Yup I left my dog Iris at home in SoCal with my sister and her kids. I regretted that, she got out of my sister's yard and took off forever. Then my landlord at the time tells me "Oh you can have a dog if you want."

D'oh!

I had to leave my kitty at home when I went to college. She quickly moved on to snuggling with my mom instead. Whenever I go home, she still takes a day or two to "remember" me, and then she makes a point to sleep on my bed every night that I'm there.

I had to leave both of my dogs with my mom. I get sad specially when I see other people with their dogs but I luckily live relatively close by so I can see them often. They are always so excited to see me. My mom is living by herself so I think it is nice to have the dogs around

It breaks my heart, but I had to leave my oldest cat with my parents. I didn't want to do it, but my cat is now coming up on 21 years old (yikes!) and when I moved the distance was such that it would've been too much of a shock, and too cruel for such a mellow, aged kitty.

Not that having my parents spoil her is a bad "retirement" plan for her, anyway.

I left a dog and three cats there. Though I don't think they miss me much. I had two younger sisters, and a stay at home mom. There were plenty of people around and they all had each other!

Yes, I had to leave my dog with my parents when I went to college. And now my kitty and childhood dog do not get along. At all. So he is still at mom and dad's. *sigh*

I also had to leave my childhood dog at home when I moved out. She is pretty attached to me but also to my mom. My dog is 18 yrs old so it was better to separate her from me than from my mom AND our house. I live near by so I go see her and my family as often as I can.

I left my pug at home with my parents when I moved out of their house. They are so in love with that dog I can't take him away from them. They live down the street so I get to see him every day. Since they kept him I was able to adopt dogs who needed homes.

Oh stop! Just thinking about my dog Holly breaks my heart. I'm in Australia for a year and she's back home with my parents. I knew I would miss her most of all. Everyone else can call or email but Holly has no idea where I am

My puppy stayed with my mom, I moved across the country and that would not have been a good trip for her to take (she gets nervous easily).

She's better off with my mom too, she lives alone and can use the companionship.

Every time I go back to visit, it's cute Princess gets all excited and doesn't leave me alone for a minute. She also gets jealous when I go and hug my mom goodbye because she wants to be included.

Mine stayed with my parents. I couldn't take her to college and she was so accustom to being at my mom and dad's that it was best for her. Of course that was almost 20 years ago! Now all my pets are with me!

I did.. I moved out to another state with my aunt, who told me I could bring her after (i was flying), when my father came to visit. Turns out she lied, and changed her mind later. I was still working on getting a steady job and my own place, I had no choice but to leave her. I LOVED her, and cried several times, but it was better for her.. its not fair to leave animals alone for hours and hours in an empty apartment/house, and she really bonded with my mother. It would have been shocking to rip her away from a house full of noise and chaos (4 kids, upteen amount of friends, 5 dogs, etc) and then leave her to her own divices for 8 hours while I was at work.

Yes, I had to leave my beloved Persian mix kitty, Jasper, at home when I went off to college. He had slept with me pretty much every night since I was like 7 or 8 years old. He was so tolerant of me. He let me carry him around like a baby and he even let me dress him up (I liked to put baby bonnets on him ). I used to like to carry him around in a backpack too, and he would just hang out with me. One time I even caught him snuggled up with my dutch dwarf bunny after I accidently left them loose in the house together (the bunny was potty-trained BTW).

Jasper developed cancer while I was away at school and got very sick very fast. There was no treatment, and he lost tons of weight within a matter of a week or two. My mom and the vet decided that the best thing for him was to put him down as he was deteriorating so quickly and he stopped eating. I jumped in my car ASAP after my midterm so I could drive the 6 hours to be with him. When I saw him, I could not believe my eyes. I had just seen him about a month previous, and he looked fine, but he now looked like a different cat. I didn't want to believe that he was sick enough to be put to sleep, but when I saw him, I knew. I was so glad I had been able to say goodbye and be there with him at the vet the next day.

Could never.
But I do have some relatives who left their dogs with family members and then adopted new dogs.
What's up with that?

I had to leave my kitty cat Thor at my parents house when I moved out. The place I moved into didn't allow pets, and plus Thor was an outdoor/indoor cat, and my parents have a big yard with lots of gardens and two other cats to play with. So, I figured it would be best if he stayed there. He sleeps in my brothers room instead of mine now, but for the first year or so I was gone, he still slept in my old room.