We are learning a great deal about looking after animals. I have learned that children can only manage to care for animals with any measure of success, if an adult is involved and encouraging.
That job has fallen into my lap and I am actually ok with it. My childhood was filled with animals of all kinds but especially dogs , cats and horses and so in reality , having lots of animals around is second nature to me. Doug grew up loving birds and fish and he was really very involved with building tanks and cages and looking after them. His love and interest of fish he has carried with him into adult life.
And so having and enjoying animals is part of who Doug and I are and so it flows down into the lives of our boys.
We are learning how much hard work it takes to care for animals well. They need daily care. The boys are responsible for feeding and giving water to the rabbits, hamsters and bird. I am around to fill in the gaps too. The cleaning of the cages is a task not to be taken lightly, especially as far as the rabbits are concerned. Yuck!! is all I can say. That task has fallen predominantly to me with the help of smaller hands too. The rich rabbit poo has set my mind in motion and we are thinking of developing rabbit compost.
We have learned that baby rabbits come along with alarming frequency. They are born blind and naked and the mothers are not very good at caring for them. And so we have experienced death and sadness. Some litters have been lost to the cold.
We have learned that we can sell the babies to our local pet shop and so we are experiencing the rules of demand and supply.
We are learning how much fun it is to have an animal for company and fun. We have learned that noisy animals annoy some people and we are in the process of managing our very lovable, chatty and noisy dog Luke.
Questions that need answers like " do rabbits go to heaven?" or " how did that mommy have more babies without the daddy?".
We have learned that we can not just go on holiday and lock the animals up but have to ask friends to care for a rat or a bird. We have learned to share our animals with others who do not have pets. We have learned that baby rabbits can have a bath in the birds water and survive and that hamsters do not survive when caught in the wooden garage lift. Other things like a rabbit likes to watch TV with you but might wee on your lap or a baby bunny can survive the day behind a cushion where it was hidden and our little dog will bite a guinea pig left on a bench. We found out the sad way that potato is poisonous for rabbits and Guinea pigs and that rats can get fat.
We decided that having a snake is something for the future when the task of cleaning does not land on moms lap. At the snake I draw a line!
We have marveled at God's creatures and thank him for the joy of learning something about life from them.
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