Pets & Kids: Are We Nuts?

When my youngest child repeatedly reminds me that “everyone” has more pets than we do, I laugh hysterically and reply that it’s not even possible—unless they live on a farm or run a kennel, petting zoo or circus.

Our family of five has owned just about every type of domestic animal one can imagine. Each addition to the household brings its own story of love at first sight, a joyful honeymoon, proud introduction to friends and family, and then eventually my nagging to clean the cage, feed it, walk it, play with it, or simply acknowledge it.

I’m not implying that having these pets in our lives has not brought joy, excitement and the lessons that come with pet ownership and responsibility. That’s the gain. But it’s hard work nursing our kids appreciate them and tend to their needs even when boredom and disinterest sets in. 

We’ve had rabbits, guinea pigs, anole lizards, hamsters, cats, dogs, hermit crabs, frogs, snails, fish, and the occasional turtle that lived in a cardboard box for a day or two until we convinced the kids the critter would be much happier in the pond with his family.

Oh, and we own a horse, but he does not reside in the house thankfully. We truly made every effort to ensure each new acquisition was cared for with the best of intentions, and when it didn’t work out, always ensured a better home was found for the little buddy (this is a disclaimer to thwart any worries of pet cruelty).

Our family overall has had a lot of fun with our animal menagerie, but mixing pets and kids comes with an expected dose of nagging and heartache. 

Cats and dogs have been par for the course in our household. Home wouldn’t be home without them. But these furry pals weren’t enough for our demanding pet enthusiasts whose eyes sparkled like animal confetti when we made our usual visits to the pet store. 

Snowball, an adorable, good-natured dwarf bunny, was our first venture beyond canines and felines (everyone has those… let’s think outside the box). What no one told us is that rabbits can live as long as 15 to 20 years. Yikes! Do the math… If the bunny lives a full life, our daughter will be in college and we will still be proud owners of this little guy. And lizards—did you know anoles can live 20 years.

OMG.

Let’s face it, when the kids beg for a pet, we aren’t thinking about 10, 15 or 20 years down the road. 

We look back on our life with animals with many strong memories —some better than others. We’ll never forget the time we left our three bunnies at the pet store
to go on vacation, and came back to ten (the female that was supposedly “fixed” was obviously not).

 After the shock wore off, we took the expanded brood home and watched the baby bunnies grow old enough to be placed in loving homes. Once Snowball escaped outside during playtime, and we were able to capture him with some carrots and a wild animal trap.

Good news is we caught him. Bad news is he was infested with mites and we had to bomb the house and take him to the vet (and give him antibiotics). And we’ll never forget the time our six-year-old gave her anole lizard a cold bath because he was dirty. We were all in shock, including the poor lizard that looked like he needed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. 

Once, my cat was mauled by an “unknown nondomestic animal,” so the vet stated, and therefore had to be quarantined for three months. She snuck out the door during quarantine and enjoyed a full night of prowling, hanging with her “gangsta” sisters and ruling the hood. Unfortunately, she also brought back a half-alive bat, which could have had rabies.

I wasn’t aware of the bat until I noticed our golden retriever playfully tossing a “toy” up and down in the air with his mouth. What is that, I wondered. Oh, just a battered bat that could have rabies. The call to Animal Control requesting pick up and testing of a bat with possible rabies was a tough one to make, especially with a quarantined cat involved.

So why do we have all these pets?

At the end of the day, they bring smiles among the chaos. But we won’t be adding any more critters any time soon.

The current crew is keeping us very busy (right now one cat is about to throw up a hairball, the other is hungry, the dogs want to go outside, and the fish tank needs new water).

Look for more pet adventures in future blogs.