Kids and Pets Go Hand in Hand

Our pet ownership all started before my husband and I were married. I was visiting my fiancé at his house when a man walked up his driveway, he was carrying a tiny ball of white and orange fur. The kitten needed a home, but we declined. An hour later I heard meowing, that awful man had thrown the tiny kitten into the woods. From then on we shared our love, Kitty, until we were married.

Thank God for my Angel

After we were married and living in our home we fell in love with an adorable puppy, Sabrina. She became our next pet. Sabrina and Snookums were amazing members of our family. Sabrina even saved my son's life one fall day. I was walking around the yard with my 1 year old, Christopher. I didn’t realize the gate to the pool was open until I saw him a foot from the edge of the in ground pool. Screaming my head off, running as fast I could. Knowing I was not going to make it, crying. I saw my Angel jump up on my baby and knock him to the ground. Sabrina never jumped up on the baby, but that day some how she knew. I was never more grateful to an animal in my life, she was truly a godsend.

Unfortunately Sabrina and Snookums time with us was short lived. They were amazing members of our family. They both had unfortunate accidents Snookums was hit by a car and died. Sabrina had a spinal injury when a neighbor's child fell on her. Given her injury we had to put her to sleep.

Enter in the Crazy

Even before our beloved cat and dog had passed we had gotten, a bunch of different small animals like mice, frogs, gerbils, crabs, turtles and fish. One that stood out was this gerbil that was not very bright. He had an amazing cage, with many tubes for him to climb through. Only problem, he was disgusting. He would pee and poop and it would leak out of the holes in the tubes. He would even defecate in his wheel, then run. When the wheel stopped he was covered in poop and pee and the wood chips would stick to him. Tubes covered in grossness, was not good for a toddler who loved to watch his furry friend. So, I built a case to put his cage into, one with a plexiglass front. This way my little man didn’t miss anything. Including Mommy giving his furry friend his 100th bath.

Time for another dog, Why not two!

We adopted two dogs from an animal shelter. First, Milo and then Tess from an Animal Shelter. Milo and Tess together were a hand full. They would drag everything that wasn’t nailed down, out the doggie door and into the yard. The mess was so bad that we even got a phone call from a family member one day, he thought we had been robbed.

Tess, wouldn’t stay in our yard. Even though we had an acre fenced in, she still dug out. We were desperate to keep her in the yard, being pregnant, chasing her around the neighborhood wasn’t fun. We tied her up, but she barked too much. Then we tied a long rope with a 2' X 4 'on the end of it. The plan was that when she dug out, we figured the 2' X 4' would get stuck in the hole. That plan worked for a little bit, until she dug the hole bigger. At the end of the day I was always chasing a dog, and a 2' X 4' down the street. Lucky for me a neighbor took Tess off my hands.

Cock-a-doodle-doo

At one point of our lives, my hubby’s work day started at 4 in the morning. He was a little sour at me for being able to sleep in. So my funny Hubby, thought it would be fun to bring home two roosters. At 5:30, I awoke to the most God-awful sound. My dog Milo, was sleeping on my bed when he woke up, barking all the way down the stairs. I thought Milo, was in a fight with a wild animal the way the noises in the backyard were carrying on. Plus, with children sleeping, I needed the noise to stop NOW. I jumped out of bed, with my PJs on, I ran. Down the stairs grabbing the bat on the way out the door, and into the rain.

Out near my children’s play house I found two roosters crowing, and my dog barking at them. I picked up one rooster, holding him in my arms I looked around wondering what to do with him. Defeated, I put him down and yelled at all three animals "You two, stop crowing", "You! Stop barking, and get back in the house!" After my Husband got a very angry, phone call, Milo and I went back to bed. I was shocked the roosters never crowed again that morning.

They were named Cock and Doodle Do and they followed me around like little baby chicks. They had the whole yard to roam around, and I put them in a small cage in the garage at night. The only problem, they owned the yard and everything in it. They had Milo, a big German Shepherd mix, cowering in the corner. Neighborhood cats that hunted mice and birds in our yard were chased back into their’s. Even sales men were chased out of the yard. The kids learned to run when they were near the back door. When I saw the roosters peck at the kids, I new they had to go. I found them a new home on a farm in Wrentham.

Bunnies and more bunnies

For Christmas we thought bunnies for Mathew, 4, and Molly, 8, would make great gifts. Both bunnies were thought to be female, until we witnessed some interesting activity one day that inspired us to put them in separate cages. We found out months later it was to late. Molly’s bunny, Christmas, gave birth to six babies. We found homes for them all. Except for one, our oldest wanted to keep one of the bunnies, then there were three. Unfortunately when the kids are the gate keepers, gates get left open. Surprise, surprise we had another litter of babies. So all and all we now have four bunnies.

Shadow the big stud of the bunch, spends most of his time loose. He never goes far, and we put him in his cage at night, he is happy to hop around the yard. I swear he waits for one of the kids to mess up and not shut the gate to one of his lady's cages.

I ran into my neighbor the other day and he commented on how he saw Shadow in his yard. I was surprised to hear he went that far. My neighbor also said he saw my other bunny "Peanut" in his yard too. "So the brown one is in heat," he said. "No, the brown one is a male, you just watched my bunny get violated in your backyard," I told him. To which he replied, "Oh, I feel bad for watching then."

Even though our pets have caused some headaches. They have been priceless additions to our family. The kids love the stories we tell of our past pets and I fully believe that every child should have a pet.