Pet Issues
So, we have two Guinea pigs now. :D
But just 3 days ago, we had no intention of getting any more pets (We have a cat already, which I'll get to in a minute).
What happened?
;3;
So, this is our gorgeous and most loving CatDaughter, KiKi.
She is the sweetest cat who loves people's company and never uses her claws on my boys no matter how rambunctious my boys get.
But she has another WILD side to her...
She's an extremely skillful, deadly predator to all the critters in the vicinity of our house as long as they are not too much bigger than her.
She has brought to our backdoor rats, moles, birds, lizards, rabbits, etc.......
She used to bring them back regularly when we first adopted her from an animal rescue group, but I guess enough of my grunts and frowns and screams and yelling made her stop bringing back her victims to us all the time.
(By the way, I know most vets recommend that cats be kept home and not let outside freely, and that's what I/we've done with all of our previous cats, but this one was already set on her outdoor activities and desperate to go outside by the time we adopted her, and we knew she'd live a long but very unhappy life if she were to be always trapped inside the house. So, we let her out basically any time she wants and let her back in any time she asks. She spends about 1/3 of her time outside each day.)
OK, enough with the introduction. =w=
Two days ago, she brought back a dead baby rabbit to our backdoor (where the deck is). Of course she was proud and wanted us to praise her, but I could hardly look at it and waited for husband to come home and dispose of the poor critter. *sigh*
And THEN things got complicated.
After eating catching the baby rabbit, I guess KiKi decided to have more fun with a rabbit nest she must've found, and No.1 and husband found a badly shaken, scared baby rabbit at the backdoor. Mind you, there's no way the baby rabbit could get up on our deck, so it must've been KiKi. I guess KiKi was full from satisfied with the first one, she seemingly hadn't hurt this baby rabbit but just brought it home so we could eat the rabbit oh how kind of her she could play with it later.
Now we had a live baby rabbit on our hands. It was unharmed but could hardly move around, I guess it was in shock.
We decided to keep it until it could go back to the wild our neighborhood when it's regained enough strength.
What ensued this was lots of googling on how to rescue a baby rabbit.... U_U*
It was a tiny little thing and was hardly moving at all, only occasionally jumping at the noises around it.
Husband went out and got a cage for it, and we put some weeds and water in it, along with a couple of towels to keep it warm and snug, and covered the cage with a beach towel to keep it dark.
One day later, it hadn't eaten anything or barely moved. ;_______;
So, we went out and got a special kitten formula that baby rabbits could have, too. We gently and slowly gave it the formula, which it did take.
A couple of hours later, the baby rabbit was dead. It's possible that the formula had something to do with it, but I do think it would've died anyway from stress and hunger. I'd like to think at least it didn't go with an empty stomach........
We waited until the morning to make sure it really was dead and not just sleeping, and buried it in the backyard.
Now, No.1 was crying hysterically. He's a very sensitive boy like that.
9_9
Well, since we already had the cage, and I didn't want to waste it (I am cheap economical like that :D), I suggested maybe we'd get a couple of gerbils or Guinea pigs. Husband always kind of wanted to do this for the boys, so he agreed right away. lol
The next day, we went to a local pet store.
(Enjoy a couple of gratuitous pics! :D)
We actually wanted to get two female siblings, but the pet store only had male siblings. Further googling suggested that it doesn't really matter too much which sex as long as they are relatively young and siblings. They had 6-week-old Guinea pig brothers, so we decided to give them a new home. ^^
We got supplies for them, and headed home.
(One of them in a box on the way home...)
EDIT: Shortly after this photo was taken, this piggie peed on husband's lap through the cardboard box. Way to go, piggie!!! :D
This one's a creamy-colored one. Very curious and seems friendly. I didn't want to take a pic of the other one at this point because No.1 was holding the box and didn't know if he could make sure it wouldn't climb out.
Now, the Guinea pigs are safe and sound, hiding in their cozy caves, as they adjust to their new home.
The creamy one came out before too long and started exploring and eating the hay and fresh vegetables, while the dark-brown one kept hiding and wouldn't come out. Such a contrast in personality! ^^
Of course, we need to absolutely make sure that THE PREDATOR won't hurt the little things.
Can you feel pretty KiKi's deadly and silent killer stare in the pic? =w=;;;;;;
Now, these pigs belong to the boys (sort of), so we let them name their own pigs.
I suggested that, since they're male siblings, they may want names that go together well, like "Darwin" and "Einstein" or something. No.1 liked this idea, and named his pig, the dark-brown one on the right (above), "Darwin". Smart boy... =w=d
But No.2 did not like Einstein. I said "Hmmmm, then, what about Hawking? Or......Newton? Pascal???"
No.2 didn't like any of my suggestions, and decided to call his cream-colored one "Cutie Pie".
........................... :'D;;; I'm sorry, pig, I did try.
Anyway, further googling on how to care for Guinea pigs revealed that the newly purchased cage, which is the main reason I decided to get the piggies, is entirely too small for the two of them after all. D:
So, we're now going to purchase a much bigger cage where they can run around and roam to stay healthy and have more fun.
So, it has been a strange couple of days full of emotional ups and downs, but the piggies are SO cute!! :'3
BTW, I now have a Nutella addiction. I can't believe I wasted so much of my life without knowing its existence. D':
Thank you, my Twitter friends, I love and damn you all. :'D ♥
But just 3 days ago, we had no intention of getting any more pets (We have a cat already, which I'll get to in a minute).
What happened?
;3;
So, this is our gorgeous and most loving CatDaughter, KiKi.
She is the sweetest cat who loves people's company and never uses her claws on my boys no matter how rambunctious my boys get.
But she has another WILD side to her...
She's an extremely skillful, deadly predator to all the critters in the vicinity of our house as long as they are not too much bigger than her.
She has brought to our backdoor rats, moles, birds, lizards, rabbits, etc.......
She used to bring them back regularly when we first adopted her from an animal rescue group, but I guess enough of my grunts and frowns and screams and yelling made her stop bringing back her victims to us all the time.
(By the way, I know most vets recommend that cats be kept home and not let outside freely, and that's what I/we've done with all of our previous cats, but this one was already set on her outdoor activities and desperate to go outside by the time we adopted her, and we knew she'd live a long but very unhappy life if she were to be always trapped inside the house. So, we let her out basically any time she wants and let her back in any time she asks. She spends about 1/3 of her time outside each day.)
OK, enough with the introduction. =w=
Two days ago, she brought back a dead baby rabbit to our backdoor (where the deck is). Of course she was proud and wanted us to praise her, but I could hardly look at it and waited for husband to come home and dispose of the poor critter. *sigh*
And THEN things got complicated.
After eating catching the baby rabbit, I guess KiKi decided to have more fun with a rabbit nest she must've found, and No.1 and husband found a badly shaken, scared baby rabbit at the backdoor. Mind you, there's no way the baby rabbit could get up on our deck, so it must've been KiKi. I guess KiKi was full from satisfied with the first one, she seemingly hadn't hurt this baby rabbit but just brought it home so we could eat the rabbit oh how kind of her she could play with it later.
Now we had a live baby rabbit on our hands. It was unharmed but could hardly move around, I guess it was in shock.
We decided to keep it until it could go back to the wild our neighborhood when it's regained enough strength.
What ensued this was lots of googling on how to rescue a baby rabbit.... U_U*
It was a tiny little thing and was hardly moving at all, only occasionally jumping at the noises around it.
Husband went out and got a cage for it, and we put some weeds and water in it, along with a couple of towels to keep it warm and snug, and covered the cage with a beach towel to keep it dark.
One day later, it hadn't eaten anything or barely moved. ;_______;
So, we went out and got a special kitten formula that baby rabbits could have, too. We gently and slowly gave it the formula, which it did take.
A couple of hours later, the baby rabbit was dead. It's possible that the formula had something to do with it, but I do think it would've died anyway from stress and hunger. I'd like to think at least it didn't go with an empty stomach........
We waited until the morning to make sure it really was dead and not just sleeping, and buried it in the backyard.
Now, No.1 was crying hysterically. He's a very sensitive boy like that.
9_9
Well, since we already had the cage, and I didn't want to waste it (I am cheap economical like that :D), I suggested maybe we'd get a couple of gerbils or Guinea pigs. Husband always kind of wanted to do this for the boys, so he agreed right away. lol
The next day, we went to a local pet store.
(Enjoy a couple of gratuitous pics! :D)
We actually wanted to get two female siblings, but the pet store only had male siblings. Further googling suggested that it doesn't really matter too much which sex as long as they are relatively young and siblings. They had 6-week-old Guinea pig brothers, so we decided to give them a new home. ^^
We got supplies for them, and headed home.
(One of them in a box on the way home...)
EDIT: Shortly after this photo was taken, this piggie peed on husband's lap through the cardboard box. Way to go, piggie!!! :D
This one's a creamy-colored one. Very curious and seems friendly. I didn't want to take a pic of the other one at this point because No.1 was holding the box and didn't know if he could make sure it wouldn't climb out.
Now, the Guinea pigs are safe and sound, hiding in their cozy caves, as they adjust to their new home.
The creamy one came out before too long and started exploring and eating the hay and fresh vegetables, while the dark-brown one kept hiding and wouldn't come out. Such a contrast in personality! ^^
Of course, we need to absolutely make sure that THE PREDATOR won't hurt the little things.
Can you feel pretty KiKi's deadly and silent killer stare in the pic? =w=;;;;;;
Now, these pigs belong to the boys (sort of), so we let them name their own pigs.
I suggested that, since they're male siblings, they may want names that go together well, like "Darwin" and "Einstein" or something. No.1 liked this idea, and named his pig, the dark-brown one on the right (above), "Darwin". Smart boy... =w=d
But No.2 did not like Einstein. I said "Hmmmm, then, what about Hawking? Or......Newton? Pascal???"
No.2 didn't like any of my suggestions, and decided to call his cream-colored one "Cutie Pie".
........................... :'D;;; I'm sorry, pig, I did try.
Anyway, further googling on how to care for Guinea pigs revealed that the newly purchased cage, which is the main reason I decided to get the piggies, is entirely too small for the two of them after all. D:
So, we're now going to purchase a much bigger cage where they can run around and roam to stay healthy and have more fun.
So, it has been a strange couple of days full of emotional ups and downs, but the piggies are SO cute!! :'3
BTW, I now have a Nutella addiction. I can't believe I wasted so much of my life without knowing its existence. D':
Thank you, my Twitter friends, I love and damn you all. :'D ♥