This is why

You should never consider a pet a mistake. Pets are good for teaching responsibility and accountability. Whem my mom gave me Precious, she made me totally responsible for everything and held me accountable to it. She paid for, and did the things I wasn't legally allowed to do as a minor of course )like vet visits) but she kept me part of the process by taking me along, allowing me to ask my own questions, and learn how reconize things.

i'm sorry about that. my parents never let me have a dog because they thought that i didn't have enough time to take care of it and that it'll be left for them to take care of the dog, taking him out for walks and everything. dogs are much work, but they're amazing. however, i did take care of birds, fish(es) and cat

We always lived in apartments. My parents certainly did not want me to have a pet but I would have enjoyed at least a nice quiet kitty,

It isn't just the food nowadays but the vaccinations and all the other costs. It's nice for kids to have pets but ....

That's a pity that the cats were not cared for. Have a good weekend.

I support the rule parents must want the pets first, after all children are still too young to be responsible. Personally, I'd say before the age of 25 but I might be too extreme.

I begged my parents for a dog. My dad was always the one who didn’t want to get one, but next to me, he was also the one who ended up loving them the most.

That is a good reason.

I grew up with dogs. But for my own family, we couldn't . . . the kids had severe fur allergies . . . even with dogs that they say have hypoallergenic fur. We ended up with parakeets here.