United States
DawnH
I've had animals all my life. My spouse and I currently have two rescue dogs and a few rescue cats. I can't imagine not having a few animals roaming around the house at any given time. A house without pets is a cleaner, quieter house, for sure, but one lacking the life, unconditional love and energy that only pets can provide.
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 we've ever had. The first thing we noticed about her was her VERY loud voice; that's how we found her, as a matter of fact. As a two-month-old kitten, she had worked herself up inside a van, ending up trapped behind the headlight. The van's owner (who was not the owner of the kitten) had driven to work at a grocery store and had gone inside, unaware that there was a cat lodged inside her vehicle. As we walked through the hot parking lot, an extremely loud kitten meow alerted us that someone was in trouble somewhere. One small crowd, a distraught van owner and a good Samaritan with a toolbox later and I was able to reach in and pull Phoebe out from behind where the headlight had been removed. She promptly bit me (the first of many Phoebe bites over the years).<br><br>Phoebe is unlike any of our other cats. Long and sleek, with fur that is ticked like rabbit fur, she is muscular and athletic. "She looks like an Abby cat," our vet told us. "An Abyssinian. How beautiful!" <br><br>Phoebe is not at all social with strangers. We have had visitors who have come to stay and never saw Phoebe the whole time they were in our house. I'd hardly describe her as social with her immediate family. Phoebe emerges when she wants. I'll be in the dining room and feel as though I'm being watched (or stalked, to be more exact), only to look up and see what looks like a mini-cougar watching me from the kitchen counter. She gets along wonderfully with our dogs (who sometimes like to mouth and wrestle with her), but bullies our other cats at times. (Our house is often filled with shouts of "PHOEBE! Leave Beyonce alone! Phoebe! Stop biting your sister!") She would probably be best as an only cat, but her sisters make do with giving Phoebe a wide berth. <br><br>Phoebe is fiercely independent and only affectionate when she chooses to be. One does not simply walk up to Phoebe and pet her (without being clawed or bitten). If approached on anything but her terms, Phoebe is offstandish and (if you don't take the switching tail as a clear sign to back off) angrily aggressive. However, when she wants to be affectionate, Phoebe turns into a sleek, purring kitten who can be picked up and held. Sometimes, she'll curl up next to my head at night, purring gently. She will like to be petted in a very specific way (usually right on her head); accidentally reach up and touch her stomach and...BITE! Life with an Abyssinian feels like life with a domesticated wildcat. <br><br>One of the more athletic and playful cats we have owned, Phoebe enjoys batting around cat toys and playing with her circular ball chase ring. She entertains herself quite well by playing alone (we'll often hear her chasing her toys around at night).<br><br>Abyssinians have sleek, gorgeous coats that shed very little and require no grooming. We have thus far been unable to get Phoebe to allow us to trim her nails (I value my life too much to risk it for that). She took very quickly to using a scratching post and does not scratch the furniture (thankfully). The breed is incredibly intelligent (Phoebe knows how to open cabinets and climb inside) and easily litter trained. <br><br>Out of all of our cats, Phoebe has had the most health problems. For the first few years we had her, we would occasionally notice her urinating bloody urine outside of her litter box. We discovered she had developed crystals in her urine that were irritating her bladder and had to put her on pain medication and a special urinary care cat food to help get things under control. For a while, whenever she would get stressed out by anything (visitors or workers being in the house for extended periods of time; us moving houses, etc.), the crystals would return. For the past few years, she's been crystal-free and we've maintained her on the urinary care dry cat food. We've never had urinary crystal issues with our other cats. <br><br>It's been quite an adventure, having an Abyssinian as part of our family. They are an intelligent, graceful, beautiful and fascinating breed of cat to own, but aren't constant lap cats that ooze affection twenty-four hours a day. Abyssinians truly own their humans—not the other way around.){kind=link}
![](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://rightpet.com/Thumbnail/BreedReviewsPhotos/392015_1914173521CatBreed_Beyoncelovin.jpg&media=https://rightpet.com/Thumbnail/BreedReviewsPhotos/392015_1914173521CatBreed_Beyoncelovin.jpg&description=We got our Beyonce cat from the SPCA when she was 8 weeks old. As a kitten, she was everything most kittens are—adorable, playful, and full of energy. She was more aloof and independent than other cats we'd had, so we used to sing "Independent Woman" by Destiny's Child to her (and that's how she got her name).<br><br>As she matured, she lost the aloofness and became much more affectionate and snuggly. Domestic shorthairs like Beyonce are happy to do their own thing throughout the day, but if you sit (or lie down), you become human furniture and will soon have a purring furball implant itself on you.<br><br>As for energy, Beyonce has always been pretty content to sleep most of the day and night. If we give her a new toy (or get the laser pointer out), she becomes very playful and she'll sometimes bat her cat toys around, but I would not describe the domestic shorthair as a high energy cat.<br><br>Litterbox and scratching behaviors are of a major concern to potential cat owners. We've had our share of outside-the-litterbox accidents, but for the most part, domestic shorthairs are easy to litter train (providing you have enough boxes for the number of cats you own and that you keep the boxes very clean). Once we put scratching posts near any furniture our cats liked to target, scratching became a non-issue, as well.<br><br>Domestic shorthairs have (as their name implies) short hair that is not a grooming concern; simply trim their nails occasionally if they become too sharp.<br><br>We've had very few health problems with this breed of cat, which is wonderful. A yearly checkup and vaccinations is all Beyonce has needed, for the most part.<br><br>We adore our Beyonce cat; I'd highly suggest domestic shorthairs for anyone who is considering adopting a cat.){kind=link}
![](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://rightpet.com/Thumbnail/BreedReviewsPhotos/292015_2055422725035DogBreed_Maddie1.jpg&media=https://rightpet.com/Thumbnail/BreedReviewsPhotos/292015_2055422725035DogBreed_Maddie1.jpg&description=We ended up with our Maddie dog the way we've ended up with most of our animals—we were supposed to be looking for a home for her. A family member found her and couldn't keep her, so we fostered her "temporarily"...and here we are, eight years later, so happy that we never found that home for her.<br><br>We struggled for a long time to figure out just what kind of dog Maddie is. After several friends insisted that she had Yorkie in her and a few others said she looked like a Schnauzer, we Googled "Yorkie Schnauzer mix" and Maddie's tribe popped up! <br><br>Schnorkies are very affectionate, but also independent. They love to cuddle and be petted, but can entertain themselves if their owners need to attend to something else. Separation anxiety has never been a problem with Maddie; although she's delighted to see us when we return, she doesn't bark or destroy things while we're away.<br><br>She can be a playful, high-energy dog (we love watching her play and wrestle with our dachshund); I can't imagine having Maddie without having a playmate for her. In fact, when our previous dachshund passed away from cancer, part of the reason we adopted another one rather quickly is because Maddie was very depressed to have lost her brother and playmate. With her as an example, I'd say that Schnorkies bond really well with other dogs (she also adored our late Great Pyrenees). She also gets along wonderfully with our cats.<br><br>Kids...kids are another thing. While Maddie watches over the kids in our family (we don't have any that live in the house, but some who come to visit), I would not describe her as a child-friendly dog. She exhibits dominance and aggression issues—particularly if she is up on a couch or chair and a child approaches her at eye-level. We watch her very closely when kids are around and don't allow kids she doesn't know to approach or pet her. <br><br>Maddie does bark and lunge at strange people and strange dogs while we're out on walks. How much of that is breed and how much of it is me being an owner who needs to train her dogs better, I may never know. <br><br>Grooming isn't a huge problem with Schnorkies. They do require some professional grooming to keep them looking shaped up and nice, but we only have to groom Maddie every couple of months. She doesn't shed at all, which is wonderful.<br><br>House-training has been a huge fail. Our pet sitter insists this is the Yorkie in Maddie. She is insanely smart, but equally stubborn and we've accepted that 100% house-training her will likely never happen. Accidents happen (no matter how much we take her outside) and she seems to think that the potty pads we put down for her are decorative rugs to be avoided when she pees. Go figure! <br><br>Even with all the peeing and nipping and barking at other dogs, I'd adopt this breed again. Schnorkies are adorable, smart, playful, funny, loving, loyal little dogs—and for me, that far outweighs any negatives.){kind=link}
![](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://rightpet.com/Thumbnail/BreedReviewsPhotos/292015_20283448725035DogBreed_ChihuahuaDog.jpg&media=https://rightpet.com/Thumbnail/BreedReviewsPhotos/292015_20283448725035DogBreed_ChihuahuaDog.jpg&description=Our family has had chihuahuas forever. My mother-in-law has had them for the past thirty years, at least. The most recent in our family's line of chihuahuas is an elderly chihuahua mixed with a...ok, we have no idea if he's mixed with a pug or a fruit bat...named Beau.<br><br>Chihuahuas truly live up to their reputation as yappy little nippy dogs, and Beau is no exception. We found him at the SPCA in a cage marked with a sign that said, "WARNING: NO FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN." Turned out he had tried to bite the woman who had previously tried to adopt him (right at the checkout counter, no less), and she had him returned to his cage. <br><br>Does Beau bite? He tries. He's so small (and snaggle-toothed) that he can't do any real damage. But I'd never put a dog like him in a family with small kids, both due to his size and because his blustering and snapping when he gets frightened or angry would be (in the least) frightening to a child and (at worst) dangerous.<br><br>And bluster is pretty much it. With Beau (as with most chihuahuas our family has had), once he realizes that someone isn't going to back down from his growling and complaints, he becomes docile and sweet. With their families, chihuahuas are wonderful, sweet companion dogs. They like to cuddle and play. <br><br>As for house-training, Beau has gotten a little leaky as he's gotten up in age, but chihuahuas generally do pretty well in that department. They're very smart and easy to train. <br><br>As they are tiny and have short hair, chihuahuas don't require much in the way of grooming. An occasional bath and a nail trim and they're good to go! (And since they're so small, they're incredibly portable. We've driven and flown with Beau all over the place.) <br><br>Overall, I'd say that chihuahuas are one of the most misunderstood breeds out there. They do have a bit of an attitude, but once you get beyond that, they are incredibly loving and wonderful little dogs.){kind=link}