Cats, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs and rats

We took Buster (aka Boo-boo) to the Family Pet Clinic on March 20 to be neutered. We picked him up the next day, a changed kitty. He's been a bit tentative lately, not quite himself.

He also has been compulsively licking the affected area. So Kent took him back Friday afternoon and they gave him a surgical cone. Poor Boo-boo. He can't lick himself, even regular cleaning, unless we take it off. He runs into the side of things with the cone. If you offer him a treat, sometimes it lands on the inside of the cone and he has to try to lick it off. It's really quite comical at times.

Also, Cayla finally decided that she had had enough of guinea pig ownership and I placed an ad for the cavies. We sold the last two today. While discussing the ins and outs of guinea pigs, I mentioned to the buyers that Cayla had wanted a rat for some time and I told her "You aren't getting a rat."

We gave the last buyers the cages, water bottles and food that we had left. Cayla and I helped carry stuff across the street and load the van. As we walked back to the house, Cayla turned to me and said, "Now I can get a rat!"

"No, I said you aren't getting a rat."

"But rats are smarter than guinea pigs."

"Didn't you hear me before? No rats."

See, we started with gerbils. There were supposedly four males - gerbils like to be with other gerbils. But one wasn't a male - "he" was a she, and gave birth before we got her. And got pregnant right away. As one point, we had 11 gerbils. We placed an ad and gave them all away by ones and twos.

Then we got a hamster. Hamsters like to be alone, so we got just one. We especially didn't want to repeat the multiple fiasco the gerbils had been. But the hamster died in August, and Cayla was devasted.

Kent went to visit some friends in October, and brought their guinea pigs back with him. A male and female, and guess what? She was pregnant. Yippee. She gave birth on Nov. 10 - two pups - and got pregnant pretty quick. Through an ad, we had found homes for the dad and two pups before the second litter - three pups - arrived on Jan. 18.

We are done with extra pets for awhile.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I had a cat that was like that when I was a kid - turn around, and it was getting pregnant again. Mind you, the stray cats here are like that...

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