Critter Friendly

I’ve been digging through boxes of old photo’s and scanning them.   We are so blessed to have digital camera’s now.    Back when my kids were little all I had was a little 110 film camera.    Old scanned pictures don’t look so hot…
Punk Snowboarder – age 6

Scissorbella – age 3,  Rockstar Chick – age 5

We had all kinds of pets and critters when the kids were young.   Dogs, Cats, Rats, Mice, Spiders, snakes, lizards..  etc……
Eric was the critter lover.   He had a Tarantula when he was a teenager.  All the neighborhood kids knew about it and were continually knocking on my front door begging to see the spider.  8 year old boys and girls love that kind of thing… scary, exciting and unknown. 
We had several rats..  They are actually one of the  best pets we had.  They’re very smart and social.  They’ll sit on your shoulder and lick your cheek.    Ash had one she named Melissa….  Well…  Melissa started getting a tumor on her side (very common in rats).  Ash was about 6 or 7 and very upset about her pet being sick.    Ash brought poor Melissa to me one evening after work.   The rat was barely breathing.  Ash had her laying on a towel, petting her and soothing her at the same time crying for me to call the vet.   Well the rat only cost $2.  Do you think I wanted to pay the vet $100 to just tell me it was dying?  Her dad and I were trying to decide what to do.  We had the feeling Melissa was going to die any minute.  We decided one of us would hold the rats nose until she quit breathing (without Ash knowing).  We went to get the rat and at that moment she took one last deep breath and was gone.   It was a blessing.  It was traumatic but part of life.   We put Melissa in a paper bag, wrapped her up real good and buried her out in the garden.  Ash didn’t want another rat after that experience.   
More pet stories tomorrow……

Enjoy!