Pet therapy needed…

I’ve always said that people who don’t like animals aren’t people I want to associate with. I’ve had all kinds of feathered and furry pets throughout my life including (but not limited to) a beautiful white swan, a shoe-obsessed iguana, an injured pigeon I took in when I was 12, a pair of fiesty ferrets named Dude and Noel, and a baby bat I nursed back to health when it was abandoned by his mother.  I didn’t know the first thing about bats when I brought “Frankie” (short for Frankenstein) home with me, but I learned never to let a baby bat “hang out” in your closet.  I had droppings where one should never get droppings.

Well despite my utter fascination with the animal world (and my quest to find a fellow animal lover to share my life with) I married a man who never even had a HAMSTER, and is quite perplexed by the human obsession with animals of any kind. (Yep, hindsight is 20/20). Thankfully, God was kind to me and gave me a child who adores animals, and I’ve been able to share that with our son Ethan. You should see my husband’s face when Ethan and I decide we’re going to spend the day at a local petting zoo.. he’d rather serve time at Bellvue than be forced to feed a billy-goat or have a close encounter with a lemur.  Ethan and I get some good laughs from his Dad’s hysterical reactions, but something has really been bothering me lately. When I married a Jewish guy I knew I’d be giving up many things (including never being able to enjoy pork tenderloin in the comfort of my home) but my son is desperate to have a pet of his own and his father refuses to let him have one. I’m all for it of course, but Andrew is especially adamant because we live in a 2-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. Two rooms is actually large by Manhattan standards, but it’s not enough space for Andrew to share with a member of the animal world. My son really wants a dog (and even cried about it the other day) but at this rate I think he’d even settle for a chinchilla! Andrew still isn’t bending, and I’m torn between reason and my the tears of my firstborn and only child.

Any suggestion folks? Is there anything such as “pet-acceptance therapy” available out there? Let me know!

5 Replies to “Pet therapy needed…”

  1. My Dad hates animals and, growing up, I really wanted a dog. After a lot of begging and pleading, he allowed me to get a hamster that I had to keep in the basement so he didn’t have to look at it. lol. Maybe you could start with something small and low maintenance like that? Though in my experience it didn’t work. I still never got the dog and, now, all these years later my mother wants one and he’s STILL putting up a fight! 🙂

  2. I can understand his reluctance to a dog or cat if he’s never had a pet before, they become part of the family and everything you do in the house. (Which is a great thing!) But maybe continue on with the small pet idea, because at least he can pretend it doesn’t exist mostly.

    My husband, who always loved dogs and cats, had never had a guinea pig or a rat before. We’ve had both since we got married, and he’s particuarly fond of rats because they are such characters, a pet he’d never considered much before. I can’t convince him on why guinea-pigs are so nice though, but he doesn’t stop me from having them.

  3. I married a man who never had a pet growing up either – not even a goldfish – but he has grown to adore our dog! Just get the puppy… if the hubby doesn’t like it, chalk it up to more torture!

  4. I’m so impressed with your long lists of pets. I’m with you–people who love animals are generally good folks. 🙂 I became an animal lover later in life when I got my first dog 8 years ago, a golden named Paisley. She changed my life forever. xo

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