My Animal Story: A Barrel of laughs. (Animal Welfare in general)

Member Name: jammaker49

Product:	Animal Welfare in general
Date:	15/03/03 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: companionship

Disadvantages: pets can be a tie

I can't confess to being an animal lover. I'm not one to enjoy having little furry creatures running around (although I have put up with them being in the house so long as I'm not expected to look after them or handle them) At present, I neither have or want, any animals (or does hubby count as an animal?.....hmmmmm). However, I have, in the past, had one or two pets that have caused us some enjoyment. So let me share one or two little anecdotes with you.


First there was the Kamikazi fish that lived in a bowl in my son's room. He had one of those cabin bed things with the wardrobe etc. built in under the bed, and the fish resided beneath his bed. I think the fish's name was Flitter, ot Jitterbug or something equally obscure, and he arrived to live with us via one of those fairground plastic bags.

At first, he was simply....a fish! Usually those sorts of fish only live for a few weeks, but this one was a survivor. In more ways than one!

One morning, Ian climbed out of bed to find the fish on the floor, gasping for breath. he picked it up and put it back in the water, and it was soon swimming around with no ill effects, and we soon forgot about the incident.

Some time later, this was happening at regular intervals, always just as Ian was getting up. I even wondered whether Ian was doing it on purpose, and putting the fish on the floor. Anyway, we took the bowl downstairs to see what would happen. We were amazed to see the fish leap out of the bowl, sail through the air, and land with a plop on the floor!

To combat its Kamikazi tendencies, we put one of those frying pan splatter lid thingies over the top of the bowl. It didn't seem to get the message however, because at regular intervals it would attempt to leap out again, giving itself one almighty headache! It may sound funny, but I bet it wasn't funny for the poor fish!

In the end, we took the poor thing over to my father in
law's to put it into his very large fish tank, where it lived happily for several months before finally going to that big fish bowl in the sky. To my knowledge it didn't try to escape from the tank whilst there!

Then there was Fluffy, the hamster. My daughter went through a stage of breeding hamsters, and at one point, virtually every class at school had a Jammaker hamster installed in its classroom. Fluffy, re-named Thomas by the children, went to the Reception class.

Only a day or two after taking up residence, Fluffy escaped. To this day we don't know how he got out of the cage, but anyway, he disappeared. Then during the same afternoon, one of the little children came running up to me to tell me they could hear scratching from behind the cupboard in the corner.

This cupboard was built into the wall. If it had been a free standing cupboard, life would have been a lot easier. There was absolutely no way we could get to the source of the scratching noise. So the caretaker was called in. He had to virtually dismantle the entire side of the classroom, watched by 30 eager pairs of eyes, in order to retrieve a somewhat dusty Fluffy! Needless to say, steps were taken to ensure he never escaped again.

Of course we cannot forget Houdini, yet another hamster. He didn't start life with that name. In fact, as he was purchased, he was named Homer. However, by the time we reached the safety of home, his new name was given, and remained with him for the rest of his life.

Houdini was put into a small cardboard box for the relatively short journey from the pet shop to his new home. We hadn't got very far down the road when a small hole appeared in the corner of the box. The hole got bigger. I think we ran the last 200 metres, or I'm sure the thing would have made its getaway! Happy to say, Houdini lived a long and happy life in spite of his precarious beginnings!

Last but by no means least, was my b
eloved dog, Ziggy. She is the only pet that we've had that was truly mine. She wasn't meant to be mine, she was brought for all the family, but no-one told her that. In her mind, I belonged to her, and she belonged to me.

Ziggy was a rescue dog from an RSPCA kennel. She had lived with an old man who had died the previous week. As he was old, I don't think she had been for many walks, or got much exercise. She was like a little barrel when we first got her.

We went to the kennels with the intention of just looking. I made it clear before we went that I had no intention of buying a dog, but we could go and visit them. Needless to say, all the best laid plans and all that!

As we wandered along the rows of kennels, there was just something about this one dog that caught us all. She wasn't the cutest. She certainly wasn't the nicest looking one there. She didn't come to the cage door, or bark and wag her tail as we passed. In fact, she stood there looking so mournfully at the cage door, not moving, just staring with a hang dog expression (no pun intended). One by one we all went back to her cage. She was as fat as butter, nervous as anything and yet........there was just that something. The something that meant we ended up driving home with a new dog.

From the start, Ziggy made her Intentions very clear. She made up her mind that I was hers, and was very jealous if the rest of the family showed me any attention. Indeed, she used to try and get between us if I sat next to hubby on the settee. If I was out, it didn’t matter if the rest of the family was in, she would simply plonk herself on the mat behind the front door, just waiting for me to return. In fact, the only times she played up to the rest of the family was when we got back from holidays, having put her in kennels for a week or two. Then, she would pointedly ignore me for several days, as if to pay me back.

Sadly, Ziggy is no longer with
us, having blessed our lives for almost 10 years. I can now look back with fondness on the time that we had her, but when we had to make the decision to put her out of pain, I was devastated.

Maybe some day, I will have another pet. At the moment, with us being out all day, it wouldn’t be fair to have one.

I hope you have enjoyed reading a little about some of the lighter moments that having pets has given me. I know enjoyed reliving them in writing this op.

Lesley

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