As a city kid growing up in the 1940's and 1950's

[senior citizen]

As a city kid growing up in the 1940's and 1950's into early 1960's, did any of you have a kitten or cat for a pet????? Or just puppies and dogs?

We grew up in the city and actually hated cats as the only cats we saw were outdoor cats called "alley cats".......seriously. Everyone had a dog....raised from puppy stage.

After we were married in 1965, we always had puppies and dogs.....every breed imaginable.

Ditto for when our children were born and very young.......but then in the mid 1970's to early 1980's we switched to kittens and cats.....and they were characters.
Actually, they were much easier to have around or to leave when we went away........other neighborhood kids would feed them, etc. We miss all of our pets.........especially the cats.

Anyway, does anyone have any alley cat memories from the above posted era? Why did we dislike cats so much???

I'm sure the rural folks out there did have cats at home, right?
Barn cats, etc.

[2BNTV]

We had two dogs. ChuckieI and ChuckieII. They were both run over by cars as they were so fat they couldn't get out of the way.

The funny part of that was my mother didn't know that dogs were suppose to be fed once per day. She fed them three meals a day and that's why they were fat.

I don't particularly remember people having cats. If they did, they were outsie cats and were kept mostly out of the house.

I suspect most people back then preferred dogs as they were more lovable and didn't require people picking up after them like they are required to do today.

[senior citizen]

We had two dogs. ChuckieI and ChuckieII. They were both run over by cars as they were so fat they couldn't get out of the way.

The funny part of that was my mother didn't know that dogs were suppose to be fed once per day. She fed them three meals a day and that's why they were fat.

I don't particularly remember people having cats. If they did, they were outsie cats and were kept mostly out of the house.

I suspect most people back then preferred dogs as they were more lovable and didn't require people picking up after them like they are required to do today.

Were they cocker spaniels??? Sounds like they were somehow related to my "Mitzi" who I think my mom named after Mitzi Gaynor, the actress.

Mitzi also was very very large and also ate all of our leftovers......and then some.

After she died, at a ripe old age.........they got us another dog....but when he "took a fit" they told us he went to "live on a farm" a classic story in those days when they gave the dog away.

So sad.

[ladylake1]

Never had a dog. Never had a cat. BUT had chickens, rabbits, and ducks in a shed/coop in our small town back yard. fun to play with however they all ended up on the dinner table. Maybe that's why we never had dogs or cats.

[2BNTV]

Never had a dog. Never had a cat. BUT had chickens, rabbits, and ducks in a shed/coop in our small town back yard. fun to play with however they all ended up on the dinner table. Maybe that's why we never had dogs or cats.

We had a rabbit that wound up on the dinner table. The small kids were told it was chicken but it was the rabbit in question. :smiley:

[gomoho]

Had a cat in the 50's as a child - don't have a clue where it came from. My only vivid recollection of this cat was it attacked my hand, my mother threw it down the basement stairs and called someone to take it away. How horrible!!!

Later in life, when my daughter was about 7, we got a kitten for her from the pound and we loved that cat.

At this point we are dog people, but cats are so much easier!

[swrinfla]

There was always a dog - most likely a beagle - when I grew up. In college, my roommate and I adopted a mutt, who inevitably became Mother's responsibility!

When I married, my bride and I realized that we just weren't going to walk a dog from our 3rd floor apartment! So, cats came into our lives.

That was in late 1958. There's very little time since then that there hasn't been a feline in residence!

The current Cat suits me to no end! She takes care of herself, even though I do have to clean up her litter pans; she sleeps with me, but doesn't really fuss if I inadvertently kick her off the bed!

To me, a Cat is the best companion!

SWR
:beer3:

[Patty55]

Were they cocker spaniels??? Sounds like they were somehow related to my "Mitzi" who I think my mom named after Mitzi Gaynor, the actress.

Mitzi also was very very large and also ate all of our leftovers......and then some.

After she died, at a ripe old age.........they got us another dog....but when he "took a fit" they told us he went to "live on a farm" a classic story in those days when they gave the dog away.

So sad.

When we lived in the Bronx we had a dog that also went to "the farm". That must have been one huge farm.

[ConeyIsBabe]

Up 'till the age of 19, when I moved out of my parents' "home" I grew up in The Projects in Brooklyn and The Bronx. NO PETS ALLOWED ! :shrug:

[chuckinca]

On Da South Side of Chi town in the early 50's we had an alley cat and an alley dog that both lived in the shed off the alley. When we moved a few miles East they didn't make the trip. The dog was a long haired springer mix named Freckles. The cat was named Mama.

.

[senior citizen]

On Da South Side of Chi town in the early 50's we had an alley cat and an alley dog that both lived in the shed off the alley. When we moved a few miles East they didn't make the trip. The dog was a long haired springer mix named Freckles. The cat was named Mama.

.

Finally, one who had an alley cat. Just kidding.
My Ukrainian grandmother did have a houseful of cats and kittens.
I'm pretty sure she kept them as "mousers"........

I never saw her give them any "cat food" like we have nowadays, such as "Fancy Feast" out of a can, etc.

She only seemed to give them "evaporated milk out of a can"......in a little bowl.

I still remember visiting and sitting on a bench next to her big staircase that wound around to the upstairs. The kittens jumped on me from the top of the balcony and scared the heck out of me. I was about 4 years old. She's the only one I knew who had cats indoors.

My Italian relatives had no pets at all that I can recall except for the pigeons my grandmother had on the roof of her tenament.

I still don't know why they raised pigeons in New York City.