H and I have wanted a dog forever. We've been waiting until we own our own home. Now that we do, we've been talking about it more. We're a little concerned though, because of Box Kitty. For those that don't know, Box Kitty has a pretty rare neurological disorder called Feline Hyperaesthesia Syndrome. It causes her her back half (basically from just beyond her shoulder blades all the way down) to be hypersensitive at times, she sometimes hallucinates, and she twitches when she gets stressed out (I'm talking like big, half body twitches--it's really kind of disturbing). The vet says that she shouldn't be in pain (some minor discomfort when she twitches, but nothing that really changes the quality of her life), and that she could be medicated with psych meds to help control it. We've been avoiding that, and dealing with it by trying to manage her stress instead. It's gone pretty well, but we can still tell when she's stressed (when we're working a lot, gone a lot, etc), and she'll twitch.
We talked to the vet about other pets, and he said that it could be a really good thing-she'd have company while we're gone, someone to play with, etc. But she's 4 years old, and has been our only pet for 4 years. She's a diva, and she's really territorial. We're concerned that introducing a new pet into the home will stress her out completely. The vet said that the transition would likely be stressful, but that it would probably get better, and again, could be better than keeping her as the only pet in the long run...but maybe not.
Our new house has 3 floors, and we could easily keep a dog out of one of them completely, giving Box Kitty her own space. We really want a dog, but not at the expense of Box Kitty's mental and physical health. We also really like the idea of having a companion pet for her, hoping it would reduce her stress. She's our first priority, pets wise. WWYD?
Everything the light touches is my kingdom.