Let's meet the pack in order of accrual:
Tinker. Domestic shorthair cat (aka mutt cat). Grey and white, 20 lbs. Age unknown. Adopted from the local vet when his former owner had to move to a rest home. Niki (daughter) was home then and she worked for this aforementioned vet. Tink had been living in one of the kennels for 2 or 3 months and she could no longer stand it. She asked if I wanted him, I said of course! Tinker moved in.
(I can't believe it, but I removed tons of personal photos from this computer. I'll bring a photo of Tink in later).
Lucy. Ball Python. About 5 years old. Approx 1 meter long. Adopted from work. The students were driving her nuts. She eats frozen rats; warmed up of course. She is sooooo sweet!
(Photo of Lucy coming later also).
Louie. Boston Terrier. 2-1/2 years old. Adopted from a local rescue. I was innocently on my way to Home Depot to get house stuff. PetSmart happened to be having their adoption day. I saw a cute little boston terrier in one of the cages. I stopped. Now, I have ALWAYS wanted a boston just like Aunt Pearl and Uncle Mel's dog. I yelled "That is my dog!" Paul (hubby) and Joe (son) were in the car and were sure I'd lost my mind. I got out, went over, knowing full well that they were gonna tell me the dog had already been adopted. It was already 2pm for goodness sake. Well, not one person had even asked about him!!! I looked at Paul and Joe. Said, "Would you mind having him?" They said it'd be fine. He was mine!!! I had to run to the ATM and get out the adoption fee, then stop and get a collar and leash. In the time it took me to do this, 5 people stopped and tried to adopt him! I am SURE he was meant to be mine. His name was Lucifer. I hated that and changed it to Louie. Some days I know why he was named Lucifer.
Mouse and Rose. Rats. Grey and white, about 2 years old. They were supposed to be snake food. Couldn't do it. Don't have photos but I'll take some. Rose has a tumor now, but she seems happy. She eats tons!
Bubba Dude. Great Pyrenees, 8 months old, 80 lbs. Adopted from my hairdresser's mother-in-law. She had EIGHT of these dogs living in her house! She had to give some away. Now, understand that Louie (see Boston above) is NOT dog friendly. I really wanted another dog, but was afraid to get one because I was sure Louie would kill it. Then I heard about Bubba and realized that he was so big (at 5 months he weighed 50 lbs which was twice Louie's size!) and so lovey that Louie would HAVE to end up being his buddy. I brought Bubba home and Louie hated him. For 2 days he did nothing but try to get at him. Now they are best friends! The usual game of tug-of-war is a little more in Bubba's favor (he's just a tad bigger), but Louie never gives up.
Let's see. Next came Lipton and Campbell. One Brown Leghorn Rooster (Lipton) and one Barred Leghorn hen (Campbell). I work at a college, in the biology department. We do experiments. One is all about development. One of the things we do in this lab is incubate chicken eggs for various periods of time, open them up, and look at the developing chick. VERY. HARD. LAB. FOR. ME. Normally we destroy any eggs not used. This semester I just couldn't do it. I kept the 4 leftover eggs in the incubator and waited to see if any would hatch. 2 hatched. One black/yellow chick and one chipmunk colored chick. They imprinted on me and thought I was their mommy! (Yes, it really is true that the first animal they see becomes their mommy.)
This is them sitting on my desk at work. I took them home every night and brought them back to work every day. They went "cheep, cheep, cheep" VERY LOUDLY whenever they couldn't see me! I waited to see how they'd look when they grew up....
Here they are at 4 months. The rooster is Lipton and the hen peeking out from behind him is Campbell.
They don't think I'm their mommy any more. As a matter of fact, Lipton now tries to spur me. But he is just so beautiful!!! I can't do that lab anymore knowing that these gourgeous creatures are what we destroy. Campbell will start laying eggs in the next month or so. My family cringes whenever I start wondering out loud if I should let any of them hatch.
Who's next... Punkin' and her babies! I stole her. No, really, I stole her. She was our neighbor's kitten. She started "becoming a woman" and the neighbors wouldn't take her in to get fixed. The male cats started hanging out. She tried fighting with them. One clawed her eye and it got badly infected. The neighbors refused to take her to the vet. REFUSED! I called animal control when I found her dying in my garage. An officer came out and forced them to get her veterinary care. It was too late for her eye, she lost her eye. And they still didn't get her fixed. So, surprise!, she got pregnant. They said she was too young, that she wasn't really pregnant, only fat. STUPID PEOPLE! Anyway, after she had her kittens (in my yard of course) we brought her and her babies into our house and there they stay! Punkin and her 4 babies - 3 girls and 1 boy. We're still naming them, but so far one girl is named after Gus Gus (the mouse in Cinderella) cuz she is so fat; and the boy is named Jack. Everyone will get shots and fixed and hopefully new homes. Or not. They can always hang with us.
So, I guess I'm a little animal crazy. But I just can't imagine a home without pets. The "experts" say that people with pets live longer. If it goes by the number of pets I should live to 125!!!!!
1 comment:
I can't wait 'till I can start my own Zoo. Though, I must take responsibility for some of yours. Yay, for rescuing animals!!!
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