We have cats. Four cats. I inherited the house I grew up in and we have always had cats because the house is old and mice get in and we didn't like dealing with traps but normally it was only one at a time. So we have cats. Two are ours and two belong to our son. I like them but they are almost part of the furniture.
I love dogs and would have one in a heartbeat if our place was fenced in. There is plenty of room for a small to medium sized dog to run around and be happy.'
My favorite 'wild' animal is probably the fox. I also like birds. Could watch them for hours.
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O Beauty ever ancient, O Beauty ever new;
you, the mirror of my life renewed,
let me find my life in you.~St. Augustine
Cats are my favorite domesticated animal. As much as I love walruses, it would be hard to keep one in my apartment. My family had a lot of cats growing up. We'd often adopt strays, and my mom and sister were bad to bring new ones home from friends. They currently have three cats. I'd have a cat if I didn't have to pay a pet fee at my apartment. I'm told that they're prone to charge you extra on move out, too, even if the pet didn't damage anything. First thing I'm going to do when I buy a house is get a cat.
For domesticated animals that I have experience with, I guess I have to say cat. My family has had about 20 cats in all, the most at one time being 7. Now there are 4 at my folks' house; one died recently. When I move out my first pet will almost certainly be a kitty. I do love dogs, but cats are just so independent without being unsociable (usually).
Reading the Redwall books had me fantasizing about having a pet otter. If I ever buy land with a small lake or something, I would like to introduce otters to the area if possible.
The raven intrigues me. There's been one flying about each year around a campsite my family frequents in the Idaho wilderness. Don't know if it's the same one, but I read they mate for life and are territorial over one area. Hearing the croaks of a raven echoing around the valley when you wake up is one of the enchanting things about camping for me. Watching it fly around the valley is pretty cool. Its flight is very steady and rhythmic. It tends to glide just above the trees instead of way up high like hawks. Up the road a ways from the campsite I saw several ravens cavorting in the sky which I at first mistook for hawks.
Years ago I drew a boat and called it the White Raven. Later I decided the name should go to a ship in a book that I wanted to write someday. I hope I get to see a white raven. They are reportedly quite rare, some being albino while others have a genetic abnormality that makes them more of a cream color or greyish with normal dark eyes.
Thus it is not by incessant care that we become faithful and exact in the smallest things, but simply by a love which is free from the reflections and fears of restless and scrupulous souls. - Fénelon
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same...
I also like birds. Could watch them for hours.
