My best advice to plea came from our friend Greg.

"If you’re going to get a pet, get something YOU like."

“But that’s a defeatist attitude!” said my husband, scornfully.

Well, yep, it is. I am the first one to admit that I should have shown stronger parenting skills when it came to cage-cleaning, feeding, bathing and shots. Why didn’t I enforce the “it’s your pet, YOU clean the cage” rule more forcefully?

I think life just got in the way. I’d think we were going to clean the hamster cage on Saturday morning, but I forgot she had ballet rehearsal. Or I thought we could trim the cat’s toenails after I did the ironing, but she had a friend over. I guess you pick your battles with your kids, and this wasn’t one I chose.

The reason I really like this advice, to “get something you like,” is that we’ve had several pets that I just didn’t like. I did end up doing a lot of the work involved. Now we have two dogs and two cats, and I love them to pieces. So which pets didn’t work, for me?

Hamsters

Don’t get me wrong: they are terminally cute. But boy, can those suckers bite. My daughter would have to don heavy leather gloves to catch them and then put them in a temporary box while we emptied out the chips (oh-so-messy), water dishes, and feeders. For such little rodents, they are stinky.

Rats

Okay, I have to admit, he did seem intelligent, and he was nice and quiet, but I could never get over the fact that he was a rat. And the cage-cleaning was still the same chip nightmare.

Birds

Our first bird was a lovely canary we named Elvis. Yes, he was a wonderful singer. He was great, aside from the (here it comes) cage-cleaning. We made the mistake of getting other birds after Elvis. They were nasty screamers and seed-kickers. Your vacuum cleaner really gets a workout when you have a bird. They get seed everywhere.

Rabbits

Boy, you think a cat can scratch, but they have nothing on a rabbit. I love to look at them. I love other people’s rabbits. Again, we have the hutch or cage-cleaning issue. But they are delicious. (I’m JUST KIDDING. Calm down.)

Some pets did work out fine.

Fish

They made it into my “okay” category. Let’s still remember, though, that you need to clean the aquarium, another stinky job.

Chickens

To me they have always been livestock, but we have friends who have them as pets. Needless to say, they do not eat chicken.

Cats

Cats are great, in my book. They are pretty darn easy, aside to the damage they do to the furniture. Unfortunately, they often require a litter box, another disgusting thing to clean.

Dogs

For great companionship, I don’t think any pet beats a dog. There is just something about them. We laugh at ours every day, and they always are happy to see you.

When you are considering adopting any pet, I urge you to be a responsible owner and factor in these things:

• Do I have time to deal with this pet?
• Do I have the money? 

Even a tiny hamster requires a cage, chips, food and toys. I can’t remember the last time we left the vet’s office for under eighty bucks. Good-quality food is really important, as are the flea/tick and heartworm medications.

If this post hasn’t scared you off (and I really hope it hasn’t, because I really believe pets are wonderful), check out your local animal rescue organization or Humane Society.