February 6, 2012

  • For our underestimated friends

    Greetings once again dear reader.

    I want to dedicate this post to my very good friends Barry, Julie, David and Matthew Hankin who are mourning the loss of one of their family pets this week.

    A while back, my beautiful cat Buffy got herself into a fight and one of her eyes was badly scratched which resulted in a lot of time and money spent at the local vet. This was back when she was a purely outdoor cat and was only ever let inside to eat. As for how she spent the rest of her time, I had no idea.

    Up until that happened, I never really paid much attention to her outside of the occasional pat on the head when she came in to eat or the rare times she decided that my lap was the place to be for a while. As a result, I didn't really think about her past the point of being a pet.

    It wasn't until she got the eye injury that I understood how much she meant to me. The vet gave me two choices - put her down or let him operate and take out the eye. Even though I knew that an operation on a cat that I got for nothing in the year 2000 ma end up setting me back a lot of money, I told the vet to do whatever he could to help her out. Thankfully, after he put her under anesthetic and got a good look at the problem, he decided on a wait and see option and gave me drops to put in her eye. While it still cost me a lot of money, I ended up with a cat that had two fully functioning eyes and was a lot more affectionate and interested in staying at home.

    Sure, that is a great humanitarian story, but what that event showed me was how important to me my lowly pet was in my life. I'm not married and I don't have children so, in a way, my cat is my child. I can guarantee that if I lost her through sickness or an accident, I would be as upset about it in the same way that I would be if I had lost a child.

    Over the past weekend, I had some friends lose one of their pet rabbits through an accident - I'm not exactly sure of the details, but I know it would have only happened accidentally. A lot of people would not understand why they are so upset about it, but after the experience I had with my cat, I can totally understand why they are distraught.

    Okay, at this point, you are probably wondering why anyone would be upset about a rabbit dying. A few weeks ago I would have been agreeing with you, but after witnessing the way my friends treated their rabbits and realising that they were just like any other pet, I got it. It doesn't matter what kind of critter you have as a pet. They will become a member of the family and you will get upset if something happens to them.

    My sympathies go out to the Hankins on their loss. Words of condolence are the only things that can be offered to ease their sadness so that's what I am giving. It isn't much, but I hope the sentiment is understood.

    Later days.

    Trivial fact number 219:- Coffins which are due for cremation are usually made with plastic handles.