Grandma's Pearls

Kids and pets

How many people reading this little blog of mine have kids and pets? I had 5 kids and I have 5 pets. Only 1 child is still at home but all 5 pets are still at home. I had 6 pets but we lost one to a grand mal seizure. That was a very bad day. We have had many different pets through the years. Everything from parakeets to cockatiels, from hamsters to turtles, from iguanas to uromastyx and the ever popular dogs and cats. At one point in time, we had 3 dogs, 4 cats, 1 iguana and 2 uromastyx, and 1 child still at home. Well, over the last few years, we lost 1 dog, gave away 2 cats, then momma cat had more cats, kept 2, 1 left and didn't come back, gave momma cat to a friend that wanted her and her new litter she was about to have, gave the iguana, named Spaz, to another friend, sold the uromastyx to a breeder, we had a mated pair, so, now I just have 2 dogs, 3 cats, 1 kid and a husband at home!
Have you ever noticed how much like kids your pets can be? You have to feed them, clean up after them, break up arguments, evenly give out surprises and praise and dish out discipline. It is really rather funny, especially when you are fussing at one and they give you that look that says it wasn't me it was the other one. How many times have you seen that look from your kids? I swear, if dogs had fingers they would point to someone else every time they got in trouble. My dogs are really old and 1 of them is completely blind now. The momma dog is about 15 yrs old and she is going blind and getting senile. Her son is about 13 and he is the blind one.
Today is one of those days when they are both in a bit of a mood and I have had to get after both of them for fighting. So, right now, momma is hovering at my feet and her son is in the livingroom, growling when she walks by him. It is rather comical but very annoying at the same time. Makes me think of my kids when they were little and arguing just to be doing something. When my kids were little, I let them solve their own problems up to a point. If it sounded like it was getting violent, I put a stop to it and the kids that were fighting got in trouble, both or all, depending on who was involved. If all of them got into it at the same time, all of them got punished. Sometimes it was the girls against the boys or vice versa. Sometimes it was the big kids against the little kids, but if there was an outsider involved, my kids stuck together and protected each other. Guess it goes back to the saying, I can hit my brother but you can't.
They are still that way, if someone does something to one of them, everybody comes to defend. Sure is interesting to watch when it involves a spouse or significant other. Haven't had that happen very often, thank goodness. Don't know how much of that I could watch! I would have to try and stop it before it got out of control. It's a mom thing, at least I think it is. Anyway, getting back to my animals, they really are just like kids. At least dogs are, cats are a whole different story. You can't really break up a cat fight like you can with dogs.
A cat will walk away but hold a grudge and continue the fight when you aren't around. They don't fight over trivial things either. Dogs will fight over chew toys and space on the couch or in the chair. They will fight over food and sometimes just because. Cats just wait it out if one is in their favorite spot or they will start playing with something and having a good time, then the other cat notices and gets down to investigate. Then the other cat will give up whatever they had and go claim the favorite spot. Dogs will not share food bowls, cats will wait patiently in line if they all want to eat out of the same bowl. Sometimes, it makes a difference if it is male and female. My dogs are male and female, they usually get along just fine, unless it comes to food. If one is eating and the other wants to eat, they have to wait. I only have one food bowl for the dogs because they eat at different times. They have always had one food bowl, since the female is the oldest and the male is her son. She only had 1 litter of puppies and they were all male. We gave 2 away and kept 2. She never had another litter. The reason she didn't have anymore puppies, I told her she couldn't have any stupid babies and that is what she would have if she mated with one of her sons. So, when she was in heat, we would keep them separated and if they happened to be in the same room and tried anything, she would attack them like they were strangers.
She would bite their private parts and then they would leave her alone for a long time. The first time she did that to one of them, he did a flip and fell off the couch and left the room. If she went into the room he was in, he left the room. It was really very funny at the time.
Well, it is about 9:30 a.m. and I just got the first of many phone calls from my 2nd daughter. She calls every day at about the same time and then every few hours for the rest of the day until about 7 or 8 every night. Sometimes she needs a ride to the store, but most of the time it is just because. Just because her husband is very controlling and she doesn't have hardly any friends. He won't allow her to have friends. He has to approve her friends and if he doesn't approve of them, he runs them off with his attitude and sarcasm. If that doesn't work, he uses anger and aggression to make them scared to come around for fear that he might hurt her. Yes, it sucks royally!!! I'm trying to talk her into leaving him but she is scared that she can't make it on her own with her daughters. She doesn't believe me when I tell her that she can, because I have been married to the same man forever. So, I can't lead by example. At least not in that category. I'm getting my sister to talk to her, she has been there and she did it all by herself for a long time with her girls. I just pray every day that she is kept safe and so are her daughters. O.K., time to do house work. Hooray, I get to do dishes, NOT!