Meow or ruff: Do you have a pet?

[ActiveMSers]

In the most recent USA Weekend there is an article about how pets can help your health, from lowering stress to decreasing heart disease (although strangely it was cats, not dogs, that helped in that department). Even watching movies about pets was beneficial in studies.

So, who here has a pet? Does it help? Do you feel better? Do you sometimes trip over the little guy and break a leg? (Based on recent experience, I can do that well enough without a pet.)

Here's the article:

http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20...re-good-for-us

[KristaH]

I have both a cat and a dog. I don't know about lowering stress since I seem to spend a lot of time yelling at them, the cat for trying to "play" with the snake and the dog for trying to eat my daughters food. But they are good snugglers for when I'm having a bad day and my daughter doesn't want hugs, or when I'm more in the mood for yelling haha, they don't hold it against me like SO does

[Lucia]

i've had cats for most of my life. The last three were with me for over 17 years plus. They were indeed a treasure. They do cause their own brand of stress - especially when one decides that the litter box isn't clean enough for her. But beyond that I was glad to have them.

I'm speaking about them in the past tense since all three have passed away. Their ages ranged from 17 to 20. They were all former shelter cats.

They did get underfoot though and I learned to walk around the house as if I was wading through heavy surf but after a while you get use to that.

[Marinadca]

I can see the point, as I have 2 cats who I love very much.

They can add their own stress (but then again so does a new job, kids, a move, etc) but overall I say they improve my stress level. Theres nothing like snuggling with a nice warm purring cat.

[Tanya]

I have a dog--a beagle to be exact. As I live alone, she adds a lot to my life and I couldn't imagine not having someone to come home to. Also, I like that she sounds vicious to strangers outside the apartment. (We won't tell them that she would just lick them to death...ssshh!) She does add some frustrating moments, but overall she's a great pup and my favorite moments are when she snuggles up next to me.

[AMFADVENTURES]

An Old Barn Cat

Seven or eight years ago, my DW's relatives foisted a Montana barn cat on us. They lived on a ranch in Montana and had quite a few outdoor cats but this one in particular didn't get along with the others so it got exiled to the big city.

From spring until fall, the cat spends almost all of her time outdoors only stopping by the house to eat occasionally. God forbid anyone tries to pick her up and scratch her ears, she's not interested and will use her claws to inform a well-meaning offender. How she stays out of the jaws of the coyote's that frequent the area I have no idea, obviously city life has not deprived her of all of her barn cat wiles.

When the weather turns cold, and the reason I'm writing this now, the cat comes back. In fact, when she’s not hibernating in her cozy little bed, she turns into an insufferable, attention demanding lap cat. I need to go now, she needs something and if I want my leg to remain un-schredded, it would behoove me to attend to her. Apparently, we have another winter of togetherness ahead of us.

AMF