I have shared my life with all sorts of creatures - large and small. While my life now is blessed with two extra-large dogs, two very spoiled cats, an assortment of hens and one lovely rooster, I have also had the pleasure of giving homes to many small pets over the years.
I think it all started when Mum and Dad got my brother and I a hamster. Alison-Ann (named by my brother after a character in a children's book) was our first one, and she was quickly returned to the pet store after popping out a bunch of babies. Someone had fun in their communal living....
Next was the infamous Peter Brady. Peter Brady lived a good life for a hamster, and we had fun with him, watching him stuff his cheeks with tasty seeds and nuts, running on his wheel, and rarely biting us.
I love the idea of children getting small pets. They are usually fairly low maintenance (no walks required, contained area to clean, and fairly easy to feed), teach kids to be gentle and kind, and they also have a short life span. I know kids get bored of things in 5.2347 seconds but I don't know too many animals that only live that long. Learning how to deal with the life and death is a skill that everyone needs to learn.
Peter Brady had a funeral and was buried in our yard. I actually don't remember the specifics of the service, but it would have happened, and I would have cried.
After living for a few years in Australia in the 70's, our return to Canada brought with it a return to having small animals in the home. My brother had his lovely little hamster Ralph. Ralph was a lot of fun, and seemed to endure the stalking and staring directed at him from our cat Fred. Ralph had one of those plastic balls that he could run around in. These balls were clear plastic and had air holes. Ralph loved to run around the house in his ball, safe from Fred's claws. However, we had a split-level house and Ralph was not always supervised as well has he should have been.... It wasn't unusual to hear the bounce-bounce-bounce of Ralph stacking it down the stairs. If he made it to the bottom without the ball splitting apart, he seemed to recover from his rapid descent and continue on with his exploring. We also discovered that Ralph's poops fit nicely through the air holes, and he'd leave a trail of little brown nuggets, like breadcrumbs trailing behind Hansel and Gretel.
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| Those balls were hours of fun for everyone |
Poor old Ralph made it to about 2 years old before falling into what we think was a coma and then passing away. I'd like to think he had a pretty good life and didn't end up too traumatised by us.
Shortly after this, I got my first rabbit, Twitch, and then after her we got Bugsy and Thumper. They were lovely black and white Dutch rabbits, very affectionate and lots of fun. A friend of ours built a solid, 2 level rabbit cage with outdoor run, that was ideal housing for our spoiled rabbits. We insulated it with lots of straw and they happily lived outside.
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| Twitch |
One bitterly cold November day, I went to feed and water the rabbits, only to be confronted with blood everywhere and Thumper laying out in the run area. Mum and I scooped her up, and discovered 8 little bald, blind and helpless babies. As it turns out, the pet store was not very adept at identifying the sex of the rabbits that they sold. We prepared a cage inside to keep them safe and warm. Bugsy became a bachelor and remained outside. Two babies died within 24 hours, but the remaining six were healthy and were very mischievous. The makeshift cage that we had made wasn't rabbit-proof at all, and soon they had free run of the basement. They were easily trained to use cat litter, but their growing incisors did do a bit of damage to some items, and Mum always had to shake out the laundry before putting it in the washing machine to ensure a little fluffball wasn't scooped up.
Bugsy and four of the babies were rehomed, and we kept Mum and two of the babies.
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| My cute babies! |
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| All grown up and off to their new homes. |
I also had guinea pigs. I LOVE guinea pigs (or as they were known in our house - pinny-gigs). If you haven't had the pleasure of cuddling one, they have delightful personalities, from chattering away in a jovial manner to squealing at a very high and loud pitch the minute your feet hit the floor until their food bowl is filled.
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| One of my guinea pigs, Rhoda Dent (rodent...get it?!) |
One such guinea pig, GP, was gifted to me by my Mum, and we noticed that she was getting quite fat. I would chase her around the floor to get some exercise. She often had a rumbly tummy that I could feel moving about under my hand as I petted her. Well, wasn't I naïve....she also had a bit of fun in her communal living at the pet store. I have since discovered that guinea pigs can become pregnant at a very young age, and often.
Oblivious to her condition, I went to serve her her breakfast one day, and surprise, there were two babies, fully furred and eating solid food. GP did provide a good learning curve for me - I discovered that guinea pigs are born with their fur and eating solids, unlike the helpless, hairless rabbits that I had dealt with in the past. One baby was hydrocephalic and died within a day, and the other baby grew up strong and precocious. He was named Cisco The Pig, and he was given to friend's of the family. Unfortunately their child ended up being allergic, so Cisco came back to us. Being a male guinea pig (out of necessity, I had become very good at determining the sex of rabbits and guinea pigs thank you very much), he had to live in a separate cage from his mother. Even though he wasn't born in the Ozarks, you would think he was with the great affection and attraction that he had for his mother. There was no way we could ever let them near each other.
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When I was in my adult years and living in my condo with Nip and Tuck, I decided that I needed guinea pigs again. 'Rescuing' two from the zoo that I volunteered at, Thelma and Louise joined our household and, remembering that Nip and Tuck were 'ornamental cats', we all got along very well. They were lots of fun, and their chatter kept me entertained.
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| Thelma (R) and Louise (L) |
While I no longer have any little pets, I have very fond memories and would highly recommend having them in your life. They may be small, but they have huge hearts and surprisingly large personalities.
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| Because baby bunnies are adorable |
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