# Can you outgrow your pets?



## TabulaRasa (Apr 1, 2016)

Serious question and I've put it here because it's not applicable to dogs and cats. I mean pets like gerbils, mice, rabbits, hamsters etc. is it possible to outgrow these types of animals and decide your too old to be messing around with them? I'm asking because I've always been mad on small animals since I got my first hamster at 5 years old, couldn't imagine ever not having them or wanting them and yet in the last three years or so that's exactly what's happened. I neither have them nor want them and have no inclination or desire to have any ever again, I feel like a little girl whose outgrown her Barbies, I've got too old to be spending time cleaning cages and mollycoddling rabbits and they've got boring. I've moved on and got new pastimes completely, the hamsters and rabbits I used to adore and spend hours with hold no interest whatsoever and I wouldn't accept one now if I was offered one. It doesn't worry me but I am curious how someone who couldn't walk past a pet shop without scanning every cage and coming out with something can suddenly go to the extreme opposite of not even glancing in their direction. Has anyone else outgrown their pets and/or their interest in them?


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## MrJsk (Mar 14, 2014)

Aw, this is kind of sad 

I guess, as some people get older their interests change, stuff happens and more important/different things come about / of interest.

Totally hear what you are saying.

I always loved and wanted every animal ! Now, although still a crazy animal lover, my interest in animals I want to keep as pets is narrowed down to a small select few.


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## TabulaRasa (Apr 1, 2016)

That's how I was a few years ago! I wanted a ton of different animals and had any amount of time for them. Now I still love them and like to see them but I it's only a passing fancy, I don't want them. The only one I've any interest in is a dog but I don't see a dog in the same way as a gerbil or rabbit, nobody is going to think your too old to be messing around with dogs the way they would gerbils and rabbits are they? I have got a chinchilla but only because I already had her if you see what I mean, I wouldn't go out now and buy her if I didn't have one. A friend of mine who was also mad on animals with loads of pets has let theirs dwindle to only the dogs too. They have just totally lost their appeal and I'm wondering if it's normal to feel like this, do people really alter so much as they get older?


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## BlueJay (Sep 20, 2013)

Of course people's interests change and develop as they grow up.

However, saying there is an age limit on certain animals, or being concerned that other people may think that, is just ridiculous.


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## Smuge (Feb 6, 2017)

I wouldn't say outgrew, but I certainly moved past fish.

I used to have two tanks, I loved them. But I recently moved and decided not to bring either tank with me. I love tropical fish, but the hobby is so temperamental, so much can go wrong and I got to the point were after a few years I dreaded the water changes. Not sure that I will ever keep fish again


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## tabelmabel (Oct 18, 2013)

How old are you? My guess is you are finding new interests and will grow back into your pets when you are older (possibly MUCH older)

I grew up with cats, gerbils, a dog, hamsters, fish and horses (didn't have my own horse sadly)

The only animal consistent right through my life has been cats. I can't imagine life without a cat. Maybe because we had cats literally since i was a baby.

I got my first dog at 12. She was with me til i was 28. I left home at 19 with my dog, through a few flats (not ideal) and by the time she died i was married with a baby.

Tbh, my life had changed completely and i was more interested in babies and children during my 20s and 30s.

I had no wish for another dog til i was 45!!

That was when my last 'baby' started primary school.

As for gerbils and hamsters i never had any more BUT i am guinea pig mad and have kept a pair for years. And plan to have more.

I am back around horses with my daughter.


If you have had pets from early childhood, you will never outgrow them as such.

Your life is probably getting busy with other interests. Totally normal - its not fair to keep pets when your interests are elsewhere - at some point in the future you will 'grow back into them'


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## Lurcherlad (Jan 5, 2013)

I think it's normal to move on to other species as we get older and our lives and circumstances change.

Partly because small, caged animals and fish are much easier to manage as children and a parent's busy life. Parents often get lumbered once the initial excitement wears off, so having an animal that doesn't take up too much time, or money to keep happy and healthy for the rest if it's life (often short too), hopefully means they won't get dumped or neglected. 

Kids also move on to Uni, boyfriends, girlfriends, sport, etc. 

Like you say, your Chinchilla is still being cared for but you don't want another one - they are long lived and a big commitment.

I had my own mouse and guinea pigs as a child (family cats and dogs), then cats and a horse in my 20's and 30's (they were easy to manage and keep happy and well cared for as an adult working full time) rats for my son when he was small and eventually a dog when I have the time to devote to one.

It's good that you don't take on anything unless you have the time and interest to give (wish more people were so sensible ), but you might go back to them in future even if you have other species in between.

If mice, rats or guinea pigs needed emergency rescuing I wouldn't turn them away, and I'm probably too old now to take on a horse, and I wouldn't go looking for them but I still love them all


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## cava14 una (Oct 21, 2008)

I must be going backwards then
I always liked rats but had to wait until I was 55 to get them!


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

I had guinea pigs as a child and adored them. When the last one died we didn't get any more, I was fine with that , we had 2 dogs that I also adored. I was heartbroken when we became a dog free family but soon afterwards left home and having any pet was impractical.
My daughter had hamsters as a child which I can't say I bonded with, and my son had fish which left me unmoved.Once I had my own flat , 30 yrs ago , I got a cat and have had cat ever since, now + 2 dogs. I really would love guinea pigs again !


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## tabelmabel (Oct 18, 2013)

SusieRainbow said:


> I had guinea pigs as a child and adored them. When the last one died we didn't get any more, I was fine with that , we had 2 dogs that I also adored. I was eatbroken wen we became a dog free family but soon afterwards left home and aving any pet ws impractical.
> My daughter had hamsters as a child which I can't sa I bonded with, and my son had fish which left me unmoved.Once I had my own flat , 30 yrs ago , I got a cat an have had cat ever since, now + 2 dogs. I really would love guinea pigs again !


You definitely must get guinea pigs again! They are the most fabulous pets each with their own pigsonality!

These days you can make your own large cages from correx and wire panels (c&c cage) and if you keep your pigs indoors you can see what they get up to easily.

I only have a pair of boars just now but the younger one is neutered so i hope to get a group of females to go with him in time

My favourite breed is the big cuddly rex piggy! I have one rex and one little dutch. They are like piglet and e or !


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

tabelmabel said:


> You definitely must get guinea pigs again! They are the most fabulous pets each with their own pigsonality!
> 
> These days you can make your own large cages from correx and wire panels (c&c cage) and if you keep your pigs indoors you can see what they get up to easily.
> 
> ...


I think my dogs would be scared of piggies !


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## Aahlly (Sep 12, 2014)

I don't know how old you are but I think it's natural to "grow out" of certain pastimes but that doesn't mean not coming back to them in the future. 

I was involved with horses when I was a kid. And I thought I'd grown out of that phase when I was a teenager only to come back to it as an older teen and go on to be really heavily involved and working in the industry. I also thought I had out grown small animals having had many, many of them as a child but in the last few years I've come back round to that interest again too. I don't know. I think our interests can sometimes go in cycles depending on what has to take priority in our lives at the time like school, or work, or partners. Thinking back on it now, I don't think it's necessarily a case of losing interest, just other interests taking over, sometimes temporarily.


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## picaresque (Jun 25, 2009)

I've kept small animals (rats, mice and hamsters) on and off most of my life and I have mice atm, although they are all elderly and I am in two minds about whether to carry on keeping them after this lot die. I'm thirty now but it's a legitimate interest, if a little eccentric, even if most people brush them off as kid's pets.
On the opposite end of the scale I was a typical horse mad little girl from an early age, before I found my true passion which is dogs. I wasn't born into a horsey family and nor did we have any money, which along with being city-based meant my contact with them was minimal but I used to dream of having horses one day, I used to buy horse care books and horsey mags in preparation. I still love them but I've come to realise that even if I'm ever in a situation where I can afford to get involved in horses it sounds like too much hard work, too much to learn and I think I'll just continue to admire them from afar.


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

I find it rather sad when people say they've 'outgrown' their pets.

They are nothing like a Barbie or other toy, they are living things that don't ask to be bought by someone who will end up being 'bored' by them, this is why I am so against parents buying pets for their children.

Although given that some of us know the OP's past history on here it doesn't surprise me in the least that they've got bored with their animals, but at least now they've admitted their mostly ephemeral interest in acquiring new pets on a whim it will certainly be a relief to some members who have had to pick up the pieces (not to mention vet bills) in the past.


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## picaresque (Jun 25, 2009)

Oh wait, is this who I think it is?


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## Blaise in Surrey (Jun 10, 2014)

Why am I not surprised...... :-(


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## TabulaRasa (Apr 1, 2016)

BlueJay said:


> Of course people's interests change and develop as they grow up.
> 
> However, saying there is an age limit on certain animals, or being concerned that other people may think that, is just ridiculous.


I'm not saying there's an age limit on certain animals, rather an age limit on the person keeping them, meaning is there a time when you yourself realise there are other things you should be concentrating on, at least for the forseeable.



Aahlly said:


> I don't know how old you are but I think it's natural to "grow out" of certain pastimes but that doesn't mean not coming back to them in the future.
> 
> I was involved with horses when I was a kid. And I thought I'd grown out of that phase when I was a teenager only to come back to it as an older teen and go on to be really heavily involved and working in the industry. I also thought I had out grown small animals having had many, many of them as a child but in the last few years I've come back round to that interest again too. I don't know. I think our interests can sometimes go in cycles depending on what has to take priority in our lives at the time like school, or work, or partners. Thinking back on it now, I don't think it's necessarily a case of losing interest, just other interests taking over, sometimes temporarily.


That's a good way of putting it actually, and it's perhaps more accurate too, not loose interest but others take over. Who knows it may return one day but I I can see it being a long, long, way off when it does. I'd like to think it will at least a little, I still love small animals and always will, I'm just content to admire them these days rather than own them. I work with dogs and cats so perhaps that's also why my interest has faded so much, I get my fill of pets at work so feel no need for lots myself anymore!



simplysardonic said:


> I find it rather sad when people say they've 'outgrown' their pets.
> 
> They are nothing like a Barbie or other toy, they are living things that don't ask to be bought by someone who will end up being 'bored' by them, this is why I am so against parents buying pets for their children.
> 
> Although given that some of us know the OP's past history on here it doesn't surprise me in the least that they've got bored with their animals, but at least now they've admitted their mostly ephemeral interest in acquiring new pets on a whim it will certainly be a relief to some members who have had to pick up the pieces (not to mention vet bills) in the past.


There's no need for that, I haven't said I've 'got bored' of my current pets, or bought animals that I'm now bored with, I asked if it's possible to feel like you've outgrown having certain pets and if that is why my interest in them has dwindled, a perfectly reasonable and valid question. I don't know why you are dragging up the past either, people do change you know, I 'm not the same person I was five years ago. I have no grievances with any one here, I've grown up and moved on, why can't you?


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

TabulaRasa said:


> I'm not saying there's an age limit on certain animals, rather an age limit on the person keeping them, meaning is there a time when you yourself realise there are other things you should be concentrating on, at least for the forseeable.
> 
> That's a good way of putting it actually, and it's perhaps more accurate too, not loose interest but others take over. Who knows it may return one day but I I can see it being a long, long, way off when it does. I'd like to think it will at least a little, I still love small animals and always will, I'm just content to admire them these days rather than own them. I work with dogs and cats so perhaps that's also why my interest has faded so much, I get my fill of pets at work so feel no need for lots myself anymore!
> 
> There's no need for that, I haven't said I've 'got bored' of my current pets, *or bought animals that I'm now bored with*, I asked if it's possible to feel like you've outgrown having certain pets and if that is why my interest in them has dwindled, a perfectly reasonable and valid question. I don't know why you are dragging up the past either, people do change you know, I 'm not the same person I was five years ago. I have no grievances with any one here, I've grown up and moved on, why can't you?


Actually, you did.



TabulaRasa said:


> Serious question and I've put it here because it's not applicable to dogs and cats. I mean pets like gerbils, mice, rabbits, hamsters etc. is it possible to outgrow these types of animals and decide your too old to be messing around with them? I'm asking because I've always been mad on small animals since I got my first hamster at 5 years old, couldn't imagine ever not having them or wanting them and yet in the last three years or so that's exactly what's happened. I neither have them nor want them and have no inclination or desire to have any ever again, I feel like a little girl whose outgrown her Barbies, I've got too old to be spending time cleaning cages and mollycoddling rabbits and *they've got boring*. I've moved on and got new pastimes completely, the hamsters and rabbits I used to adore and spend hours with hold no interest whatsoever and I wouldn't accept one now if I was offered one. It doesn't worry me but I am curious how someone who couldn't walk past a pet shop without scanning every cage and coming out with something can suddenly go to the extreme opposite of not even glancing in their direction. Has anyone else outgrown their pets and/or their interest in them?


Anyway, it's probably for the best that you've moved on.


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## TabulaRasa (Apr 1, 2016)

simplysardonic said:


> Actually, you did.
> 
> Anyway, it's probably for the best that you've moved on.


Perhaps I should have put can you outgrow the desire to own pets as the title.

Yes, the prospect of owning one has got boring to me, not actually owning one. I said the idea of doing nothing but sitting nursing a rabbit has got boring, in other words lost the appeal it once had. The prospect of getting bored of really owning one isn't even possible as I don't have a rabbit. I have been mad on animals since I was tiny, surely you could understand wanting to know where and why such a lifelong interest has gone? Or would you not be in the slightest bit curious if something you had loved doing all your life suddenly felt dull and meaningless?


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## be_holed (Sep 4, 2017)

I'm 35 and own 2 doops, 2 rabbits and a cat. I've got friends in their 40s & 50s who own small furries too. I think there is a perception these are 'children's pets' but if you've ever owned a rabbit/hamster/rat/piggy/chin/etc etc you know they have just as much character as more 'adult' animals if you spend time with them. Small furries actually fit the lifestyle of someone who is out all day much better and are fascinating to watch and learn about.

I think as you grow up, your priorities just change & that's ok...but you've not outgrown them, you've just changed! I still wouldn't be without mine - they are my furry 4 legged children as I don't have 2 legged ones!


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## grace88 (Jul 8, 2016)

cant say outgrown - just change?

ive had hamsters, rabbits - and ive no interest whatsoever in small fluffy things - they are very very cute and i always " awww" in shops but id never have one

I prefer my dog's...and when I had them - my horses 

Think as you get older some things are seen as too much effort mabey?? some not...some people may think dog's are effort whereas i dont -


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