Anyone Else Fall in Love With an Animal and Never Thought They Would?

[ramama]

Are there any cat-haters out there who found the perfect cat? Dog-haters who found the perfect dog? (Using the term "hate" lightly here LOL). People who thought rats were nasty until they got themselves a groovy pet rat?

Just wondering, because I always was a cat person, and dog people and their dog talk baffled me. Then we got Lola, our dachshund, and I'm head-over-heals in love with her! She can do no wrong in my book, and I suspect I talk about her way too much, and get way too much of a kick out of taking her to the dog park and talking dog to all the other people there.

I guess this is just my long-winded way of saying "I our dog!"

[Oubliette8]

I had it happen once. I love all animals, but cats really don't like me. However, my last roommate adopted the most awesome cat. We got along, it was great. It slept on my bed, let my rub its belly, it even slept with my dog (and tried to nurse off her, which was strange, but cute, and the dog didn't object) I asked if I could take her with me when I moved out, but she loved the cat too and so declined. I still miss that cat.

I also had a roommate in college who was scared of dogs. We didn't know each other well when we decided to room together, so we arranged a trip to the beach to bond. When I showed up with my dog, she was clearly not happy! She sat in the front, dog went all the way in the rear, and I made sure they stayed far,far away from each other (thankfully the dog was extremely laid back and well trained) After knowing me and my dog for a year and a half, she decided to adopt a dog of her own! A big black gsd mix, who was not particularly calm and had eerie blue eyes. I mention this because he was "scary" looking- I once noticed people crossed the street seeing us coming, and he was walking politely at a heel. Quite a change from when we first met!

In high school I'd always wanted a pet rat but my parents refused to let me have one, so, I convinced my biology teacher to get one for the classroom, with the promise I'd take care of it. She had a long story about a former pet, a tarantula, and how it had helped a student overcome its fear. But, she said, she did not want a rat because they were scary and icky. I told her it would be like the tarantula (fear wise) and I'd do all the care taking. Well, we bought it one evening and set up at school and left for the night. By the time I arrived for class the next morning, she was hand feeding it bits of her lunch! Really funny transition from the night before of "I'm not touching it" to "look how cute it is eating my banana strings!" the next day.

[geek_the_girl]

I had never thought I was a cat person. I never had one and grew up around dogs my whole life. They also just seemed to be aloof creatures to me. Last year two stray cats "adopted" us. We got super attached and took them with us to our new house. They are just the wonderful SWEETEST things! The little one loves to play, or sleep on your chest. She gives you the sweetest meeeeow whenever you walk by. Love.her!
Then my cat Bill. We call him Chill Bill. Purrs constantly! Loves to sleep on my feet and has even been known to rub his nosey on my nose when he is feeling super lovey dovey.
Love my cats! LOVE THEM!

[whiddle]

Guilty.

I've NEVER liked dogs. About 1.5 years ago DH started whining that he wanted a jack russell terrier. I refused, we argued. Finally, we got an 8 week old long-haired Chihuahua. I told DH not to get attached because I'd probably want to rehome her within 3 weeks. I fell in love with her so bad that 2 weeks later, we went and got a 10 week old Shorkie. These two pups are now my loves!

Here they are:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b6...de/pups005.jpg

[jdg]

I've had a lot of pets during my adult life, but mostly cats and a few reptiles. I grew up with a massive fear of dogs (my neighbor had very poorly trained and violent "hunting" dogs). So I was quite surprised by myself when I adopted Piper, my black lab mix, from the shelter. She's now three years old and I'm bonded with her much more strongly than I ever bonded with any of my others pets! My DH still isn't a dog person, though, so I'm not allowed to adopt a friend for her.

[Magelet]

Me. My sister finds it crazy that DP and I just got a cat and I'm totally infatuated.

When I was a teenager, I asked for a specific kind of cat (a tiny mutt cat I saw in mexico, emphasis that they were tiny) for christmas. My mom and sister decided this meant I wanted a cat in general. So they went and fell in love with a persian whos personality didn't match with mine. It made me really dislike cats, when I had always in general been somewhat ambivilent. I decided I was thouroughly a dog person.

However we can't have a dog in our apartment, and really wanted a fluffy friend, so I started thinking about cats. Fell in love with bengals, and then we went to the pound, and I fell head over heels in love with our baby. He's a 1.5 yr old domestic short hair.

[lifeguard]

I always disliked dogs. Dh kept pushing & pushing & we ended up with our gsd-mix. I HATED her at first but now she is MY dog. It took a few months but she "wormed her way into my heart". It's been 10 years since we got her & now we have another mutt as well.

[FtMPapa]

Lifeguard - What's a GSD? I cannot put that one together!

I'm a big dog person, my ex and I had a Saint Bernard, after we had the Great Dane who is currently taking up three quarters of my bed beside me, and when she's eight years old and weighs 120 lb, I let her.

Then I found this ridiculous looking little mutt dog, all 23 lbs of him. Turns out he's a purebred Shiba Inu, and while there may be a 100 lb size difference between my dogs, we do get along quite well. I never thought I'd have a small dog, and when I'm out with just him and people come up to talk to me about him, I feel a little self-conscious, it's like I wonder if people think I'm a small dog person, because they don't see the Great Dane at home.

I also have two cats, and one of them is very affectionate, loving, and quite dog like. He has won over numerous non-cat-people visitors to my home, because he gets all over them and just doesn't let up until they've changed their mind about what a cat is!

[LeahBoo]

I have had all sorts of animals. But hated hamsters. Every hamster I have had has been unsocial and a biter. But I found myself without any furry critters (I had dogs, but I love rodenty things), and living in a place that allowed the dogs, but not rodents (was one weird lady doing the inspections and I think she made it up). So I decided I could easily hide a cage if it was small enough. So I went to the pet store, kinda looking, kinda not. Came upon a cage full of dwarf hamsters, the cutest dwarf hamsters ever, they were about half white. One of them ran up to me and hopped into my hand. I picked him up, he was so friendly. Then I noticed that he only had three legs. That did it. I tried to get a discount .

He was the happiest, friendliest, stupidest animal I'd ever met. I loved him.