As long as you can care for them----have as many as you want. ME....I can only handle one right now.



He's handsome isn't he? lol

Hey!! That's a cute rat!!!!

As many as you can responsibly and effectively care for. 

Just don't go too far...

 

As long as you can care for them----have as many as you want. ME....I can only handle one right now.



He's handsome isn't he? lol

Hey!! That's a cute rat!!!!

 We have sadly gone from three dogs to one in less than a year. We had to leave our golden with my mother-in-law last year when we moved because he's bigger than our landlord's rules allow. Unfortunately, this March he had two strokes and had to be put down at the age of 13. Then there was our Ginger Marie, our spaniel. We could never be sure of her age, but she was at least 17. She seemed able to survive anything, even carrying a tumor the size of the rest of her. We couldn't do anything about it because she was also epileptic, and vets believed anathesia (sp?) would kill her, but they said as long as she wasn't in obvious pain and appeared happy (which she was), to just make her as comfortable as possible, which we did. Frankly, she probably kept on living for us, not for herself, because she knew we loved her so much. But this month she started deterioating; she couldn't climb stairs at all anymore, she started eating and drinking less and less... and we could see her sometimes looking for places to hide... a sign that a dog is looking to go off by itself and die. Eventually (just over a week ago, on Nov. 17) she had another seizure one morning before we all left-- and we had that sinking feeling-- but hoped that she would recover. When our daughter came home she showed the sure signs of having had a stroke, and dogs at that age will usually have a second stroke within 24-48 hours. We took her that evening, and held her as she passed. I had never actually seen someone I loved die. It's a memory that will never leave me.

Sorry to share all that here, but I had been waiting for the right moment to write it out, and there it was.

The third one is currently sleeping on my lap. She's a five-year-old Bichon and just to add to the drama, she had to have emergency surgery last month to remove stones that were completely filling her bladder. But she's recovering beautifully!

She seems content to be an "only child" right now, so we may adopt another dog in the future, but we're not going to rush. We also have a cockatiel. Two pets is quite more sane than the situation when we were still living at my mother-in-law's house; at that time, in addition to our bird and three dogs, she also had two cats. It was a freakin' menagerie... but I agree with Ross. If you have the time, means, and desire, and all that love to give, take in as many animals as feels right for you.

He is and he won the prize in pet beauty contest .
Just he must quit the habit of saying "suck it" lol.

 We have sadly gone from three dogs to one in less than a year. We had to leave our golden with my mother-in-law last year when we moved because he's bigger than our landlord's rules allow. Unfortunately, this March he had two strokes and had to be put down at the age of 13. Then there was our Ginger Marie, our spaniel. We could never be sure of her age, but she was at least 17. She seemed able to survive anything, even carrying a tumor the size of the rest of her. We couldn't do anything about it because she was also epileptic, and vets believed anathesia (sp?) would kill her, but they said as long as she wasn't in obvious pain and appeared happy (which she was), to just make her as comfortable as possible, which we did. Frankly, she probably kept on living for us, not for herself, because she knew we loved her so much. But this month she started deterioating; she couldn't climb stairs at all anymore, she started eating and drinking less and less... and we could see her sometimes looking for places to hide... a sign that a dog is looking to go off by itself and die. Eventually (just over a week ago, on Nov. 17) she had another seizure one morning before we all left-- and we had that sinking feeling-- but hoped that she would recover. When our daughter came home she showed the sure signs of having had a stroke, and dogs at that age will usually have a second stroke within 24-48 hours. We took her that evening, and held her as she passed. I had never actually seen someone I loved die. It's a memory that will never leave me.

Sorry to share all that here, but I had been waiting for the right moment to write it out, and there it was.

The third one is currently sleeping on my lap. She's a five-year-old Bichon and just to add to the drama, she had to have emergency surgery last month to remove stones that were completely filling her bladder. But she's recovering beautifully!

She seems content to be an "only child" right now, so we may adopt another dog in the future, but we're not going to rush. We also have a cockatiel. Two pets is quite more sane than the situation when we were still living at my mother-in-law's house; at that time, in addition to our bird and three dogs, she also had two cats. It was a freakin' menagerie... but I agree with Ross. If you have the time, means, and desire, and all that love to give, take in as many animals as feels right for you.