Mom said - "This is a hard question to answer. I have had so many pets. I loved my cat, Nellie, who had six claws on each foot and died in childbirth (or should I say kittenbirth?)  when I was 6. I loved my cat, Melvin, who my mother hated - I made him follow me home from the store one day by pulling a string behine me so I could keep him. I fed him outside every night all winter long - I even heated milk up for him on the stove - then he ran away and I saw him in the fish store window. That hurt. I loved my dog, Cookie, who my parents got when I was six months old. She died when I was 13 - I was devastated. Then there were Tammy, Cindy and Teddy - all died. Even all the Gils - (my fish), died. Having a pet and loving it is painful. As your advice columnist, Judy said, they don't live very long.
But time does heal wounds. And I must say the pets that I remember the most fondly now are: Toto and Oliver. They had very distinct personalities. They were a part of our family. My favorite pet now is Lulu. I am sure I will be very sad when she passes on - hopefully Judy is wrong and she will live a nice, happy, long life."

 

Katie said - "Lol! I think some people from church had a farm and we got it from them...some kid named Jeremy, maybe? Foggy memories... We eventually sent the goat back to the farm. I believe the go away/get down noise for Toto was "click fart".

Sarah said - "My favorite pet was Toto.  I don't remember what life was like before Toto became a part of our family.  I remember when daddy brought her home and put her on my lap and immediately I fell in love with her.  I used to dress her up and put her in baby carriages, I would share popsicles with her, and I would try to get her to sleep with me at night but she never wanted to.  After every move, she was sort of like my security blanket, the only thing that had stayed consistent.  (except in London, maybe that was why it was so hardfor me)  Toto and I grew up together.  We got her when I was 4 and she died when I was 16.  I sort of felt that she symbolized my childhood and when she died, I grew up.  I still think about Toto everyday.
My other favorite pet was Oliver but she sometimes annoyed me because she always drooled on me and she never understood "Enough is Enough!" because she was a little "too" affectionate.  I also liked "Roddy" the hamster, "Thumper", and of course "Bugsy".  Animals I weren't too fond of were Melvin the Rabbit who tried to rape Oliver when Oliver was a kitten (is that kid friendly, grands?),  the gross Hermit Crabs Katie would always get, Benson and Ozzy (more because I feel guilty about how we got rid of them),  the wierd Quail that we tried to rescue from our chimney, Katie's really gross minnow collection (they never turned into frogs, they just got bigger and smellier), and Minnie and Mickey (because Minnie tried to eat her young).  
and yes, Grands, I do love Lulu.  She's growing on me."

 

Ken said - "My favorite pet was my "Big" dog, Baron. He was such a great great dog. He came to us from a litter of Great Dane pups in Key West, Fl. He was so very cute as a puppy. We have home videos of him chasing us in the yard. I remember him grabbing on to Laurie's dress and hanging on for dear life. I remember taking him for long walks with my dad and being so proud of my big dog. He used to scare my friends right out of my house. One of my friends walked in to my house in Georgia one day, said "Hi Kenny", then he saw Baron prancing down the hallway, then said "Bye Kenny"!! That was great. He was a great house protector. Once, when we were living in Thailand, some robbers came to our house. While they actually did get away with some merchandise, Baron scared them out of the house and they never came back again!! He did get to travel a lot with us. However, on the way from Georgia to Thailand, he was sent to England for a few days. We thought we would never see him again. Luckily, they finally got him to the right destination. He was my greatest pet. It was very very hard to say good bye to him. He lived a long life and brought so much joy to us!"

Katie said - "For the record, Sarah, Minnows are not tadpoles--they are little fish. They are not supposed to turn into frogs...and I liked them. They weren't my favorite pets, however. My favorite pet was Toto, of course. She was with us through thick and thin and she would have gone with us to London if she could have. She was a little stubborn and thought she owned the neighborhoods we lived in (she pranced around from yard to yard, involving herself in everyone else's lives) and mom would yell, "Toto, you stupid animal. Get back here!!!" She was an outside dog, and and inside pet, which made her smell pretty bad. My favorite memory of Toto was when she went to the beach with us--her fur was blowing in the wind and she was smiling as she ran towards the waves, then from them as they came to shore.
I haven't brought myself to buy another dog since Toto died. I think I am afraid of losing something close to me and, as Judy said, dogs do not have a long life-span."

David said - "My favorite pet was Toto. I remember her running along my bike as a puppy in Lexington. She terrorized every neighborhood we lived in. I remember teaching her to come when you made the "click click" noise and go away when you made the "click spit" noise. She was a very bright dog. She got a little confused in later years and would go to her basket whenever someone mentioned Nantasket. She also started smelling a bit more as she got older. Like Sarah, I agree she added a lot of security in my unstable teenage years. Toto was the one person that gladly welcomed us back without any questions or judgments when we returned to Nashville. My other favorite pet was Samantha, the goat we kept in our garage in New Jersey. I would walk the goat through the neighborhood and all the dog's would run away in fear. Does anyone know why we had a goat? I don't remember."
"What is the most favorite pet you ever had and why?"
--submitted by Susan 11/11/04

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