Pets,bugs etc

When I was growing up we had a series of cats and when the current cat caught a mouse or a bird,it was my job to remove the corpse of the unfortunate creature and throw it into the rubbish bin. I would drop a tissue over it so that I wouldn’t actually be able to see the poor little thing and then remove the dead creature .This usually worked well under those circumstances. However one day when I dropped a tissue over the victim (a mouse) ,I got the fright of my life! The tissue moved.This could only mean one thing. The mouse was not ,as I had originally supposed,quite dead. The cat which caught it,Cuddles was a beautiful cat and butter would not have melted in her mouth.But that beautiful,fluffy,grey and white cat had ambitions at being The Great Grey Hunter………. Silly me,one day took off my hat when I came inside and put it on to the carpet for a moment. I left it just for a moment,if that! Along comes the cat,she had caught a sparrow and hurriedly dropped it into the hat. I saw her do so! Tinkerbell ,the cat after Cuddles caught mice and birds from time to time,but she learned that it was a waste of time to present her catch to me.She knew that I was likely to get it off her and get rid of it as soon as possible. One day she caught a mouse and brought it inside. On seeing me she quickly high-tailed it out of there the mouse between her jaws.One day Tinkerbell brought a sparrow inside ,which I managed to rescue,as it was still alive.Keeping the little bird out of her way,I rang the vet clinic for some advice.Was advised to put it in a shoebox and keep it in a warm place(such as the airing cupboard) and what food etc to give it. Hopefully, the bird would recover in a few days. Unfortunately ,it didn’t.Birds often die of sheer fright after having been caught by a cat so I am told.Personally, I think that it was better for the little bird to die somewhere comfortable and warm than between the jaws of a cat. My current cat, Tuesday, is still young and already into the hunting habit. I thought for a while that all she ever caught were flies,butterflies,leaves and the like.That is until one night when I put my foot firmly on to the living-room carpet and I heard a loud crunch!I looked down and I saw a dead mouse.The crunch that I had heard had been it’s bones when I accidentally stepped on it (it would have already been dead at that point)
Nothing like this occurred with my first cat,who didn’t bring inside anything that he caught while younger and in his old age was so old and fat that family used to joke that perhaps birds laughed at him from behind their wings!
Not that I would be without a cat. I love the sound of purring,the feel of fur and a cat is someone to whom a person can talk
There was the matter of a rabbit. It was not a pet of mine. It was a large brown one,which had got loose from somewhere and found it’s way into my garden. I caught it(not an easy task)and put it into the cat cage,rang the vet who advised me what to give it to eat etcetera. Then I took it to the vet clinic.Then there was the matter of flyers. They were done for me at my church(which was just a few doors down from place) free,gratis and for nothing. If people had lost a large brown rabbit,they could ring the vet at such and such a number. Flyers were put in letterboxes and in local shops. I hope that the owners hopped to it and claimed their pet.
Guinea Pigs are another matter again.My niece(daughter of my eldest sister) used to keep them as pets.When my sister,husband and children went away on a holiday,they left the guinea pigs with Mum and I.My sister left some basic instructions for the feeding and care of the Guinea Pigs.We made sure to follow them to the letter. Caroline (my sister) had said to move the cage,meaning from time to time.We moved it every day. We carefully changed their food etc. When Caroline and family came back from holiday,Caroline said”Wow! You have been giving them better care than they get at home!”Well perhaps the Guinea Pigs had a holiday too at that rate.
Eventually,when my sister and family moved,my niece got the kind of pet that she really wanted-a horse.She quickly became very much’ the horsey type’ taking to it all like a duck to water. She rode,she mucked out the stable,she must have learned exactly how a horse fit’s together,how to give a horse first aid etc.She did find too, that sometimes horse blankets would disappear. Yes they got stolen!
It’s nice to have pets but there are other life forms out there.What do you think I mean? Life on other planets?Well,no. I was thinking more along the lines of Insects.Herein New Zealand,we have one called a Weta. Wetas are known for being ugly. Actually, weta is short for Weta-punga which is Maori for God of ugly things.There are actually four different kinds of weta, but one is only found on a particular island and one is the cave weta.There is the forest weta and one other,the tree weta.One day (at my previous flat) I found a weta on my front porch and picked it up to put it outside.Well, wetas often are bigger than other insects and humans are much bigger than wetas. So of course it bit me.Ouch! Take it from one who knows,wetas can give a goodly bite!
Spiders?Most of the spiders which I have seen close up have been I think the ‘Daddy-long-legs’ and the small,harmless variety. My mother,however, was gardening one day near a large hydrangea bush ,when she was bitten by a female Funnel Web spider. Mum was due to go to a service marking Women’s Suffrage that afternoon and so while she considered the bite to be a nuisance,it was no big deal. When the lady arrived who was giving her a lift(Bridget),she was horrified.Mum’s arm was starting to puff out.She said to Mum that she’d take her to the doctor .Mum insisted that it was nothing and could wait.When they got to the service and Mum’s arm was ballooning in size,Bridget insisted that she would take Mum to the doctor. the doctor was able to identify the trouble and asked Mum whether she had ever had a tetanus injection.She hadn’t. The doctor gave her the injection and made an appointment for her to have a booster in six months time.The doctor gave Mum advice.But the matter was not over. Mum caught the offending spider. By then of course it was dead.She thought it might be helpful . She could be a very considerate lady. Mum took it to the receptionist at the health centre,who let out a scream.Out came the doctor and she let out a scream.Mum thought they were making a terrible fuss,after all it was dead.