Feline Grumpy

I did have a long post planned about the abdication of responsibly that runs through our society. That’ll keep for another time but for now, and tying in with that, I have a little something about pet ownership.

I am the proud owner a small furry family with canines, felines, rodents, pisceans and soon I think, something exotic. However, before I get any pet, I think through carefully and weigh up how much money I can afford to spend on the set-up, feeding, vet bills, attention, it fitting in with the rest of the other pets etc. That’s before I even head to the pet shop.

I head to one of two independent pet shops in the Medway towns as I think they both offer a better choice of stuff than the food or suchlike you can get from supermarkets. The staff there are also knowledgable and I do love to torture myself by looking at the pets there that I know it’s a bad idea for me to have. I fall in love with things like Pygmy African Hedgehogs on a regular basis. The outside of the shop in Gillingham is festooned with ads form people that are selling their pets. Now this is a regular and expected occurrence, especially when people are feckless enough not to neuter or spay their pets. That’s not such an issue, and sometimes it is a good source of a pet for those who may not be able to afford £500+ for a purebred puppy. One hopes that the owners realise from their mistake and spay the parent animal.

Today though whilst I popped into the above shop en route to the hospital, I perused said notices out of curiosity. I was taken aback by the amount of people wanting to give away their animals. There were cats and kittens, puppies and dogs all with owners wanting shot with none of them wanting more than £30 for a feline or £100 for a canine. Some of the ads broke my heart as the owners were clearly financially stricken and rehoming their pets out of desperation. Some of the ads made my blood boil as the owners were clearly to stupid to be allowed to breathe let alone keep pets. How on earth can someone place an ad offering a Rottweiler X while saying it was too much for them to handle? One would think that had they been better owners then that would not have been an issue.

I am not a parent, not yet, and to me, my animals are replacement kids and I could no more ditch them than a parent could just get rid of their children. Why Can’t people think a little bit more before they take on the responsibly of pet ownership? I’m still brooding over the fate of the animals in those ads. I hope they find a better home. I want to take them all but I know I can’t and that makes me feel like a heel.

I think too much sometimes.