Pets?

[Mary Metcalfe]

Sage Said:

I can't quite imagine Mr & Mrs Svensons with pets, they might be a bit too house proud;

That's what you have a large house and servants for...
I see Mrs Svenson with a very spoilt, fluffy cat - perhaps a Persian, and the family having 2 dogs. (I think they crop up in a so far unposted fic.)
The Metcalfes in my stories have a house in the countryside outside Winchester, so dogs are no problem for them.
I think both Rhapsody and Symphony would ride, and probably Scarlet and Blue as well.

I received a very interesting book one Christmas as a gift from my dear friend Sarah Svenson. It's called "The Official Preppy Handbook" and it describes the habits of typical "old-money" families such as theirs - in fact Sarah mentioned the book was practically written FOR them! One of the sections deals with pets, and the typical Preppy pet is indeed a dog, specifically a large hunting dog such as our beloved Labrador Humphrey, or perhaps a Golden retriever with a name based on liquor, such as Brandy, Whisky or Jack Daniels (I believe that's an American whisky? You'll have to forgive me, Charles is much more familiar with spirits than I shall ever be).

Anyroad - little fussy dogs such as Yorkshires or chihuahuas are decidedly NOT Preppy according to this book. (Thankfully pugs ARE, but only if there are at least five of them... ) There is also no mention of cats whatsoever, but I could certainly understand resident "working" cats on the estate, particularly where riding stables and hay are concerned. I know our stables always had cats, whether we wanted them or not!

[MMK]

I can see there being quite a large health & safety issue with having animals on board the base other than them getting into the systems. As Chris pointed out in 'Trouble with Mogwai', some people are allergic to certain animals, and even if a pet was kept in a confined area, there is the potential for fur (which carries most of the allergens) to enter the ventilation system.

What about the newly 'invented'/developed hairless animals?... i've forgotten how many they've done so far...
But the down side is the cost of them really ... but at least Mrs. Metcalfe wouldn't have to worry about not being "able to keep that long hair out of every scrap of fabric in this house!"

[Parker Gabriel]

With all said and done, there are most likely no pets permitted on Cloudbase. The Spectrum Organization is an armed military force, after all, and those do tend to have a no-pets policy at the majority of their bases.

[MMK]

With all said and done, there are most likely no pets permitted on Cloudbase. The Spectrum Organization is an armed military force, after all, and those do tend to have a no-pets policy at the majority of their bases.

I can imagine the situation now... (if they did have a pet on Cloudbase - for example, a dog for example):
{thud}
Ochre: Oops.
{blushes}
Blue: Don't tell me you forgot to clean up after Poochie. It was your turn.
{the door to the room opens to reveal a red-faced Colonel White}
White: One more incident like that, and that dog is off this base! This is an operational base, not a pet shelter!
{turns his back to them and walks out of the room. The two Captains watch him as he goes out, they spot a long brown mark on his white uniform}

[Sage]

LOL well yes that would be an important consideration.
Dogs aren't meant to be cooped up anyway, cloudbase might be large but it can't replace long walks in the forest or by the sea. They'd want a playmate too, so the issue would multiply. Then the base would need a vet.
Far more trouble than it's worth.

[luvmylops]

I would love to see how the Spectrum cast would deal with a contingent of wire chewing, carpet digging, furniture gnawing Mini-Lop rabbits!

[MMK]

I would love to see how the Spectrum cast would deal with a contingent of wire chewing, carpet digging, furniture gnawing Mini-Lop rabbits!

I know what would happen in the end... they'd find their way into a ventilation shaft and never be found again - when they are found, there are just the skeletal remains - OR... Rabbit Stew/Shish Kebabs (their 'punishment' for chewing important equipment/stuff).
I'm only joking .

(My apologises to any rabbit lovers or vegetarians reading this)

[Marion]

Never mind rampaging rabbits on Cloudbase! We've got them at home!
We bought them some special chewy cactus for Christmas - so what did they do? Attacked the binding of my books on the dining room bookcase (total destroyed = 3 ) and tipped the Christmas tree over...
Rabbit casserole, anyone?
I wouldn't advise Spectrum to allow Rabbits anywhere near Cloudbase on this showing!

[MMK]

Attacked the binding of my books on the dining room bookcase (total destroyed = 3 ) and tipped the Christmas tree over...

Attacked your books? Evil rabbits.

What you really need, Marion, is this:

(I thought I'd never get to use that emoticon )

[Sage]

Even as a rabbit loving vegetarian I can see you have a point there.

I'm impressed they tipped over a tree, that must have taken some determination. My boy rabbit attacked a christmas tree, but a bauble fell on his head and scared him off.

We now have a mini lop. So far she hasn't destroyed anything, but then she probably hasn't had chance as she's too busy fending off the dog (he's besotted, would sit for hours licking her).

Our other rabbits managed all kinds of fun stuff; to chew wires, bite holes in clothes, get stuck in tiny gaps behind things, etc . Still miss them though.

[Clya Brown]

I was about to put a post on saying in essence "Now that's just getting silly", but then I thought to myself "No, wait a minute: let's try to stay on on topic here - and for all the implied power contained within that ultralumitron terablaster thingy or whatever it is, it still doesn't seem to reduce its target to charcoal for very long, does it*? Unless the little yellow emoticon is being repeatedly mysteronised by the little green emoticon, of course - demonstrating the undesirability of having animals running around Cloudbase that are small enough to evade the mysteron detectors.

[* Not that I wouldn't mind having such a device myself for Christmas: we're the reluctant recipients of half a dozen garden gnomes right now whose practical value would be greatly enhanced from being incendiamorphed into as many small piles of compost. Tell you what, Marion - bring the rabbits over here and we'll play a game of "Guess which gnomes the little blighters are hiding behind".]

[Marion]

You must've heard the expression 'breeding like rabbits', Doc?
The bunnies have survived Christmas and are behaving themselves. Perhaps my threats had some effect, after all.
I have to admit, I used the antics of our Late, Great, Flashkin rabbit, in my story 'More Important than Substance' ( http://www.spectrum-headquarters.com/more_important_than_substance.htm)(a.k.a. - at least by me - as 'Captain Starlight'), although that rabbit wasn't actually on Cloudbase, but the facsimile thereof...
Flashkin ate the telephone wires, cutting us off from the outside world and necessitating a brand new phone. You can just imagine what would happen on the real Cloudbase... those 7th generation plasma computers wouldn't stand a chance!

[Intensity Angel]

As in would the Captains/Angels be allowed to have any?

I remember some mention, in a fanfic, of Rhapsody having tropical fish. Guess that would probably be alright as they are low mantanence, have a self contained habitat etc.
What about other animals though. Guess a dog or cat would be too much, but what about smaller mammals or reptiles.

How do you think the colonel would react... Not mind too much (bit of harmless companionship), or flip out because it violated some rule (health and safety) ?

It's just that I wrote a story revolving around someone having a pet [a hamster] and wondered if that would actually happen.

Your thoughts if you please

Was that the one about Captain Ochre? Because if it is, I've read it.

In the Angels comics , Rhapsody brings a kitten aboard Cloudbase and gets in a ot of trouble. I suppose a dog or a cat is out of the question and isn't Destiny supposed to be allergic to cats?

[Sage]

Yes it was.

I haven't really read the comics but heard about that.
Yeah in fanon Destiny is allergic to animal hair, think that got a mention earlier in the thread.

[Intensity Angel]

Uh oh!! I think I'll have to change a fan fic, on seconds no, I'll leave it as it and let Destiny give Scarlet a beating up after he's got rid of the cat!!