Where do you start?!?!?! Dogs, cats, birds, but mainly dogs and cats! First, for those of you who think cats are aloof and don't make fun pets - you're wrong! Second, cats are just as trainable as dogs. While we grew up with dogs, once I moved out into an apartment, if I wanted a pet, it usually had to be cats. I would someday like to have a bird like a parrot, but they are usually prohibited, too.
As a kid, we had parakeets, but I wanted something you could hug and pet! So much so, that when I held a neighbor's cat like it was a baby (on its back), it bit me and sliced a finger open. Fortunately, it had been vaccinated for rabies, so all I had to get was a tetanus shot. I was about 4 or 5 then, so that was traumatic! Didn't put me off animals, though. :-)
A year or two later, I was chased at a forest preserve by a large dog. Once I stopped running, I was okay, but dogs have that strong chase instinct, even if it didn't want to hurt me. And later, as a young teen, I went to my sister's girlfriend's house, and her large boxer chased me through the house until I finally was trapped on their back porch. Scared me silly, but it just licked me. LOL
One summer vacation, I found a slug in our yard. In Illinois (maybe just in our yard) slugs are only about an inch long. They are like snails without shells. Or like slimy caterpillars. I didn't care, I liked insects, just not spiders or stinging ones like bees. I kept it in a jar with some mud and grass. We went to California for 2 weeks, and I had asked my grandmother to keep the mud wet, but she forgot. When we got home, the mud was dried solid! I watered it anyway, and a day or so later, the slug came out! Kewl! I set him free then.
My brother brought home the class rabbit over Easter holidays one year. Augie was cute, but had little personality, so we easily grew bored with him. Also, my mother was allergic to rabbits, so there went that idea. :-(
I found a stray dog, and put him in our garage, without my parents knowing. In trying to get him in there, he ended up biting me. I never told my parents about that! But, they found Scout and ended up calling the pound, because we couldn't have pets at that point, living in my grandmother's house.
So we had many little experiences, like lizards and sick wild birds, too, but never the full thing. But, as my grandmother got older, she developed senility, and after a few years, my dad decided it would be okay to get a dog! Wow! We were ecstatic!
On a sad note, anyone who has ever had pets knows that sooner or later they will pass away, whether from old age or illness or accidents. :-(
When my first cat, Mittsy, was dying, I needed someone to talk
to and I found a wonderful newsgroup called alt.support.grief.pet-loss. On the
forum, I found a wonderful sentiment called Rainbow
Bridge. It gave me a lot of comfort, so I pass it on.