Not just man's best friend

We had many pets growing up.  I clearly remember my parents saying;

"After this one, no more pets."

I am quite sure this was because of how difficult it was to say goodbye to them.  But like magic, one would appear again.  One Saturday, my Dad went to the local hardware store, Mitre 10.  I think he was building a pergola at the time and needed some supplies.  He came home with a cat.

The poor little fella was wandering around the car park badly sunburnt (who knew cats could get sunburnt??) and obviously lost or abandoned.  Apparently the staff had called around to see if there had been a cat reported missing and he still hadn't been claimed.  Lucky for them my Dad happened to come at that time and when they offered him a lost cat, he couldn't resist.

We acquired the  pets of people who moved and couldn't bring their pet with them. We had injured birds that we found and looked after and they never seemed to leave.

My own personal history with pets is not so good.  My first was a cat. I was very young.  One day my poor Dad backed over him in the driveway.  With the brutal honestly of a child, I reminded him regularly;

"Hey Dad, remember when you ran over my cat?"

I'm pretty sure he will still remember.

We all went through a guinea pig stage in our house.  I got a big black guinea pig called Suzuki.  The vet told us she had a medical condition that meant if she got pregnant, she would die.  Needless to say we made sure the other guinea pig we bought was a girl.  She belonged to my sister, Jade, and she named her Laura.

Not too long after, I went to Suzuki's hutch to find she had died.  Turned out Laura was a male and was later renamed Chocolate.  I suspect he wasn't the least bit remorseful.

Years later Jade and I went to the pet shop one school holidays and we set our sights on pet rats.  They were great fun, aside from the weekly cage cleaning.  Jade's was a little grey rat called Theo, and I chose a little black and white rat called Patches.  Patches began gaining weight rapidly.  After checking (and rechecking) that he was indeed a male, I found out the cause for kilo's (or grams more accurately in a rat's case) piling on.
As I was feeding them one day, I watched them eat.  Theo would grab some food, run off to the corner and sit and eat until he had run out, and he would then  run back to the middle for another piece .  This would continue until the food was all gone.
Patches, however, had a different strategy come meal time.  He would run to the middle, grab some food and take it back to his corner.  He would then run back to the middle and grab another piece and take it back.  After all the food was gone from the centre, he would go to his corner and devour his stash.

I believe it was his love of food, combined with his dislike of his running wheel, that ultimately led to his demise.  He was a guts.

Thirteen years ago, we got a new puppy.  He was a beautiful Golden Lab that we named Astro.  He was an EXTREMELY playful puppy, but grew into a very loyal, gentle dog.  He would let us dress him up and carry him all around the place.  When we would come home from school, Mum had often made cakes or muffins that were sitting on the bench.  As we all filed in the door, we would grab one on the way to our rooms, and Astro would be sneakily at the end of the line waiting for the right moment to jump up and grab one for himself. When we moved over to Sydney from Adelaide, we had to leave a cat behind.  There was no question as to whether or not we would bring Astro.

Once I got married and moved out, I obviously saw much less of him. When my parents moved to NZ, my younger sister and her husband took him in and he has been there ever since.  He was much older  by then and no where near the playful puppy he once was, but I know that whenever I went to visit, no matter how old and slow he was, he recognised my voice still and made the effort to get up and give me a wag of his tail.

Like many Labradors, Astro developed severe arthritis in his legs and hips.  He also had tumours growing on his head and legs.  His quality of life had gone down hill greatly and after consulting with the vet, they said the kindest thing would be to let him go peacefully.

Although sad, I am glad he is at peace.  He deserves it.