This past weekend I was at the pet store with a friend of mine who fosters exotic birds. She is part of an organization of individuals who take care of exotic pet birds who had either been relinquished by their owners for various reasons, or have been abandoned. These individuals are trained and quite dedicated to fostering these birds and helping them overcome any trauma they may have had, giving them a great home and preparing them for adoption. We were in the pet store so she could get supplies for some of her cages. I wandered around the large store looking at the finches and ferrets and turtles, thinking about what life at my home would be like if I were to add more pets into the mix.
We currently have two cats and one beta fish–but, over the years we have had as many as four cats at one time, a couple dogs, an entire tank of fish (there are a few different fish eras), a guinea pig, and my eldest daughter’s first pets were two gerbils named Ernie and Bert she picked out on her fifth birthday. While I know there must be families who don’t have any pets at all–I haven’t met them. Most of the families I’ve met have the same sort of history and menagerie that we have had.
I always thought I was a dog person, and I still love dogs. Somehow, though, we’ve settled on cats. They don’t seem to need the same sort of attention that a dog does and I can leave them all day to go to work. They’re perfectly happy to sit on my lap in the evenings while I’m doing other things and don’t need to be walked. I also loved having the fish tanks but they were a lot of work–a lot of mom work, as was keeping Ernie and Bert’s cage cleaned and Ollie the guinea pig clean, bathed and fed.
Looking at my friend’s birds, I was tempted and impressed. They certainly looked interesting and dripping with individual personality there in their cages full of toys and fresh food. So, I started quizzing her about their care (She is a new grandmother who works full time so she no longer has the daily care of her child.)–she admitted she cleans the cages often twice a day and prepares their food–no bags of birdseed for the exotic birds. She also socializes them–letting them out of their cages to play and chat. Okay, maybe I don’t have the time to focus on the fabulous birds. Maybe when I’m a grandmother too…
I know having pets has been part of what makes our house feel homey and my kids an appreciation for animals. They’ve also learned about how to care for little creatures and I don’t think they could imagine our home without pets either.