Children and Their Pets And How It Was Different Back Then For All Of Us

Before the pandemic started it was pretty much what I have always known about pet ownership. And then it started to happen. All of a sudden families went from one pet to a pet for everyone in the family.

I started to see more pets in the stores and people carrying their pets in purses. Then there appeared to be way more service animals, with people wanting to bring their pets into programs I work at.

We had children and grandchildren that didn't have any pets. Then they had one, two, and more pets per family.

Can you tell by the hair in the photo that it was the 80s? That is what someone said to me when they saw this photo. Rosie was still pretty young here and so was Joanna.

(FYI - I used this photo for another pet story about Rosie, the Reiki practitioner.)

Joanna was working part-time at a veterinary clinic when she brought Rosie home when she was just a kitten. Joanna was probably in the 11th grade. Rosie was scheduled to be euthanized.

Joanna begged to keep Rosie, promising she would take care of her and no one would have to do anything for her. She would feed her, clean the cat box, take her to the vet and pay for anything that came up.

After graduation, when she moved into an apartment that wouldn't allow pets, Rose became mine. She probably was before that as high school is a very busy time for students and I found myself doing more and more for Rosie.

The most difficult part about her was that she hated the vet clinic. She would scream, fight, claw and bite when there. She didn't much care for people or other animals.

My favorite thing about Rosie is that she shared Reiki with me. She thought she was a Reiki master! Anytime I would be giving anyone reiki, she would be right there. A bother but she didn't know that.

Joanna now has 8 children with her husband. They are yours, mine, and our family.

They had either a dog or cat before the pandemic, and then there were six animals for the six people living in their house. A dog, cat, two guinea pigs, and two birds.

At one point Joanna and her family had 4 or more birds. Then there were baby birds. And so they borrowed a few to the assisted living place Joanna was working at. The assisted living place then had baby birds. The people living there just loved the birds and they especially enjoyed all of the baby birds.

I would guess at one time there was a bird for everyone living there.

Our oldest two sons had one pre-pandemic pet; now one has two dogs and a cat for three people; the other has a dog and a cat for 4 people.

Another son has a dog for himself and I am not sure what his family has truthfully, another son has 2 dogs for 3 people. Then there is a daughter who has 2 dogs and a cat and a kitten for 5 people.

This was unheard of in my family when I was growing up. Never more than one pet at a time and there were six kids in our family. My mother would say, "We don't live on a farm!" when someone would mention getting another pet.

This was unheard of in my immediate family until the pandemic. So for the last several years now, my allergies; itching, ear problems, and stomach upset have been a real pain in the arse.

Most of the time, I hate allergies as I know my hubby would love a pet. Now all he has is me to pester!!

Thankfully, and I do sometimes regret this, we have no pets.