[Phoenix301]

This is a very, very, very long story/post so be warned.. but i really want some advice on this one. ...

I still live at home as a college student and as you can see buy the unchanged numbers on my starting/current/goal numbers in my avatar/profile area, I'm having a really hard time getting motivated and started on weight loss (i joined in early march) . I live in the country and there is ample space to own a dog.. we had our ~10ish (she was a stray) year old dog put to sleep last May when i was only like a few days away from graduating high school and I still cry about it almost a year later.

So, ever since I have kind of poked at my mom about getting a dog, but here is the pretty big number of problem( s) and the whole story... Since we had our dog put down, we now have 7, yes 7 cats. This wasn't intentional.. We started with 2 that we have had, then I got another kitten in an attempt to get over loosing the dog, and that was supposed to be it. Then 2 weeks after the kitten, a mother stray showed up hungry, and being animal lovers we nurtured her back to health..4 cats didn't seem tooooo bad so keeping her as a stray didn't seem so bad... until she had 5 kittens, 2 of which survived. We got everyone spayed and neutered shortly after this (we couldn't afford it for awhile to begin with) and so we had 6 cats..whew.. we thought 'we can do this!'

THEN back in February, another stray shows up and we are thinking, 'not again'. She is a female and we think she is pregnant. If she was pregnant when she showed up at first, she will be due very soon. I don't have any idea what we are going to do with her...we caught her in a live trap when we were trying to catch a raccoon or something that was attacking our chickens (yes, we have chickens ).

We thought for sure that she would run far far away and never come back if we opened that trap, but instead she ran out and smelled some food we had out there for our 2 male outside/inside cats and started inhaling it. it was obvious she was starving. She had ripped the lid off of the soft cat food we had used as bait (we lift the edge slightly off the peel back lid to act as bait). We contemplated having her put down, but we couldn't justify putting her down because she wasn't really emaciated, just in the early/mid stages of starvation and she was amazingly friendly for being treated how she probably had been.

We decided if she was that hungry she would be back so if nothing else we could feed her until we could further asses what to do with her.. well now she has gained significant weight back and is pretty healthy, and after some steps from outside to inside she is in the house. Having 7 cats (and potentially more) and taking proper care of them is very financially straining and many times overwhelming when they fight etc..

This is the point where someone would say 'take them to your shelter'. Thing with that is that our shelters are full to the brim, and very few if ANYONE is accepting cats. If they do, there is like a 3-4 or more month waiting list. There is also some hanky panky within the shelters and other organizations with disagreeing one how to handle the situation and many rumors of poor care and disease outbreaks. The majority are no-kill so they wait and wait until a cat is adopted, sometimes several years, or put them down only if extenuating health problems exist.

I have no problem with no kill, but it creates a huge space problem. So as a result, we are pretty much stuck with 7 cats and don't know how we let it get there! Now with kittens possibly on the way the situation is quickly approaching the point of too much to handle. ..and you are probably saying "and now you want a DOG???".. well yes that I do, but let me explain.. here is the whole point of why i started this topic.

My mom tries to say that 7 cats is the same has having 1 big dog, but that is not true in any way. You don't have to buy 40 lb buckets of cat litter every 2 weeks for 1 big dog, you don't have to scoop 5 or 6 cat litter boxes every day or every 2 days for 1 big dog, even minimum vet costs for 7 cats certainly is not going to cost the same as 1 big dog.. and you cant walk 7 cats down the road for exercise and to the park etc.. (well i guess you could but not without quite a few problems and you would probably draw your local news to your house).

I personally think that having a dog that i could walk, raise etc could really help me with a LOT of things and not just weight loss and motivation.. (if i listed all the good reasons for me getting a dog you would be sitting here for an extra 20 minutes). Obviously tho its not like we can just be done with the cats out of nowhere and be like *pop* we have a dog now instead! Unless we find good homes for them we cant do much..

The cats are also not the only reason why my mom is so opposed to having a dog. I may be living at home now, but i could very easily be transferring to a different college in about 1 and half years where i cant live at home so my parents are understandably afraid, as am i, that a dog would end up as their responsibility (however, so would the cats)... My parents are becoming older so they are afraid that they are going to have the dog under their feet (even though it is a daily experience to nearly punt one of the cats if you don't see them) and if we go anywhere a dog would require closer attention to be watched (even though we did that for the 10 years we had our other dog). At the same time i LOVE my cats to death, but as i have stated, 7 cats is very near too much to handle..So i guess what im (finally) asking is..

Am i complete selfish trash for even wanting a dog? Or do you think its reasonable for me to feel that it could be beneficial for all areas? Should i try to talk to my mom more about finding good homes for at least a few of the cats (please dont get the impression that i absolutely hate the cats and want them gone, i love them to death but as i have said, i seriously think we are in too deep with that many) and should i keep trying to push the benefits of a dog? Or should i just let things be and stick with 7 cats?

PS. if you read all that then big giant huge

[kaplods]

I think the realities are a dog isn't a feasible in your situation. I don't think the issue is the seven cats as much as the fact that your parents don't want the dog and there's a very good chance that you'll be leaving the dog behind for them to care for.

I think your mom also does have a point about a large dog being as much or more work than several cats. My husband and I each have had both cats and dogs, and dogs have different needs than cats, and generally one dog does require alot more attention than even several cats. At the very least, dogs require a different kind of care than cats do, and your parents do not want to take on those dog responsibilities. Leaving them with a job they don't want (or worse, the decision that they can't take care of the dog and would need to find it a new home) isn't fair to your parents or the dog.

My husband and I are both on disability. We have one cat (an adult when we adopted her) and would love a dog, but even a small dog requires care and attention that isn't feasible for us to provide right now. And that seems true of your situation as well. Dogs require walking and grooming and need to be let out several times during the day to go potty. Puppies and even newly adopted adult dogs need training, and can get into alot more trouble than most cats without supervision.

Whenever you live with other people (not just your parents) you have to take their needs and desires into the equation as well. And of course the pets as well. Pets are a lot like children, you have to think of their needs. It wouldn't be right to "trade in" several or even one daughter for a son, or vice versa, regardless of whether one is more work than the other. Or to have or adopt a child knowing ahead of time that within a year or two, you're going to leave the child for a few years in the care of caregivers that don't want the child. It would be better to postpone having the child, right?

I know that some people will say that an animal cannot be compared to a child, but I think it's wrong to think of even an animal's life as being interchangeable with another (or seven's). I don't think animals should be thought of as objects to trade, but rather lives we are choosing to be responsible for - in all good conscience, for the life of the animal. And you can't commit to a lifetime of care for a dog right now, but only to about 18 months.

If you need "dog time" now, consider volunteering at animal shelters. Shelters need walkers and groomers and just people to play with the critters. Yes, it can hurt to fall in love with dogs that you know are going on to other homes, but it's also a wonderful experience.

[Me23]

I'm sad to say I agree. Don't get a dog. You do get the occasional one who gets on with cats, but it's not usual. I love dogs and have grown up with them, but like you I'm a student right now and intend to do a lot of travelling in the next year so I now it wouldn't be responsible of me to get a dog right now. The truth is I long for a German Shepherd of my own (once you've had one, you're ruined for other breeds!) but they are a huuuuge commitment. I know this is sad, but I satisfy my cravings by googling 'german shepherd puppies' and looking at their adorable pictures! In addition to feeding, all dogs need daily walking, grooming, play, training and socialisation (sp?), conversation (ok, we're slightly mad in my family...my mum's dogs have their own song, which they like sung to them...). I've never had a cat but as I understand it they're not nearly as much work.

[OnceUponADrive]

I agree with everyone else. It is a VERY large committment and that many animals in one house is a pretty hefty task to take on. I have friends who have 7 cats AND 3 dogs (one of which is a very hyper puppy), AND 2 parrots. They are up to their ears in debt from vet bills, food, etc. It's like a zoo in there!

Now, here's where I totally sympathize. I am a dog person to the max. I had dogs all my life. A few years ago I moved into an apartment with my boyfriend and as desperately as I wanted one, I opted not to get a dog because we didn't have a yard. Now, a few years later, we've moved into my mother's house with her to save up for our own house. She has a decent sized house with a very nice yard that would be a PERFECT home for a dog. She has one cat that is like her child, who I love to death, but she's not a dog. I desperately want one and she does not. I bring up the subject once in awhile but the conversation rarely goes anywhere. I get my dog fix by taking frequent walks around my neighborhood and stopping to visit the dogs that live along the way. I also make frequent visits to petsmart to see the shelter dogs and watch the puppy training classes. It's depressing when you love animals SO much, but you have to wait until your circumstances are right. It's not fair to the dog or to your family.

[GatorgalstuckinGA]

as a vet and once a college student...i would recommed waiting on a dog. Believe it or not...when i was in college i didn't have a dog. I didn't have time. In addition, finding an apartment to rent in a college town with a dog is darn hard. In college you can't determine your schedule. A dog needs lots of time. Cats are easier. I'd say wait a while. If you want motivation to go walking, see if some of your neighbors need help walking their dogs. Maybe you could even get paid for it. Or go check out your locak shelter (even if they have weirdness going on). They usually take volunterrs to help walk dogs etc. College takes a lot of time ...i know what it like. Plus dogs do take money...vet bills etc...as a college student..money is tight. What would you do if you had something serious happen to the dog and didn't have the money to fix it?????