Ah, yes, the random things you learn as a pet owner. I’m sure we all have our interesting, funny and even horror stories about pet ownership, but in the end we have each learned something from the situation. In my life, I have been the proud owner of a number of animals, including hermit crabs, turtles, dogs, fish, rabbits, horses… and they each have taught me something – tricks to the trade and interesting tid-bits about ownership.Let me start off by telling you, my beloved fur baby, Chase, had a run-in yesterday with an unknown animal – might have been a dog, a cat, or perhaps even a raccoon, but regardless, he came in bloodied and wounded.
Lesson 1: It is ok to over react when your fur baby is injured, but do not over react to the point you convince your veterinarian best-friend that it’s so bad, we might have to amputate if infection sets in. Yes, I over reacted. But he was injured, and his pathetic little eyes told me he was hurting. So – from this lesson and trip to the vet I have learned that it is FREE to get your pet’s antibiotics filled at Giant Eagle instead of having your veterinarian’s office fill them for a pricey amount.
You all know I have turtles, and I love my turtles, despite Ferrari out growing every tank I have ever put her in. My newest discovery has to do with feeding.
Lesson 2: Turtles have the ability to throw up. Who knew? But they can. Apparently I over fed her, so she puked. We were very perplexed by this, so clearly I Googled about the situation. And yep! Turtles have the ability to vomit. Note to self: feed in smaller amounts.
As mentioned above, and as many of you may know, my BFF works for a veterinarian. And she is awesome and saves the lives of our fur babies every day. She is full of great stories (like the frog named Jesus that was puked up by a dog twice and survived) and random facts.
Lesson 3: Animal anti-diarrhea medicine works for humans too! She let me know this first-hand.
In college, my roommate and I bought a rabbit, a dwarf bunny named Dancer. We read on the internet that rabbits can be potty-trained to use a litter box like a cat – so really, your bunny can hop around your home (or in our case a dorm room) freely. We thought this would be awesome…
Lesson 4: Potty training with bunnies doesn’t work unless you take the time to teach them. Dancer crapped and peed wherever she wanted, ate through just about everything we owned, including Christmas lights and a leather purse. She didn’t stay around much longer after that. My recommendation – keep the rabbit in the cage.
What are some random/interesting things you have learned while being pet owners??
|
|
