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Well I know when these dogs go to the rainbow bridge , I don't want anymore pets . I would like to travel after I retire and you simply cannot travel with pets . I also don't want to leave a pet behind to have my family have to re home . Do any of you feel the same way ? I have already told my adult kids and my husband that these will be our last pets . two are elderly and probably have 5 yrs at the most , the youngest one is 4 which means she will be close to 14 or 15 when my husband wants to retire . So are there any of you already retired or close to retirement who feel the same ? I also want to note that I wish older people would think about it long and hard before they get a pet for company knowing that the pet might outlive them .
I never have had any use for dogs or all the maintenance they require. We always had cats and they could handle our vacations with someone stopping in once every few days (or less). When we retired we still had two cats. We traveled with them in a truck camper for two years. After the first few weeks that worked out OK. The cats could stay in the RV when we were out for the day. You cannot do that with a dog, nor are dogs allowed on the trails in most national parks.
Our last two cats finally got old and died. That is it. One SIL is seriously allergic. The soon to be SIL is also allergic. Neither could even visit if we had cats.
We always had one or two dogs when we worked. It made sense; one or both of us was home every night, other than short vacations (DH owned his own company...vacations were long weekends).
Our last dog died just shy of her 18th birthday. We were in process of moving, expanding DHs business, my career was soaring, and all of a sudden I had a lot of 12 hour days and some travel.
So, we put off replacing the last dog, and we said to each other, let's wait until we retire. Well, we retired at ages 50 and 51 with a big pent-up demand for overseas travel. We realized pets and overseas travel, especially for 4 to 6 weeks at a time, don't work well together.
We are now 64/65, still pet-less, with two homes (one in US, one in FL) and we are still exploring Europe and Latin America.
We have friends who are more honest than most pet owners who admit they wish they hadn't gotten pets after they retired. They always have to be home, for feeding times....whereas we sometimes go out for a day trip, espy a great eatery, and decide to have a nice dinner, find a nearby B&B, spend the night, spur of moment. They can't do that.
I have two cats. They give a lot of pleasure with their playfulness and silly antics. Very affectionate, too. But I have to admit as much as I love them, they do keep me from doing what I might otherwise want to do.
In my older age, I can't bring myself to leave them alone for a day or two or more. It just seems kind of cruel to me. So I am their "slave."
I think there are worse things I could be doing. The pluses outweigh the negatives.
Pets have their advantages, there's no denying it. But they are also expensive, and they are anchors -- they certainly tie you down.
I adopted a cat after my husband died (he never wanted to have any pets, so we didn't). And she's a great cat, but I wish I had thought more about how expensive she might be -- turns out she has a chronic bowel condition and can eat only prescription food and has to take medication every day. And if I want to travel, I have to make arrangements with a cat sitter, to the tune of $30 a day for twice-a-day visits.
She's only 6 years old, so she'll probably be with me for a long time to come.
I agree with you, phonelady, on not wanting a pet earlier in retirement because of travel. But I would like a pet once I am more senior and not on the road much (e.g., late 70s). My idea is to then adopt an older cat or older small lap dog. Seeing these pets in a shelter is so sad as you know they are unlikely to be adopted. Of course they are also likely to require more medical care and attention but so will I.
I have had dogs most of my adult life. I lost the last one in the divorce a few years ago. My new wife lost her dog just before we got together. As we get close to retiring at the end of this year we found that it really is a lot more freedom without them. Not to mention the cost of pet ownership now days. They certainly bring a lot of joy into peoples lives tho.
My wife mentioned that it would be nice to have a dog. The last dog we had was for 13 years. I asked her if she would want to be walking a dog when she was age 95? She has since mentioned a parakeet.
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