1.
You could try and fake it with a stuffed animal for a while, but it wasn't the same.
2.
Maybe you went the pet rock route, until you realized it was more of an adorable paperweight than a pet.
3.
Betta fish look cool, and you probably got them because they were nicknamed "fighting fish."
4.
Sea monkeys promised pets you could grow yourself, and even train them to do tricks!
And then reality set in. Uh, roll over?
5.
Tamagotchis were the digital solution to your problem, until you left it in your bookbag for a week and it died.
6.
The pet snake strategy: if it creeped out your parents enough, maybe they'd let you trade it in for a puppy.
7.
You discovered the word "pet" in "chia pet" is pure trickery, because those little bastards are not pets but PLANTS.
8.
Ant farms were cool, and even educational. Like when you learned that you still can't pet an ant.
9.
You could observe the majesty of metamorphosis through caterpillar kits.
And just when your pets turned into awesome butterflies, you had to let them go.
10.
Birds were what your parents got you when you asked for a pet and they decided what you really needed was an alarm clock.
11.
It's possible your parents relented on the "nothing with fur" front and let you get a gerbil.
12.
Maybe you even got a chinchilla. But like, really? Why not just get a cat at that point?
13.
And then, the nuclear option: instead of a pet, you got a sibling.
