aka…. their animals…..
When Shannon and Joe wanted to get their own place last September/October, there was a lot of apartment searching, and the glitch was always her animals. So many places said no to her pets. She was getting discouraged, and used to tease that she would be living in her car with her animals.
I tried to do the good mother in law thing and mind my own business, not saying too much, but soon it got the best of me. I didn’t want to interfere but I knew I had the perfect solution. So one day I sat them down, gently approached and offered her Sara’s old room. I told her that she and Joe could live here, and they could save some money to get their own place, and I didn’t mind her animals as long as she took care of them. I explained that I work three jobs really, and often, I leave the house at six thirty in the morning, return at ten in the evening, sleep and do it again tomorrow, so essentially, they would be here alone. They would have to cook their own meals, and I would cook for myself, and they would care for the animals themselves because I knew nothing about them.
She agreed that it was a good solution. but like anyone was nervous about it. I get it, even though I knew Shannon loved me like a daughter, the transition would be challenging. I so much wanted her to be comfortable here, so I asked her about Sara’s room. “You can leave it exactly as it is, she told me.” She was way too sweet to ask me for anything, but I totally redid Sara’s old room, painting it a color she liked and made new curtains and dresser scarves that I thought she would like. I did an owl design for the curtains, with complimentary colors around the room. Her eyes lit up when she saw it. She would bring boxes, move some things in. I never looked because I am all about privacy. But I saw she things to hang inside a box and I showed her where the hammer was. “I don’t want to make holes,” she told me, so when she left I started hanging things. She came back again smiling and hugged me for trying to make the room hers, I wanted her to be at home here, and she made her way slowly. We lived here happily, in peace.
Little by little she moved some things and then she asked me the big question, “When I move in, can I get a bearded dragon?” I told her I didn’t care what she got, as long as it lived in her room and she took care of it. You would have thought I was Santa Claus. Lol….. I always said if I won the lottery, I was going to buy a pet shop for Shannon to run. My only worry would be that she would never let a single animal be sold. She loved all her pets so much. When Bentley came, he was pretty sick. She took him to the vet and had to nurse him to health, by hand feeding him, which she did each day. He bonded with her, and he loved just hanging on her, often sleeping on her. I watched amazed, as she bathed him, applied vitamin E to his shedding skin and researched best foods to feed him. He has grown huge and healthy, due to her care.
It’s not that I don’t like animals, I actually do like them very much. But growing up, we were never allowed to have pets, and so I have had no prior experience. I never know how to care for them, and figured I wasn’t an animal person. Well… not until my granddog, Bailey came along. It was love at first sight. My Sara calls me the animal whisperer, because she said they are naturally attracted to me.
When Shannon moved in with Louie the cat, Bentley the bearded dragon, Gizzy, her lion head rabbit and Eli, the guinea pig, I saw how much she loved them. Now actually, Louie is technically Shannon’s brother. You see, her mom, Cathy really is Louie’s mom, but Shannon was so bonded that they thought it best he move with her. His transition took a few days. He spent the entire first day under Joe’s bed and Shannon had to coax him out by hand feeding him. It took him a bit to settle in, but not long for him to realize I was a soft touch.
Each night when I arrived home, he would sit at the door and wait for me to get home from work. When I walked in, he would snuggle up to my leg and gently nudge me with his head and stare at the top of the fridge where his treats are. He knew how to work the system, to subliminally make me believe he had been starved.
Every morning he would sit at my door and meow, never coming in, never jumping on my bed, just sit there and wait for me to get his breakfast. He figures I am the easiest to wake. He is quite an old man, about fifteen, and set in his ways, slightly graying at the ears. He does not like cat toys at all, much prefers, string and my norwex dryer ball that he sits on like an egg and plays with in his paws. He goes crazy over tissue paper and would wrestle with Shannon. Each night when she sat on the floor to watch tv, he would crawl between her legs, and snuggle on a blanket near her.
He keeps looking for her, but I keep telling him what happened. I know he knows, he was here. He had kind of taken over as the caretaker of our house, a good watch cat. She always told me that no matter how much anxiety she had, Louie made her feel better, and I must say he has the effect on me. He looks me in the eye, and listens while I talk. He often offers a sympathetic head nudge. And on some of my hardest days, I have opened my bedroom door to find him asleep across from my room.
Today, he supervised as Joey and I cleaned everyone’s habitat top to bottom. And I mean cleaned….. we worked up a sweat. I felt like Dr. Dolittle, lol…. There is this elaborate system of wire cages and sign core that she constructed, each having about a four and a half foot foot or so by three foot cage. They have toys and things to amuse themselves but enjoy a lot of attention each day . Each animal is on a rotation of clean, washing the cages with antibacterial products, lining with paper and fleece that is cleaned and redone. They drink fresh filtered water and their diet is supplemented with organic fruits and vegetables. They are cleaned and cared for every day. Every night, she stood at the kitchen counter chopping fresh dandelion greens, other fresh greens, berries, baby carrots and those tiny corn things, and apples while Eli whistled, apparently knowing the sound of the bags. Some days they got nutritional organic treats. They live well and they are cared for immaculately. They took turns with her holding and petting them.
Today, Gizzy had a makeshift bath, cleaning her and brushing. Plans were made to trim her fur as she is fuzz ball of soft hair. She was not appreciative as she grunted at Joe. But she tolerated it while he gently bathed her, and she was happy to return to her treasure trove of toys. Eli was content to wait as his cage was cleaned as he sat wrapped in a towel, like a guinea pig taco. He is more skittish but finally at least sniffs me when I get his breakfast.
Then it was on to Bentley. Okay, Bentley is interesting and although I am not up to wearing him like jewelry as they are, I tried today to warm up to him. I petted him, and talked to him, while Joey put on his leash that Shannon made for him. And he put him on the bed while he cleaned his tank. All his plants, flooring, rocks and tank were washed and cleaned. All the while, Louie watched him on the bed, walking between him and the edge, not letting him walk too close. He really is a good reptile sitter. He and Bentley get along well. However, it is Gizzy that Louie does not like. She loves to hop after him down the hall and he hates that. He hides and she looks but he is unwilling to play. She loves to hide under the bed or find places that Joey had to stretch to get to her. She is quite an escape artist.
Luckily, we managed to get rid of uneaten crickets in Bentley’s enormous tank, without any loose ones, and some were set free outside. He got a treat tonight too, of some fresh greens. Buying crickets for him is an experience. Every few days we go to the pet store and buy seventy five. They put them in a bag and Shannon has two tanks to keep them. Now Shannon always preferred the crickets from Petsmart as they chirp more quietly, but a few times we cheated, don’t tell her and went to Petco. Guess what? She was right! Sounds like we are camping in the middle of a forest but it does not bother me or Joe.
Louie’s litter box was cleaned and his dishes were scrubbed and refilled with filtered water and some dry food. We cleaned up his Norwex dryer ball and shook out his blankets. We vacuumed around everyone’s cages, and they settled in happy and content. Tonight, Joey and I washed fresh berries, greens and treats for everyone.
As I was putting things away, I saw the drawers of treats and care products she has for them, everything imaginable for good animal care. They were really lucky to have such a great mom, and Joey is a good animal dad. I know she is happy with how he cares for and loves them. As she always told me, “I love my kids,” and now I love them too.