FIRE one year and biggest MISTAKE

[ricthemic]

Fire at 58 last spring. Wife last fall. Four kids through college, married on their own. Sold primary house and moved to Cape house with no mortgage. Hate NE winters and always planned on renting in FL for a couple of months. Here we are in March looking at our biggest mistake to our plan, Buddy and Penny. We gave up in January trying to rent a decent place that would allow mans best friend and we don't blame them for not renting, we do not stay in dog friendly hotels since we found ticks and fleas in our room/bed once. We had them for over twelve years. They sleep all day and night (we do walk them once a day when it is not snowing sleeting or freezing).
Point of this posting is my advice to future FIREs who want to travel.
If you are going to FIRE with in 15 years do not get a dog. Or especially two dogs cause I swear they enjoy each other so much that they are going to live along time. You animal lovers don't bother attacking me. We love these dogs but never realized what would happen when all the kids moved out.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricthemic You animal lovers don't bother attacking me. We love these dogs but never realized what would happen when all the kids moved out.

Reminds me of the old joke about when life begins...

[OAG]

We love animals but got so attached in the past. Last dog we had for 16 years and he never stayed away from home for a single day or night. Went everywhere with us (was born in Alaska). When he passed we said to each other, as much as we loved animals, and really wanted one again, it would be best, to be fair to them, not to get another one. That was about 23 years ago and we have gotten along just fine without one. Our kids have them and when we visit we spoil the animals for them (try not to do it too much, spoil the animals, that is).

[CuppaJoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricthemic .... Buddy and Penny. We gave up in January trying to rent a decent place that would allow mans best friend ....

Plan B, rent an indecent place? Kidding, but it does sound interesting.

You seem like good pet owners, they do come first in your plans.

Any chance your kids could pet sit while you travel?

[freebird5825]

My 2 furry kids are aged 10 and 9. Right now we board them, but only for short term trips.
Your post is very timely...dh2b asked me just the other day if I would want to get another dog after they go to doggie heaven in a few years. I immediately said yes, of course, but only one. He pointed out that we would want to travel more for longer periods in 10 years when he retires. oh, yeah.
So as much as I love dogs, you and dh2b are absolutely right. If I need dog contact, I can always go volunteer at the shelter. All I have to do is refrain from rescuing one.

[Purron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricthemic Fire at 58 last spring. Wife last fall. Four kids through college, married on their own. Sold primary house and moved to Cape house with no mortgage. Hate NE winters and always planned on renting in FL for a couple of months. Here we are in March looking at our biggest mistake to our plan, Buddy and Penny. We gave up in January trying to rent a decent place that would allow mans best friend and we don't blame them for not renting, we do not stay in dog friendly hotels since we found ticks and fleas in our room/bed once. We had them for over twelve years. They sleep all day and night (we do walk them once a day when it is not snowing sleeting or freezing). Point of this posting is my advice to future FIREs who want to travel. If you are going to FIRE with in 15 years do not get a dog. Or especially two dogs cause I swear they enjoy each other so much that they are going to live along time. You animal lovers don't bother attacking me. We love these dogs but never realized what would happen when all the kids moved out.

I'm an animal lover and am NOT going to attack you. I wish more people thought about the long term committment before getting pets. Better not to adopt them if you later have regrets or have to give them up to a shelter when they are old. I volunteer at the animal shelter and see many cats and dogs given up for these reasons. It's very sad for the animals and sometimes even sadder for the people who have to give them up.

[kumquat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Reminds me of the old joke about when life begins...

I've heard two punch lines, only one involves a canine

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I never thought we would remain dogless after losing ours 2 years ago, but every time we think of getting one we stop ourselves, mostly for the reasons you mentioned.

Closest we come in our fantasy world is to maybe get one when our active travel days are mostly over, or maybe if we live near some of the kids and we can trade dogsitting. Til then, it would be a bad idea.

[shoe]

DH and I are cat people to the hilt, but having to put down our two 18 year old cats within a year of each other, took all the wind out of our sails. We don't ever want to go thru that again. Instead we cat sit for our cat loving kids!

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricthemic We love these dogs but never realized what would happen when all the kids moved out.

In case anyone is wondering about other pets, our kid is moving out in about 520 days but her rabbit is disgustingly healthy. He's probably pushing eight years old by now (we got him from the humane society) and could easily go another 3-4 years. We've even seen 14-year-old bunnies...

[W2R]

Macaws can be really difficult for travelers because they live to be 75+ years old, and not everyone is able to care for one properly. Luckily, when I divorced my ex took both of our macaws so I do not have to worry about them.

[bbbamI]

No more furry kitlets for us. One is 13 and the other is 17. I know I'll go through withdrawal when I don't have a pet, but I'm not getting any younger. If I got another pet after my two are gone, it might outlive me....

[tuixiu]

We've got 1 dog and 2 cats all getting up there in years but doing fine.

We thought we'd spend a few years without dogs after retiring to get the travel bug out of us, then maybe regrow the family.

[Koolau]

I can identify with the feelings expressed here. Last kitty passed on just before ER. I would be willing to live through that loss again for the love and companionship that pets provide. But, until we are completely stable, I could not adopt another critter.

In practical terms, cats are easier to leave behind durning travel. Over the years, we found that healthy cats do fine with just a slit-open bag of food, open toilets and a large clean litter box. Have gone as long as 2 weeks like that. More often, we've had friends look in on the "kids" when we're gone. Wouldn't ask a friend to clean a litter box so we would have a replacement prepared for each week of absence.

Love dogs, but they are just too much commitment - especially for travel.

Would love to get a pet some day. We'll see.

[Purron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords In case anyone is wondering about other pets, our kid is moving out in about 520 days but her rabbit is disgustingly healthy. He's probably pushing eight years old by now (we got him from the humane society) and could easily go another 3-4 years. We've even seen 14-year-old bunnies...

Nords, I've heard you mention that rabbit many times and know he's been a handful. I've heard the typical rabbit lives about 10 years. Never seen a picture though. Just curious what he looks like.

As much as I love animals, one thing that's kind of a downer is how we sometimes measure our remaining life with them. For example, I wouldn't adopt a young cat now as it may outlive me or I would be too old to care for it for its entire lifespan. Dang, I think I need one of Dawg's meds

[Khan]

I have one cat (11 y o). He will not be replaced.

[janetvj]

I have 2 dogs, and a cat. Had 2 of them, too, but my 15 year old passed away just before Christmas, and I'm not ready yet for another. I really can't imagine my life without having animals around. And having adult kids, I figure that's what they're for - to take care of the pets while I'm traveling. Granted, that plan doesn't work for extended stays, but it works fine for a week or 2 at a time.

[dex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricthemic Point of this posting is my advice to future FIREs who want to travel. If you are going to FIRE with in 15 years do not get a dog. Or especially two dogs cause I swear they enjoy each other so much that they are going to live along time. You animal lovers don't bother attacking me. We love these dogs but never realized what would happen when all the kids moved out.

Sorry for your pain. Maybe you should try what my parents would do with me - take me to the park, beach, and museums.

Unfortunately, for them, I always found my way home.

[FurBall]

I have two 11 yr old cats. One has heart and stool problems and requires medicine at least twice a day. I have a great cat sitter but it is expensive to have someone come twice a day. We swear we won't get any more cats after these two. But I know that's unlikely. I come from a long line of suckers -- we can't resist a stray. The kitty portion of my budget is characterized as a necessity rather than discretionary.

[Martha]

Wonder how many people buy motorhomes for the pets.

I swear 95% of the people in the park that I am in now have dogs. Some of them bike around with the dogs in little baby carry pouches or in their bike baskets. Not that there is anything wrong with that.