It's what moms do.
However, we can't forget our FUR BABIES. I know there are a lot of families who don't have pets, and that's fine I totally understand not having pets. It's a TON of work. It is also an extra money sucking decision. Most of the time my pets are the honest to goodness reason I'm losing my mind. Dog hair, the barking, or constantly trying to kill me as I walk, destroying dog toys and leaving poofy stuffing all over the house that I JUST CLEANED UP, or toilet paper, or cat litter. Thanks guys. Thanks for the EXTRA added messes, like I needed any help with that at all. If THEY get out the door and take off it causes absolutely mass hysteria and I have to chase them down and the kids completely thing I have lost my ever loving mind. (Truth is, I think I lost my mind about 6 pets and three kids ago...sooooo there isn't much hope there, ok?)
Below are pics of me with each of my furry lil ladies! Karmen, River, and Molly.
Those of us that DO have pets, also know the benefits that come with all of that pet hair, muddy paw prints, stepping on little random bits of dry dog or cat food that some how managed to get scattered on the dining room floor, etc. There are pluses to having a pet.
I've always had pets in my life, and I can't imagine life without a pet or four or five....life would seem sooo quiet and boring. It's what I've always known.
I find fish to be rather calming. I don't really care to have fish, but my kids want a new beta fish (our beta fish died from old age last year). I suck at remembering their tank needs to be cleaned at least once a week. Eh. Sorry fishy fishy? Fish are just so quiet. I forget they are there. I do, however, like the calming affect they can have on a person who is having a bad or hectic day. Though, beta fish are kind of boring because there is only one fish in the tank...and they don't do a whole lot. I find a larger tank with a few more fish is a bit more fun yet still calming. However...I don't trust fish tanks that are over a gallon (OMG can you imagine those bigger tanks busting and all that water flooding your home? NOOOO THANK YOU!!!) So we stick with beta fish. They are just the right fish for us.
I thought about getting a hermit crab once. I still think it's a fun idea. But I have a bad feeling that hermit crap would end up loose in my house and batted around the dining room by one of my cats, which would then upset three children. Sooo thus far....no hermit crab.
Husband says HELL TO THE NO on getting a pet snake (kill joy!) and he says no pet tarantula's either *Shudder* I have to agree on that one. I would end up squashing that sucker with a SHOE.
No lizards are allowed as pets either. Husband says they are too much like snakes, and it's not happening. Darn. I kind of like lizards! He also says no turtles because they can give your kids salmonella poisoning. (I had a pet turtle growing up and that turtle was AWESOME had him for years!! Never once made me sick!)
The kids want a rabbit. I'd love to have a rabbit, I grew up with rabbits and it was so much fun having a soft bunny rabbit to pet!
I had guinea pigs growing up too, and I love them. My daughter really wants a guinea pig, and if we can ever find the one she wants, we'll let her get one because she is a very mature and responsible pet owner.
We've had teddy bear hamsters (LOVE THEM!) my daughters hamster caught a repertory infection and it passed away half way through it's life span which broke our heart. Rhino was a good hamster who is dearly missed, but he left this world too soon. Before my daughter was born, my husband and I had a teddy bear hamster named Snowflake, and he lived for four and a half years before he died on Christmas eve in my hands. I wept like a baby (I was also pregnant at the time and didn't know it yet either). Called my husband at work sobbing my eyes out like it was the end of the world. Dude, he was a SPOILED hamster he had everything a hamster could ever ever want.
Had a pet gerbil once as a teenager. NOT my favorite pet. Didn't really care for them, they didn't have the greatest attitudes. Kept a wild mouse as a pet once though when I was a teenager, that didn't last long...my cat got him.
I had a pet chicken once. One of those ugly white chickens raised for butchering. I threw a FIT when I found out why my Grandmother and Mother were raising them, and I chose that particular hen to 'pardon' and keep off the chopping block. She ended up having five chicks later on. They weren't very smart chicks because apparently they thought they were ducks and tried to swim in the chicken water-er, and they drowned. Chicks, do not swim. So I have to explain to my children often, they cannot have a pet chicken (they really want one, and it's not happening).
I had a pet goat and a pet sheep at my Grandma's growing up. They were a lot of fun! Until the sheep started head butting me and knocking me down, then that was not so fun anymore (I was like 5 at the time).
We had a pet ring neck dove when I was growing up too. Well, there were actually two of them but the male got away one spring when my Mother was transferring them to their outdoor enclosure, but...he lost his tail feathers in the process so we're pretty sure he didn't survive. However Dovey, the female remaining, lived for YEARS and YEARS. She didn't pass away until I was like 18 years old.
TONS and TONS of cats. My Mother was the annoying cat lady in town. I am NOT a fan of cats generally. I'm not mean to them, but they aren't my favorite usually. We had so many cats outside it was ridiculous. I grew up in a smaaaaaall country town so there were mice, you would have thought that with that many cats no mice or rat would have come NEAR our home. Yeh. Right. Our cats were lazy little pests.
I had a pet rat once, a pretty tame black and white one named Pixie Dust. I loved her to pieces! She was the SWEETEST rat ever! She'd sit on my shoulder and I could do chores with her sitting there. She was just so awesome. Unfortunately....she managed to get the lid off of her water bottle one weekend while my husband (well then he was my boyfriend) were out of town, and he had forgotten to close his bedroom window all the way (in NOVEMBER, he's a hot blooded guy and tries to always crack a window). Anyway...poor Pixie ended up soaking wet and in a cold and chilly room so unfortunately...she ended up getting sick and dying, and I was crushed. I've always wanted another pet rat but my husband refuses (he liked Pixie Dust though) but he just doesn't want another rat and that's ok).
I had numerous dogs growing up. They came and they went. Parvo killed some, cars on gravel roads got others, and others simply just came up missing and were presumed dead (shot by a farmer, or hit by a car on another gravel road and just limped off somewhere and died? Perhaps taken out by a coyote? We never knew for sure).
However, currently we have three dogs (well four if you count our current foster dog, her name is Miss Molli, she's a yorkie/weiner mix that is SEARCHING FOR A HOME. She's about 5 months old now I think. She's spayed, and had most of her shots (a few more and she'll be all caught up and she's working on those). She's a cutie pie. She cracks me up with her puppy antics and her fluffy full time cuteness, you cannot be mad at her, like...ever because she's too dang cute.
MY three dogs currently, are my Molly Marie, who is a rat/jack terrier mix. She will be five years old in May. She is a GROUCH. She isn't a fan of children most of the time, and you DO NOT touch her kennel when she is in it, ooooh no big mistake. She also HATES the vacuum and tries to murder it every time it is turned on. She's also a bit on the chunky side and could do with losing several pounds (hey so could I, so I don't give her a hard time about her waist, and she doesn't give me a hard time about mine!) Molly was rescued from a back yard breeder when she was five weeks old. The guy was going to kill her and her siblings because they weren't what they were looking for. My husband brought home Molly. We're so glad he did. She's a good dog! She always knew when Circus Son #1 was about to have a seizure and she never left his side. When Circus Son #2 had cancer scans coming up she was the only one he'd snuggle with. My daughter loved Molly just because she was playful but well behaved and would let my daughter brush her and play with her. When the kids do their home work Molly has to be RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL.
Molly is the mostly solid white dog, and Karmen is the red and white fluffy looking one.
Then there is Karmen. We rescued her when we moved into the place we've been at for the past three years. She was being abused by her old owners and they didn't want her anymore. Karmen is some kind of eskimo dog mixed with a rat terrier. She has a permanent limp to one of her back legs due to an injury her old owners gave her as a puppy, and there isn't any fixing it. It doesn't bother her, so we don't worry about it. She's fluffy and cute and we love her. She's come so far since we rescued her! Before she didn't know how to play with dog toys, wasn't used to being in a house, didn't know anything about being in a 'family' and she was terrified of everything/everyone. If someone stood up too quick or spoke too loud she would urinate everywhere out of pure fear. That was fun....But she LOVES kids and especially babies. Sadly, she also thinks the litter box is a lunch box so we have to be VERY careful with that (EW)! She loves car rides and going to the dog park. She also gets pouty when Molly won't share the couch with her. She loves her stuffed toys and sucks on them till she falls asleep and then hugs them (until River comes over and snatches them away from her and either destroys them in five seconds or hides them so Karmen can't find them.)
There is River. Ohhh River. THAT dog was never ever supposed to be mine. She was a foster fail. Some days I think she doesn't have the brains that God gave a turnip. However, she's loveable sweet and is hilarious and comical and could play fetch with her favorite ratty tennis ball all day long. She's also scared to death of everything and drives me NUTS. She's a rat terrier/ basenji,/ whippet mix. She also has allergies. Fun times. She is oddly proportioned, long legs, scraaaaaawny body, LOOONG tail, and tall pointy ears. She's a mess, but she makes me laugh with her goofy antics and I love her personality. She's eager to please and if she would only realize that she was designed for agility and jumping...she'd have so much more fun in life but she seems to be very uncomfortable with her body and won't use it for any of the skills it can actually do, and do VERY well. If she wanted to, I have no doubt that she couldn't jump higher than I am tall. She already runs faster than any dog I've seen in my life. River is your typical bratty little sister at just barely a year old. Always tormenting her big sisters and then acting like the victim when they get back at her.
I am honestly not sure how my dogs put up with me, and my camera. Sorry guys, but you are so cute.
We also currently have two cats.
Hagrid, we rescued from the local animal shelter nearly two years ago I think. He's a main coon cat (we don't think he's full main coon cat, but close enough for us). He had been abandoned by his owners with another cat in their rental property. No idea how long they had been alone locked up in that house before the land lord found them. They ended up being taken to the local shelter where I volunteer and one morning before taking my husband to college we stopped in at the shelter to get some pics of a few cats that were there. Needless to say...my husband fell in love with this cat (he's the cat person, not me). So the cat came home with us. He's bossy. He's rude, he wants everything RIGHT FRICKIN' MEOW! He always stands right behind me when I'm doing anything so when I step back I trip on him and almost fall to my death and he just looks at me like "Oh, I'm sorry were you in my way?" He's an asshole, but I love that Hagrid cat. He's my "haaaairy baby" (as is said on Big Hero 6). He loves to be held like a baby and rocked and to have his tummy rubbed. However, he also loves to be outside and if you don't let him out he will try to rip out your windows to get outside or try to rip a whole in your wall to get out. When a main coon cat wants outside...you let it outside.
Unfortunately, he apparently sustained and injury a few months ago. I cleaned it up checked on it, and he was fine. Kept an eye on it for a couple of weeks and all looked great we forgot about it and went on our way.
Yesterday when we got home from running errands we found that he was in very bad shape. He went to the vet today, and he had a SOFT BALL SIZED CYST on his neck/face area. The vet lanced it and drained most of the crap out, but my husband and I get that task of completing the draining and cleaning of his neck wound. There is a reason I AM NOT a vet after all ( after assisting farmers one summer as they birthed their live stock....I decided nah, I'm good). So no vet school for me.
My husband would literally faint if he tried to clean out the wound. The wound is going to get WORSE before it EVER gets better. I'm talking rotting flesh here people. It smells like a ZOMBIE lives here. I'm grossed out. Poor cat can't help it though. We're assuming the cyst was caused by the injury he got a few months ago that we thought was healed, apparently it wasn't.
Hagrid is hanging in there, he's a TOUGH cat!! No pain medication (isn't anything you can really give a cat unfortunately). He's on strong antibiotics and we have to clean his neck out several times a day with peroxide (BTW cats don't like that, and he has to have a BATH, like...seriously!!) Cats, do not care for water, they like it even less when they are injured. But we have to do it to keep down the risk of infection. OH and all the while making sure he doesn't scratch or bite us because he has an infection and it's not really something you want him passing on to anyone else.
Pets, are never ending.
The vet said that if we would have left him for three more days there wouldn't have been a cat left to save, that he would have died. He was surprised the cyst hadn't already ruptured on it's own (which I think it would have over the weekend but it would have been too late). He said he didn't know how our cat was still 'going'. Neither do I, but this cat has one HELL of a will to survive. Last summer he got behind the wheel of the van I was driving and I ran over him. I had checked to make sure there were no cats under the car, like I always do. He wasn't there! He must have laid down as I was getting back in the van. I nicked his hip, and he was perfectly fine, no breaks or anything.
Sure made me feel awful though!!
So we're wishing Haggy Baggy Pants gets to feeling better. He's a handsome cat with a regal I'm the boss you are my servant now feed me kind of attitude. I want him back to his regular old BOSSY self (he can't stand to see the bottom of his food bowl at all because we're obviously starving him). Right now he won't even eat, so yeh, I'm worried. With the amount of money we spent on him at the vet office today, that hair ball better not die. I will personally zap his ass with electricity to jump start his heart. (sarcasm folks, sarcasm I would never shock my cat dead, or alive).
Our other cat is El Diablo Gato (The Devil Cat), his name used to be Oliver, but Diablo suited him much better. He's a bit of a jerk too. But he's sneaky about it. He is the cat that pounces out from under furniture to annihilate your feet when you are barefoot and unsuspecting. He's the cat that just likes to scare you, pounce on you, steal your food when you aren't looking, trip you, causes you to have a bike wreck because he runs in front of you and you swerve to miss him and you wreck causing a multi bike pile up in front of the house leaving a lot of VERY ticked off kids. OH and he also is single handedly killing all of the robins that come into my yard. Nearly every morning there is a new dead robin at the bottom of my porch steps. Yet, he can't catch that ONE annoying wood pecker that has been on MY #1 hit list for the past three years. I hate that wood pecker. Wakes me up at 4am in the summer pecking on the tree in my yard. He's going down one way or another (not really, but he truly is a very annoying wood pecker).
Most days my house feels like a zoo, and I bet to many people it IS a zoo. I prefer to think of it as my circus. We have a five ring circus, and five animal acts. At least we don't have any actual monkey's!
I love having pets and talk about them nearly as often as I talk about my kids. I even carry around pics of my animals in my cell phone along with pics of my kids to show to people because I think my kids and pets are adorable and want to show them off.
I love how having a pet teaches my kids how to clean up after a pet, be responsible for a pet, and gives them a friend to talk to, play with, care for. It also teaches them about the circle of life. Pets will die, they come and go throughout your life, but a piece of them always stays with you.
However, I don't care much for the dog hair that takes over my home in the spring and fall. UGH! I hate dog hair, and cat hair. It's a battle making sure none of us go out the door completely covered in fur. I have one son that cannot seem to STOP throwing his jackets down on the floor and they ALWAYS get covered in dog hair, which is SOOOOO NOT COOL. My couch also has a few dog hairs, as do my chairs. I vacuum and dust OFTEN. I always tell people if you don't like animals do NOT come to my home. We love animals and have several. They bring as much joy and frustration to my life as my human babies do, and I love all of them for making my life so entertaining and interesting! Not sure what I'd do without them all.
Mom Circus (Circus Master Extraordinaire, Circus Animal Act Trainer)**
(Molly and Karmen performing in a local dog show a couple of years ago, it was also a costume contest, Molly is pictured doing her 'wild woman' act for the judges ;) ) Ignore the shoddy picas of me though lol Molly and Karmen are the stars of these pics. (Psst I also designed their costumes too out of old PJ pants lol) ** Note those are not real titles that I have, but it sure feels like it some days!!
