Introduction: My life with animals

I am a huge animal lover and would rescue every animal if I could, but I'm currently private renting; the landlord reluctantly let us have our current animals. It wouldn't be fair on the animals either, as I don't have much more space or time for any more, unfortunately.

As part of my topics on this blog, I would love to include animals, especially a guide on how to care for rabbits, as they are more complex and interesting than I ever could have imagined before becoming a bunny-mummy.

This is just a little introduction for my love and life with animals:

As a child, a lot of my friends had animals, whether it was a fish or a dog, a cat or a rat. My parents never wanted animals, or so they said, especially after having to rehome their beloved family dog when I was just a baby, and told us that we would have to be responsible for them if we were to have one, which of course I insisted that I would have been.

After years of pestering, or shall I say convincing, my mum informed me on my eighth birthday, if I recall correctly, that we were off to the pet shop to get a fish. A fish?! Trying to hide my disappointment, as I supposed this was progress, I trailed behind my mother on the walk into town.

On arrival at the pet shop, she stood in front of the hamsters and told me to choose one; fear and excitement beamed across my face. 'But these are hamsters!' stating the obvious. Amongst the wriggling, squirming, beige-coloured hamsters, there was a large, black, furry lump that had a white stripe symmetrically on each side of its tummy, which later became my furry lump, called Nibbles, a Syrian hamster.

One thing I forgot to mention was the fear my mother had for rodents; this could have been a huge issue! 

When buying a hamster from our local pet store, you got handed your new pet in a yellow cardboard carrier, to take your pet home safety. My mum informed the staff that they should put the cardboard carrier inside the cage for the walk home, just in case of an escape. During the walk home, my mum held Nibbles in her carrier, inside her new cage, whilst I carried the bag with her accessories, toys, treats and food. The sweat poured from my mother’s forehead as though someone had turned on a tap, the carrier inside the cage shaking, bobbing about. What was a 15 minute walk felt like 15 years for my fearful mother. As we reached the top of our road, out popped a hamster’s face; I've never seen my mother run home so fast.

After settling Nibbles in for the night and leaving her to get used to her new surroundings, the time had come to try and hold her. I was so proud of my mum; I could see how she merely made it through the walk home and she insisted she would be the first to hold her.

Nibbles was a special pet of mine - my first pet; the one who got my mum over the fear of rodents. Once she had held her, it was as if the fear had faded away, almost completely. Nibbles was a part of our family and I even saw a different side of my dad with her. Since then, we've always had animals, thanks to my four-legged 'Fish'.