As the poorly named title to this one states: I am indeed an animal person. I have a soft spot in my heart for those cute little critters with four legs and a tail. I can't help it. I'm afraid it's in my blood, genetics and all. To be honest, I think I like animals a lot better than I like people.
Why? Well, here's a few reasons: Animals won't talk about you behind your back. Animals don't drown you in drama. You'll never have to worry about an animal not paying you back that $20 you let them borrow last week. Most animals are content to be quiet and sleep so you can actually hear yourself think. They're low maintenance; food, water, bathroom, love...that's really all they ask for. They won't ask for a new car when they're 16. You won't have to send them to college. You won't have to get to know their boy/girlfriends. When they misbehave it's legal to spray them in the face with water or lock them in the bathroom. They don't hog the remote control. They won't run up your cell phone bill. You don't have to give them a bedtime, they go willingly. You don't have to worry about what to feed them, they're happy with whatever's in the bag.
In essence, pets are much easier to deal with and get along with than people. You don't have to work at it to make a dog love you, they just do. You want kids? Get a cat. They're bi-polar from the get go. They're anti-social one minute and all up in your face the next. On second thought, if you want kids you should get a dog first. If you want the most true to life personality of a toddler, get a German Shepherd or a Lab. By the time those kids you were gonna have would be teenagers, that dog might have calmed down a bit. This is where the cat comes in. Cats are angsty and needy all at once. Typical teenage behavior, no?
So you've got your elderly dog and your angsty cat, what are you supposed to get when those kids you didn't have would be going off to college or starting their own families? Get some fish. They only need you at feeding time and change the water time. The rest of the time you can enjoy looking at them. In other words, if they were those adult children, they'd call you when they needed more money, a place to stay, or a babysitter. And you'd get to enjoy looking at the pictures they post to Facebook of how much fun they're having now that they've left you with an empty nest.
See what I'm saying? Pets are easier all around. Cheaper too.
So, about those pets and being an animal person...on Tuesday I had to take the pup and both cats to the vet. The cats were getting declawed (picture my carpet and furniture doing the Hallelujah chorus) and the dog was getting spayed. When any type of surgery like that is done, they keep the animals overnight...this totally sucks.
So Tuesday night, there I am laying in bed feeling extremely lonely. On a normal night I have a cat laying beside me by the edge of the bed, a dog on my other side, and the other cat curled around my feet. Tuesday night I had nothing but the emptiness of cold sheets. Yep, I had nightmares all night long. I don't remember what happened in these nightmares, but I do remember my animals weren't in them and they royally sucked and I kept waking up gasping for breath, heart racing, sweat pouring, and not a single animal to pet on while I calmed down.
I don't normally have nightmares. Heck, I don't normally even remember dreaming when I wake up, but Tuesday night it's like all those nightmares that the animals have kept at bay came after me with a vengeance.
True, I wasn't completely alone in the house. My two older kids were asleep in their room. The leopard geckos were doing whatever they do in their cages, and the fish were doing their thing in their tank. But the fact is, the bed was empty. A king size bed is never meant to be empty. Ever. Hubby works at night and the animals are more than happy to take up the extra room in the bed for him...but they weren't there.
I hope you learned something in this post, as I know I have. Next time any of the animals need surgery, I'm spending the night at the Vet's office in the kennel.
Awwww. I have to concur on the liking pets more than people thing. I've never had the pleasure of having a dog but I absolutely ADORE my two kitties (and the first furbaby in my life, my kitty, Garfield, who we had from the time I was 12 until I was 18 and he was tragically killed in a hit and run (the bastard ran a stop sign, hit my cat and didn't even slow down, all while our neighbor watched, helpless). Brian was much more a "dog person" until we met but over the 10 years we've been together, he has fallen completely in love with our boys, Spencer (who I adopted on Easter 1999) and Sydney (who we adopted down here in FL December 2004). They are so amazing and very much the angsty teenagers. You definitely have to earn your love from cats but boy oh boy, when they give it to you, you feel like a million bucks. I can't wait until we have a bigger place and can afford to add a pup to our family. :)
ReplyDeleteRight you are, Kari. You do have to earn a cat's love, but it is always worth it.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, they're not lying when they say that dogs have owners and cats have staff. Hahaha!!
Man, T.C. (the grey kitty) is acting like being declawed just broke his little heart. It's killing me. He's been depressed since Tuesday and I'm starting to wonder if he'll ever be his normal old ornery self again. Granted, he was the outdoor, 80 foot up in a pine tree, rescue. Maybe he's mourning the loss of tree climbing, though he'd never be able to climb one again anyway being indoors and all. But he was very attached to his claws and used them frequently (thus my poor furniture singing the Hallelujah chorus when he lost them).
Scraps (the big fat yellow cat) and Little Britches (the pup) are acting like all is well and quite normal in their little worlds.
I'm hoping he'll snap out of it soon. Poor thing refuses to even walk except going to find a new hiding spot after I give him his antibiotics twice a day. :(