When I was growing up, we always had lots of animals around – cats, rabbits, hamsters, fish, birds (and eventually a horse, but not at the house 
) and I loved it. Actually, I was the reason we had all of those pets; I was obsessed. I would have happily lived on a farm. I pitched in a lot to help clean cages, scoop poop, and feed our menagerie, although I’m sure my parents sometimes wondered what they were thinking. Pets can be instrumental in teaching children about responsibility and empathy, but they can also be a burden. And let’s face it: as the adult, you are ultimately responsible for the well-being of any animals in your home.
Photo by Blackangel
So, my question to you is this: What has your experience been with kids and pets? Have you ever gotten in over your head? Have you ever felt like the bad guy for saying “No” to that cute puppy/kitten/bunny rabbit? Did you grow up around animals? Let’s share some stories.
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I really have to be careful not to overload myself with pets, so, yes, it’s hard to say “no”.
One time my husband and son went fishing. They bought minnows to use as live bait and were told that it’s illegal to release the minnows into the lake. Hubby said most people just pour them out on the grass. Dear Daughter and I were “not” OK with that. So, for the last 1.5 years we’ve had 4 pet minnows. We did start out with about 13 of them, but by the time the aquarium had stabilized we were left with 4. It was sad to be faced with little bodies every day for almost 10 days while the water became safe.
I think one of the big challenges today is that vet care is so much better than it was when we were kids. It used to be that vets couldn’t do much and therefore pet care from the vet didn’t cost much. Nowadays vets can go beyond what is reasonable in terms of cost, leaving us with the moral dilemma of deciding how far we want to go in treating a pet. If we refuse care that will extend an animal’s life are we being cruel? If we take every possible care option are we being overindulgent and ridiculous? When it’s a child’s pet it is very hard to say “no”.
I am very aware of the lessons we are teaching through our approach to pet care. Sometimes it takes soul-searching to come up with the right choices.
Alison – that is a challenge! A few years ago, our cat suddenly stopped urinating. He had probably been poisoned by his pet food – this was just before the big pet food scare stories started coming out – we took him to the vet and ended up paying close to $900 to save his life (he is alive & very well today). I just had to do it. It definitely felt like a big bite out of our savings, but I can’t even imagine if we didn’t have savings to rely on – or credit, for that matter!
BTW, I am laughing about your minnow experience – that sounds like just the sort of thing I would have convinced my parents to do when I was a child. I also rescued juvenile Robins in the spring each year (attacked by our cats), convincing my Mom to drive me out to the wildlife rescue center (yet again) so they could help the bird. I have no idea if any of them survived, but the people there were very kind to me.
Ah yes, I remember driving you many times to the Sulphur Creek Nature Center, either to visit, to “rent” an animal for a week or two, or to bring them yet another injured juvenile robin. Your years riding Nani Velvet Glove (aka Velvet G. Love) were especially wonderful. You cared very deeply about animals — and still do! With regard to your general question about children and animals, I am reminded of a general principle I encountered before you were born. I read an article by an author who said he indulged his son in whatever area of reading interested the boy, whether comics, crime fiction, etc. He said he thought it was better for his son to work his way through ideas and books according to his own needs and desires rather than to try to guide him according to what the father thought best. And the author thought it was important not to be judgmental. So I applied those ideas to aspects of raising you. I indulged you in healthy areas you liked, such as animals. The sad part was when they died. Two particular memories. After your second or third hamster died, you announced that we should in the future only buy animals with a life span longer than that of a hamster. And I remember when your cat Ace died after being hit by a car in front of our house. He had first appeared at your Montessori school, where he had turned up as a stray. Somehow, he found his way to our house and refused to leave until we had decided to keep him. When he died, we had a funeral, and buried him in our backyard. Our family and neighbors stood in a circle around his body and took turns saying a few words about Ace. Your grandfather, who didn’t like cats, harumphed and said “He was a good cat.” You learned a lot about life and death, and giving as well as taking. And the animals enriched all our lives.
Great idea for a post!
When my son was 2 1/2 and my daughter was a newborn, a friend gave us a used aquarium. We were in a rental house and couldn’t have a dog right then, so I thought fish would be a good compromise pet. We did our research and purchased several delightful little fish. Lovely….for about two weeks. And then no one, absolutely no one in the family, noticed them anymore. I only noticed them as I cleaned the aquarium every Sunday afternoon. Finally, about 6 wks into this fish project, I thought, why am I doing this? My husband recommended flushing them down the toilet, but I could not do that. I went back to the fish store and asked them if I could please give them back (I didn’t want my money back) and would they please not flush them themselves. The man at the store had a good laught at me, but he saw that I was serious and he promised, and one afternoon my son and I delivered back the fish “to live with all their friends.” We’ve never tried fish again. If you are really a dog family, then fish just won’t do.
Launa’s last blog post..there is poetry in Cleveland