25 things - pet edition

I'm sure everyone's seen the 25 Things that is going around Facebook right now. I decided to do one for this blog, just on the subject of pets/animals! :-) Some of these probably won't be a surprise for those long-time readers of my blog, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

1. I have had 6 cats in my lifetime, and one of those cats had 4 kittens that we kept for 6-9 weeks.

2. My parents let me get my first kitten when I was 10, to teach me responsibility. I know that isn't always a good idea to do that with children, but I was a pretty responsible kid and took good care of my cats. (My parents also closely supervised me.)

3. I used to love turtles a lot.

4. I had three pet turtles when we lived in Costa Rica. I started out with one, and he stopped eating so we got a second one. It did the trick, and both ate healthily. We were given the third turtle by a friend who was moving.

5. I also was obsessed with horses for a while, but only because most young girls love horses and I felt that I ought to like them, too.

6. I wanted a cat from the time I was really little. For some reason, whenever I imagined my cat, I always pictured a black and white cat.

7. I actually wasn't obsessed with cats until about 7th grade. We had just moved to a new town, and my parents bought me a Trapper Keeper to take to my new school. I picked out one with a cat on the front, and kitten folders for inside. I got the reputation of being a cat lover at my new school, and it went downhill from there. :-)

8. My parents had an Old English Sheepdog named Sassy when I was born. She apparently reverted back to puppyhood when the new baby (me) was brought home and forgot all her potty training.

9. My first two cats were tabbies, and were also indoor/outdoor kitties. I got both when they were 6 weeks old.

10. My second cat got pregnant because my parents kept procrastinating about getting her spayed.

11. I got to watch the kittens be born and it was one of the most awesome things ever. I'm glad I got to witness that.

12. In Peru, dry cat food was very expensive so we made the food for the cats. I made rice and mixed in a can of tuna (later, we used liver). It was the first thing I ever learned to cook. I always made the food, even when I was 10 years old.

13. I didn't want Siamese cats, but at the time it was all I could find. I paid $30 for them. I'm not sure why I paid for them - they didn't have papers or anything.

14. My Siamese cats (Koko and Yum Yum) looked full bred but had very faint tabby stripes on their legs, so I suspect they were not completely Siamese.

15. I named my first cat, Misty, after the book Misty of Chincoteague, which was one of my favorites growing up.

16. Our family got a dog when I was 14 and that was a new experience for me.

17. We had picked out the puppy and were going to take her home when she was 7 weeks old, but the owners called us at 5 weeks and said to take her now or they'd give her away to someone else. We had to take her - and I would *NOT* recommend getting a 5 week old puppy. She suffered separation anxiety really bad, and cried so much our neighbors complained.

18. It is very hard to find free pets in Peru. You don't have animal shelters, or the idea of "house pets" in general. There were no stores like Petsmart.

19. My brother won a goldfish at a fair in Costa Rica, which led to my parents getting a big fishtank and a lot of other fish. However, all the fish but my brother's goldfish died soon after.

20. I got a betta fish for the first time in college. I have had many bettas, all named Zeke. At one point I got a new tank and had 3 betta fish die pretty fast, so I got rid of the tank. I have no idea why they kept dying, but they lived fine in the old tank. I think it was the filter.

21. When I was 6, my next door neighbor had a frog lay eggs in their outdoor kiddie pool. The eggs hatched into tadpoles and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I really wanted a pet frog (my parents were so mean not to let me keep some). I used to lay awake and imagine how I would have constructed a flycatcher so I could feed my pet frogs.

22. My first cat, Misty, died of feline leukemia. They don't have any record of the disease in Peru, so she was never vaccinated for it. She got it after we brought her to the States.

23. When I had Koko and Yum Yum, our vet was within walking distance from my house. I used to put them in a cloth shoulder bag and walk them to the vet. They'd poke their heads out and watch where we were going, but never tried to jump out.

24. Koko and Yum Yum looked a lot alike. I was one of the few who could tell them apart without looking at the collar color. My dad always called them "Cat". I'm not sure he ever knew their names.

25. When Autumn had her four kittens, we had a friend who knew how to tell the gender. She told us we had 3 girls and one boy. We found out later that it was actually opposite, and so we gave away the three boys to people who all wanted female cats. Oops! :-) corsets