Of all the forum sites on RV.net, the "Pets" forum is my least favorite. It seems every time there is a post, is about someone loosing their beloved pet and every one is just so sad, it just hurts to much to read them.
We've had our share of pets and in our past, they've all gone camping with us. Our most favorite was our beloved "Freckles", a Golden Lace Wyandotte female chicken, and wow was she a good egg layer. Her diet consisted of Ribeye steak, fresh bacon, mashed potatoes, and green beans. She also loved ice cream, soft drinks, pastries of any kind, and I think her most favorite ... fishing worms. Oh yea, we kept on stock fishing worms all the time, just for her. She went swimming with us, rode bicycles with us, when on hikes with us, we had a baby carriage just for her, she wore a diaper in the house so she could free range (really, I'm not kidding), had had a special pen inside during the winter and a cage built on the ground outside for the summer. Her feet never touched a wire bottom. She free-ranged in our back yard too. (And we lived in town too.) She was very special!
We also had Lucy and Ethel, both were Black Silkies. Ethel had a head injury and Lucy took care of her. But once it rained and Lucy couldn't get Ethel to come to her roost and get out of the rain. We were's home at the time, and when we got there, there was Lucy hovering over Ethel's body poking her with her beak trying to get her to move out of the rain. Lucy lived several more years after that.
Then we also camped with numerous dogs and cats. We also had an Iguana that the cat ended up killing, several cats, and 4 different birds. A few times we took our fish camping with us.
The kids are all grown and there's no more 4-H projects now, no more State Fair entries, and all those pets are now gone.
I think that's why these posts are just too hard to read. I identify with every one and it brings back too many memories of too many little critters that we loved so much.
We now have 2 dachshunds and a cat that still go camping with us. And when I look at them, I am thankful I have them, but still look at them with a sad feeling knowing they too, will someday be gone.
That's why I don't frequent the Pet forum. It just hurts.
