Family Pets

Have your kids ever begged for a pet?  Was it relentless?  Did they promise to take care of it?  Did you finally give in?  Did you eventually take over the care?  I've been there. 

We now have 3 sweet little Guinea Pigs.  Benji is a orange and white Abby long hair boy Guinea Pig.  He is very sweet and loves to be stroked under the chin and will coo while lifting his head up for more.  In the other cage is CoCo and Bean - a mother and daughter - Mama CoCo and Baby Bean.  They are brown and white Abby long hair pigs.  They are very sweet, but because they have each other, they are not as affectionate as Benji.  I feed them in the morning and my son feeds them at night.  They get a treat of one baby carrot twice a day and they start squeaking as soon as they hear you coming.  CoCo and Bean go up on their hind legs against the cage door trying to get the first carrot.  Bean disrespects her mother all the time and pushes her out of the way or will steal her carrot.  I always give the biggest carrot to Mama CoCo to reward her for her patience.  Benji looks forward to his under the chin patting before he will eat his carrot.  He eats it outside his little house, but the girls take theirs into the house to hide.  The little piggies are wonderful pets and we love to cuddle with them, but they are stinky and very messy.  The hay and shavings are constantly spilling and get dragged thru the house.  Clipping their nails is always an adventure and fortunately we haven't had to file their teeth yet.  Their are great pets but definitely have a place to keep them that can get messy and is easy to clean.

We also have a Gordon Setter female dog after our son begged and begged for a year and a half after our male Gordon Setter died after we had him for over 14 years.  Don't take me wrong, I love dogs and have had dogs in my life from day one, but we were getting to the point that we didn't want the responsibility, the dog hair, the backyard mess, etc.  It gets hard to watch your pets grow old and go downhill.  It is an agonizing decision to finally put them down - who are we to decide whether they live or die?  But their lives were probably miserable towards the end.  Reggie could not see or hear very well, he could not keep weight on, his hips kept giving out, he slept all the time and he could not control himself.  I am sure he felt bad.  He gave us over 14 years of love and we were fortunate to have him in our lives - he was a very good dog.  He faithfully would wait at the end of the driveway for me to come home if he was outside. Now we have a female named Piper.  She is very sweet and has become my dog - which was no surprise.  We lover her dearly and could not imagine her with any other family.  We will love her for everyday of her life - but she is the last pet for us!