her male friend Harvey and that is fine, she is not a rabbit you can put on your knee and stroke but its fun watching her whizz around the garden and be showered with affection by Harvey who adores her.

People should remember that all animals have their own personalities and won't necessary fit into the ideal pet that you are looking for. I bet some animals wish they had better owners too!

Completely agree.

You can't always predict an animals personality?

You just because you have bought a pet doesn't mean you have to like it, especially if it is showing hostility in a species you wouldn't expect.

Get a grip.