Paulie

Christmas has come and gone. It was a fun time to gather with family and friends. This Christmas we celebrated by bringing a new member into our family. My husband and I were really done with pets for a while... but my son was crying out for a pet. Let me explain...

It all started one day when he found a fly in its last hours of life. He decided that this fly would be a great "pet". As disgusting as it was, he began to carry the fly around the house. Daddy arrived home from work and asked his son what he was looking at. My son replied that he had a fly. Daddy said to throw it in the trash at which point my son, eyes filling with tears, says, "But he's my pet."

Early December we went to get a Christmas tree. My husband and I prefer real Christmas trees and once we had our Christmas tree at home, found a ladybug that had been hiding in its branches. We made a little "house" for our ladybug and let my son revel in having a "pet" for a day. The next day my son took the ladybug out to play with it. The ladybug was rather smart and flew as far away as possible. My son, shoulders drooped in disappointed, came into the home and said (again with those doe eyes), "He flew away; my pet flew away!"

Well, Mommy's heart couldn't take too many more of those disappointing moments. My son needed a pet. But what kind of pet should we get? A meeting with my husband quickly ruled out dog (he'd ruin our new landscaping) or cat (he's ruin our new carpet). Mommy ruled out all reptiles. We decided it would have to be something that could be held on a regular basis which ruled out birds and most aquatic life. Mice and hamsters are prone to jail breaks, so we ruled them out. Our decision? A guinea pig, aka cavy.

So we suprised our children on Christmas morning with a cavy. My son was responsible for naming our new pet. At first he wanted to name it Tiny. When we went over to the in-laws for Christmas brunch festivities we told everyone it's name would be Tiny (previously her code name was Fred). At which point my son changed his mind and renamed her Paulie.

So Paulie is the newest addition to our family. The kids love her and she's not too much trouble to look after. Of course her cage needs to be cleaned routinely and I give her a fresh salad daily. We recently built her a new cavy cage using coroplast & cubes (called a C&C cage by www.cavycages.com) for which she is extremely happy. And now my son no longer longs for a pet, although he does talk of getting a crab... hmm, I don't think so.