Ok, I have cat (no special breed, just a common house cat) which is kinda the reason I joined these boards. Got her in August 2011.
First some pics:
This is the morning after I got her (how I got her is a long story in itself).
Just a few days later she managed to get to the balcony during the night, fell down, shattered an elbow in one of her front paws, got a clean break on one of the back legs (the part with two bones, so the vet recommended against immobilization) and worst of all a bad concussion which made her temporarily epileptic, blind, and not really know what she was doing. The prognosis was bad, the vet saw now point in operating her elbow but recommended I wait during the weekend if she got better (but it was supposedly unlikely). Well she's a fighter and by Sunday her brain/vision/behaviour was back to normal (actually the first time I knew her vision was back when she followed a laser pointer dot across the floor with her eyes). Took her in for surgery, they took another xray of her hind leg and it was already healing as it should, her elbow was fixed via pins to keep it in place. They couldn't guarantee it would heal perfectly and said shed probably have a bit of a limp. This pic is a few days after surgery.
After that it was mostly taking her to the vet to get her dressing changed and the wound checked for infection. On this pic she's being petted by an ex-friend of mine.
Here she is with her last bandage, unlike her previous ones this one was soft so she could move her injured elbow a bit. Few days later that was gone as were the pins inside (she was also spayed about the same time). For the first few days she kinda didn't know what to do with her 'new' paw but slowly she learned to grab stuff with it to stand on it and everything.
Her trying to go to the gym with me.
Lying on the bed with a toy she captured.
Her on the balcony except now there's a net to prevent any accidents so she can enjoy the view without danger.
Me petting her.
I could upload more pics if anyone wants but personally I think this is enough.
She's also a really nice cat, never scratches people, doesn't like to be home alone, loves my red laser pointer (found out accidentally after I bought new batteries for it and tried it just for fun, this is also the reason I came to this board to get help in finding a safe 405 nm pointer for her and was really surprised by the willingness of most people to help). And for those wondering either it was a really modest vet or a lucky cat because she has no limp on her broken elbow and her brain is completely fine (the back leg was never a concern, it healed in 2 to 3 weeks). All the vet bills were worth it especially since it's partially my fault she fell in the first place (I mean I didn't actually throw her but still). Her only problem is getting to eat her yearly de-worming pills since she hates them and after trying a small piece I totally get her, they are some of the most disgusting pills I've ever tasted.
It post a video of her chasing the red laser dot but it's a bit hard to keep the phone on her and avoid hitting her near the head/eyes (even though the pointer is supposed to be safe for short glancing hits there's no way I'm risking it, the dot stays in-front of her on a surface that produces diffuse reflections)
Oh yes, her name is Piki which translated to English is spot (doesn't have anything to do with Data's cat from TNG, she has an orange spot on her head).
Mine loves watching people vacummee the apartment - she just gets on her 'tree' ang looks at us like shes thinking that we're crazy. She also has a crazy sense for detecting fish. She can be sleeping/playomg/doing whatever when I take a can of tune (has to be plain in wster) she's there in a 20s and even if she just ate she has to take a few bites. Oh and sometimes she gets near a really tall closet and starts mewing until you put her up there. And when she wants down she starts mewing at the edge.
Here's clementine. 13 years old now, not too old for a Psittacus erithacus.
recently I've been trying to teach her to say "I'm a dinosaur!" but she has had trouble with the "Din" part and instead coined, "bird-osaur". so now she says "I'm a bird-osaur!"
she's not the best at mimicing speech (for her species that is), it's harder for her to emulate male voices than female ones, many words she does say are in a female voice. she does pretty darn good with whistles and electronic beebs of all sorts. I cant distinguish between her and the x-box power botton and eject "ding"
unfortunately some of the apartment I've been in were near the dumpster, in earshot of the trash truck, she does a good back-up alarm now
As you can see, I don't trim her wings, even after she flew away once. I think it would be like cutting off your dog's legs or your fish's fins. she was gone 5 days, I had counted her a gonner, then someone called in from having seen my posters and I got her back, unscathed save for a minor sunburn on the exposed parts of her face and very hungry/thirsty. there were also thunderstorms during this time she was gone, and it was not too warm either. she had opened the cage door herself, it was not due to my neglect. (I couldn't sleep at night, I would go out and search until I was too tired to go on or had to work the next day) I think she is less likely to fly away now, but I keep her door padlocked, not only so she can't escape, but parrots are known to have destructive beaks, and she is no exception.
but here I am raving like some sort of animal loving lunatic, on with the pictures
I am a fan of strange pets. I've had hermit crabs, tree frogs, emporer scorpions, (wish I still had those, would be interesting to see what a 405nm laesr does to their exoskeleton, defocused naturally and avoiding their multiple arachnid eyes) black widow spiders, preying mantises, horny toads, (aka horned lizard) and oddly enough at one point, crayfish. dont recomend crayfish except to eat. I've never had a dog or cat
Some pets I think it would be cool to have are mantis shrimp (beautiful and deadly), and cuttlefish/ octopus (octopi?) Oh and chameleons too
A bird won't let you do this unless it trusts you very much. there must be no doubt in it's mine you would never harm it. lots of people don't realize just how interactive pet birds can be, if you have a good relationship with your bird, handling them in ways other than just sitting on your finger or shoulder become possible.
my bird even allows me to hold her upside down by her tail and flight feathers, like a hunter holding a duck he's killed (she has more than enough feathers to suport her weight, it's kinda like scruffing a cat, looks kinda mean but isnt really, IF your bird lets you do it. if i trimmed her flight fethers I wouldnt be able to do it)
I've had ducks before, but be warned, your backyard will become a mess
Yeah birds can be tamed pretty well, I have a cockatiel that will just put his head down for a scratch when you go near his cage, you can pick him up in your hand (not just on your finger) too.