Pets are love. There is no two ways about it ....pets are love. They give all their trust and love to you ... and you can give them all the love you wish without ever giving too much!
I grew up without a pet. I still remember being about four and dragging every cat in the neighbourhood home with the hopes my mother would let me keep this one. Then I graduated to dogs. No pets allowed in our home period....no cats, no dogs, no fish, no birds!
When I became a parent I was determined my children would have whatever pet they desired. We began the pet routine with a warty toad my daughter dragged in at three years old, next came a collection of spiders, then to a baby kitten she found in the corn field. We named the kitten ‘smokey’. Well kitten ‘smokey’ failed to return one evening…..so with three little children watching out the window I am out in the dark of night calling here ‘smokey, smokey’. So another cat, named; you guessed; 'Smokey'. ‘Smokey 11’ grew to adulthood and turned out he was a tom…..and when he did return after a night on the prowl he was infested with fleas. Turned out I am allergic to cat fleas….the bites turning to huge red welts……’smokey 11’ found a new home on a friend’s farm. We then ran the gamut of goldfish that quickly expired, to gerbils….and then…..
The next pet was a pure white prize rabbit. Built a hutch with a runway in the backyard for ‘snow’ my son’s rabbit. All went well for about six months when a brush wolf tore through the chicken wire of the runway and ‘snow’ escaped from his hutch. Once again in the middle of the night….only this was a snowy night….three children watched from the window while their mother wandered the fields calling ‘here snow, snow, snow’!
Our next family pet was a dog which was named 'brandy'. More on our dog another day, as this blog will grow to be too long.
Having been deprived of a pet as a child I still believe I was denied a window of love, an opportunity to learn of unconditional love; the giving without expectation of return so freely given by our pets.
They also allow children to be aware of the cycle of life and death of love given and returned and the loss of parting. Pets give so much and in return all they really ask for is food and warmth. I have a blind friend who has a guide dog the biggest softie you ever met and yet without him Andy would be restricted in his activities.
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