The Trials and Tribulations of Pet-Sitting
Let's face a hard, cruel fact of life. You have kids, you're going to have pets. Unfortunately, you have kids, and you have vacations, too. (Or at the very least you need vacations desperately.) So who takes care of the critters while the house is empty of noise and chaos? I've wrestled with that toughie for some time now and still have no easy answers. I trust my friends the most, but I have to ask myself--do I want them to remain friends? Dogs are easy. Send a warm body over ti give them alittle love and food and you're done. But my daughter, Michelle, loves to collect the challenging pets. A couple of years back she had a Rainbow Lori that greeted us from the inside of a Ziplock bag in the freezer when we returned from vacation. West Nile virus victim number whatever. That same vacation, her gaggle of geese were gaggling in the backyard when one of the dogs got into their pen and mistook it for an appetizer. My neighbor and best friend, Kathy, took it to some obscure vet god knows where (hard to find geese doctors, ya know) because the foot wound was getting infested with maggots. Ugh. The whole experience was surreal. I mean, how many times do you get to sit in a waiting room full of weird pets, feces and urine pooling in random areas, holding a honking, maggot-infested goose in your lap. Hmm. This last vacation, my daughter asked Kathy to feed the fish in her saltwater aquarium. Little did Kathy know that "feeding the fish" also included "getting a full degree in chemical engineering." The tip off should have been the three page, single spaced instructions with chemical additions, body removals, and how to tie rotten pieces of smelt on a string to feed her Trigger fish. We lost four fish in all, but to tell you the truth, that's the usual attrition rate for her tank. They probably lived a lot longer under Kathy's care than anyone else's. So we're waiting until they all die before we go on our next vacation because even the best of friends have their limits.