So here’s a fun fact you might not know about me, but I’m not what you would call an animal lover. To be honest, pretty much anything that breathes and isn’t a human being scares the living daylights out of me. Small dogs I can handle, but anything bigger than say, my handbag, is a no go zone.
Sophie on the other hand, is an animal lover. She wants to be a vet when she grows up and loves all things nature. It’s fairly safe to say she gets those qualities from Scott and not me! Soph has been desperate for a pet since she was about 3 years old. Because I’m not a big fan of anything with fur, we’ve tried goldfish (They drowned. May they RIP) and hermit crabs (again with the RIP). We were very close to buying a dog but after hearing all sorts of horror stories about vet bills that sucked entire bank accounts dry, we compromised and went for a rodent.
Yes, we are now the proud owners of a Guinea Pig! His name is Cookie and no, I haven’t held him. Nor do I intend to. But Sophie loves him and is proving to be an excellent caregiver to her new pet, so that’s the main thing.
Scott surprised Sophie on Saturday (also his birthday) by taking her to Bunnings to buy a few supplies, followed by a trip to the local pet store to choose a Guinea Pig. Sophie had no idea any of this was happening and Scott can confirm that yes, she did actually squeal and jump up and down in the middle of the pet shop when she was told what was going on!
Here’s how it all went down when the new family pet was brought home.
Scott got straight into things by putting together a home for the guinea pig
While Soph calmed down the little rodent who was freaking out in the box and peeing everywhere. Um, gross! But it didn’t bother Sophie at all and she calmly patted her new pet, telling him everything would be ok. Um, cute!
She then announced that the family pet would be called Cookie (again, a bit cute) before waiting patiently for Scott to teach her important things such as how to handle a pet without strangling it* and what to do if it escapes from your clutches (rule #1: don’t call mummy because she will be no help whatsoever!)
* on a random side note, back in the day, when I was a Kindy teacher and we had various class pets that the children were allowed to hold on a regular basis, I used to joke with the parents that if you were a nasty person in this life I’m fairly sure you come back as a Kindy Pet. Those poor animals are squeezed within an inch of their life on a regular basis and that can not be comfortable! So just a quick heads up, if you believe in karma and/or the afterlife, being nice in this life will go a very long way. Trust me when I tell you, you do not want to come back reincarnated as a chick, hermit crab and/or mouse that lives in a kindergarten!!
So once Cookie was passed over to his new owner, Sophie gently placed him in his new home while telling me, “I think the best thing about having a Guinea Pig for a pet is you can tell them all your secrets and they’ll never repeat them to anyone.” Personally I find blogging a great way to keep things to myself (ha!) but after seeing Sophie look after Cookie in the last few days, my only regret about buying a family pet is that we didn’t do it sooner!
Do you have a family pet? Is it a rodent? Or something more exotic?
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