I think my 3 cats really help me calm down when I have paper deadlines, stupid events to deal with and tragic news from family, friends etc. They come and sit next to me quietly, or sometimes run around and play silly games. Lovely...

Do you have pets?

Me and my boyfriend have two cats and one we are fostering for a cat rescue until she gets a home. From this weekend we are looking after my aunts cat while she is in new zealand for 3 months.

At my mums we have 8 cats including my holly who I got when I was 11. I can't imagine a house without cats!

I also have two gerbils and a degu.

sounds lovely But don't you find it difficult to keep the cats and degu/gerbils together?

I have a cat who is as old as my project. I got her in the 1st week or so since I knew I would be at home more, by myself. When she was a kitten she used to attack the key board when I was typing and chew the edge of my books & glasses. Now she is all grown up and sits quietly on my lap whilst I am at my desk on days I am at home. I definately think pets have a massive theraputic effect.

I'd like one but I'm really squeamish about animal turds. My brother's dog craps on every horizontal surface and it makes me heave.

I'd get one of those robo-dogs if I had 5000 quid lying around.

I have 2 cats and a gerbil. They are fantastic. I think life is much happier when you have crazy pets to laugh about and cuddle!

I have two pet goldfish and I spoil them rotten. One of them is a beautiful Crown Pearlscale and will grow to the size of an orange (it is about satusma sixed now!) The other is a 'Black Moor'with big pop-out eyes' as is about 4" long.

They live in a huge tank -about 20 gallons in my bedroom and always swim around waiting for me to feed them. They swim around my hand when I put it in the tank too.

They're so relaxing.

I'll stop this embarassing rant about my fish now...

lol @ chrisrolinski. You have to tell us their name too

The big orange one is called Marmalade...

The other one doesn't have an offical name. I wanted to have Marmalade on her own in the tank as a precious, spoilt treasure...but a friend got me another for my birthday as I had sooo much space. So I have called it Marmite....but don't use the name....it is always 'The other' no matter how pretty and nice it actually is....

My gerbils and degu live at my mums in my old bedroom. The cats do sometimes mess with them through the bars but they aren't too bad with them. The degu lives in a big convert parrot cage thats taller than me so he can easily escape them.

One of my gerbils is called marmite!

What is a Degu?

http://www.degus.org/

I really really really really want a dog, but can't face the thought of poopascoop.

Pea, if you can't face the though of the scoop, you could just use your hands

Oh! They're so cute! For anybody in Manchester I heartily recommend the pet shop on Stockport Road opposite the Carling Apollo. It has a wide range of reptiles, birds, fish and mammals including Parrots, Toucans, marine fish, frogs, tortoises, sugar gliders, snakes....the works....it is like a little zoo and is a favourite place to visit on a lunch break....