The Great Critter Conundrum

Our little country homestead is swiftly growing in critter population. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I know that the memories I have of the pets of my childhood are some of the best memories of my childhood. I remember coming home from school in the afternoon and running out to the shed or the barn to play with my new kitten or puppy. There are so many such sweet moments that I treasure. Pets help teach children compassion and responsibility. There's so much to be said about a child and their pet. So, how can I, as a Mom, rob my children of these experiences by denying them ownership of a pet?

On the other hand, pets bring lots of irritating baggage along with them. Yes, they are cute and funny and entertaining (at least while they are babies), buy soon grow into smelly, loud, jumping-on-you, pooping-in-the-wrong-places annoyances. I have to constantly nag remind the kids about feeding them and cleaning up after them. And I find myself silently screaming, "Never again!" Does anyone else out there feel me?

Our pets are usually pretty run of the mill, but at the moment, we have some very interesting, full-of-personality critters calling our farmstead home. Meet Georgia (as in "Curious George-ia").

Georgia is not your typical chicken. She thinks she is a human and that she should live, eat, and sleep with humans. Not that she has ever stepped a claw into the house (Don't thinks he hasn't tried. She has.) We let our chickens free range during the day, and leave the coop door open so at night, they can all gather back in and roost safely in their enclosed home. Not so for Georgia. She refuses to participate in such chicken-y behavior, but insists rather on remaining up at the house instead of joining her chicken comrades. During the day, she perches on the back of the front porch rocking chair, and cranes her neck to peer into the kitchen window to watch the goings-on. It's a little unsettling to be stared down by beady chicken eyes while one is washing the breakfast dishes. But I've kinda gotten used to it. She descends from her perch only to squeeze herself as close to the carport door as she can (which is a full-length window type door). Maybe she doesn't want to miss out on the morning's Bible reading time or the afternoon Language lesson?

Here is Midnight, our newest kitty. He was snuck in unawares by a certain mischievous great-grandparent. I came out of church one night to find him in my van, much to the delight of my  children.
 

 (I didn't have a photo of Skittles and he wasn't available for a photo shoot--off courting perhaps?--so I borrowed one of his likeness from Wiki)

Skittles (adult cat) has been with us for about 3 years now. Against my adamant protests, Skittles manages to stay in the house about 80% of the time. This started because any food that is put outside for him is eaten by possums, coons, or chickens (one in particular--can you guess?). So in order to keep the poor thing from starving, we started bringing him inside to feed him. The children started sneaking him off to their rooms, where he promptly falls asleep in a corner and sleeps there most of the day, while I forget he is even in the house in the first place. If he is not let in in the morning (I put him outside at night), he goes to the kids' windows and howls until someone comes to get him. Being that I like my children to sleep past 6:00 a.m. if at all possible, I will usually bring him in myself just to shut him up! He then promptly makes a beeline for Elijah's room and settles in for a good nap. He also goes to the door and cries when he needs to go out to use the bathroom. Pretty smart cat!

This is Cottontail. He is probably my favorite pet because he is content to live in his little cage, doesn't make any noise, and is  low maintenance. He's also pretty cute and cuddly. Josie loves to hold and snuggle him and he seems happy to oblige.

 

Now these two gals (Sugar Baby and Stacy), I like to pretend are not here. They live on the hinder side of our barn/shop and so I cannot see, hear, or smell them unless I walk around the barn/shop to see them, which I rarely do. My dear husband has been mildly obsessed with owning a pair of "large blacks" for quite some years now. I made a bargain with him that if I got a new couch, he could get his hogs. And so here we are (the couch is very comfortable, by the way).



We also have two broods of chickens--an adult brood that we've had for about 3 years, and a new, young brood that Elijah and Grace are raising for the 4-H Chicken Chain Project.  Here's hoping that something positive comes out of this project. And that the chickens live through it (we've already had two fatalities).

We started out with three lab/golden retriever puppies last spring, but they got so big and began to eat so much dog food that we got rid of two of them. The third one that we decided to keep, Bess, had a uteran prolapse and had to be put down last fall.  We've had really bad luck with dogs so far, losing about five different dogs (either died or ran away) since we moved here three years ago.

If it were up to the children, we would add a horse, cows, and goats to the count. Their Daddy is already putting up fences for the goats he hopes to get this summer. I'm admittedly nervous about goats because of their tendency to get out of their fence. I keep having visions of a an overweight white girl chasing goats through the pasture.

So I guess animals have their place, and at least make things more interesting from day to day. As much as a I sigh with exasperation, deep down I get attached to them (despite my best intentions). When one of them gets sick or hurt, I'm the first to gather them up and bring them in the house (the utility room of course) and nurse them back to health.  Just don't tell anyone! They are all a part of our family. That being said, if one of the kids were to ask for a new pet today I would most likely answer, "No more pets!"