I Don’t Judge

What animals make the best/worst pets?

We have cats but were both raised with dogs, I’ve also had guinea pigs, although like most enthusiastic young children I was the world’s worst pet parent. That still bothers me over 50 years later, but as with these things, I learned a lot.

I don’t like to weigh and measure living beings and find them wanting, a friend lost her pet rat a few years ago and was devastated. Would I have one, never, but if a tame one turned up needed help I wouldn’t turn it away. I sympathised with her as I can translate “I love cats” to someone else loves their pet. It doesn’t take a huge jump in understanding to achieve that.

My personal love/hate issue is with human owners. Not which animal makes the best and worst pet, but which owners make the best and worst owners. Which of course, in turn, makes the easier or trickier pet. Most humans don’t realise that they’re the problem, not their pet.

I have respect for all living things, not just beings, but sometimes people get pets on a whim without asking friends and family what it’s like to have that pet. That’s when the wheels come off.

Rescue centres are braced in the UK for the post Easter, rabbit return, when people realise that the pet they fancied to go with their Easter Eggs, to sort of complete the picture, takes a lot of work.

We looked after a French lop eared Rabbit once, during that fortnight he chewed the sofa, the wallpaper and the edge of the wall, and on his last day he snipped through the wires to the computer in seconds. He was a house rabbit and we had no idea what we were doing.

We weren’t cross though, we recognised that his behaviour was exacerbated by our incompetence, and we had a lot of fun. Especially when our head female cat stalked over to him, put her paw on the end of his ear, and started washing him. He thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was the funniest sight.

How to have a pet

• Recognise that it is an animal.
• That human-speak is as clear as a miaow or bark, etc., is to a human. You literally have to learn the tone and sound.
• Carpets are not carpets they are scratching mats, your pet has no concept of furnishings or money. Ditto whatever pet you have.
• Nothing they do is malicious.
• Animals have feelings and needs, you need to understand how much they will attach to you, how much they will miss you when you’re out, and that they can’t unlock the front door and take themselves for a walk. That sort of thing.
• If a dog bites don’t excuse it, obviously, but understand that dogs need training, and oddly you need that training more. Our neighbours got a dog, in desperation they called in a dog trainer, she observed the behaviours, then they asked what training the dog needed. She said none, the dog was fine, they were the problem and not to worry as she could train them. It was so funny.
• Pets do get sick and you don’t get to run away from that, no matter how much you want to. Believe me you will want to. At the end you will want to be anywhere but there (as long as you can take your pet with you). That’s when you discover what sort of person you are, a runaway, or a person who loves them enough to stay put. Trust me when I say that I don’t criticise those who can’t cope, we’ve broken our own hearts 8 times out of 9 losses so far, it’s brutal and I get it. But if you’re going to have a pet perhaps face that and get used to the idea. Believe me, it will be worth it to stay. To know you were right there loving them to the end.

There’s a lot more to it, and it’s not all hard or challenging. You may get a tricky pet, we’ve had two in particular. They ruined 3 sets of carpets between them. Took us a while to understand that the most recent culprit hated carpets because of the smell. Lino equals happy boy. Unconditional love will get you through those times. Just as with kids.

I’ll leave you with something my uncle said to me.

Having pets is hard, you have to make sure they’re cared for if you want a holiday, they cost to feed and take care of, and at the end it’s brutal, but you will smile every single day in between.

I would add:

And they will be some of your best memories, that make you smile for years.

Don’t judge, don’t weigh and measure, just love.

Love

Deb