Pet benefit for sole kids
DESPITE SOME MISGIVINGS, I’M JUST SO GLAD WE GOT A CAT
THERE is a new member of the family … finally.
After recently moving from a townhouse to a house with a yard, talks with my son intensified that a pet would be a good move. I had my reservations.
Committing to a pet comes with a whole lot of new responsibilities – feeding it, shelter and love … you know, the basic necessities of life.
The kind of responsibility I’m comfortable with these days extends to about as far as plants and my homemade kombucha, and I’ve got to tell you that batch is currently turning into vinegar.
(Oh, yeah, and there’s the whole being a parent thing, too, but of course that goes without saying.)
Now, a plant is a living thing with very basic needs – water, dirt and sunshine.
You can go on holidays for a week and it’s unlikely to die. Similarly, your kombucha will keep on brewing, its SCOBY getting thicker every time you guiltily walk past, thinking about how you’ll force yourself to drink the bitter brew because you hate to waste. But a pet? That’s a game-changer.
A few months ago while chatting with YAPS manager Carol Clifton about our busy lifestyles, she pointed me in the direction of a cat, rather than a dog, for our small family.
“Cats eat native wildlife” ran through my head. “Cats are snooty and will scratch you.”
As a dog person, having always grown up with a canine family member, I much preferred the prospect of a happy, loveable pooch if I was forced to extend beyond plants, kombucha (and being a parent, of course).
Born: June 5, 2020, weight: 3740g, length: 50cm, parents: Dylan and Jenna Bettini, sibling: Rylan, 2, hospital: Cairns Hospital
So, just weeks ago, as we all started emerging from our COVID-19 isolation, I became a regular visitor to the YAPS website. My son and I would look at all those hopeful faces giving their best smiles and were always a whisker away from adopting a new family member.
On a whim one day, I checked out the cats tab and saw a batch of kittens had been surrendered to the centre.
“Let’s go check them out,” I said to my son, knowing as those fatal words left my lips, a decision of some sort had been made.
Off we went and, about 30 minutes later, the two of us stood in a rather large cage with one particular kitten wending her way around my son’s legs.
I’ve read about how kids without siblings deeply benefit from having an animal in their lives.
Knowing this, and trying to do the right thing, my son’s first pet last year was a white mouse named Alf-alfa.
It was a snuggly little thing who had the most toxic-smelling wee of just about any creature I have ever encountered. Things didn’t end well. A mouse that was plucked out of a tank and cost about $5 became a very expensive little investment, as we tried numerous solutions to stop it from literally scratching itself to death.
Looking down on this little
Born: May 19, 2020, weight: 3450g, length: 51cm, parents: Mathew Cox and Peggy Irving, hospital: Cairns Hospital, photo: Nellie Ireland Photography black cat, I hoped with all my might that things would work out.
My son sat in the back seat with her as we drove home. Every now and then, she’d stick a paw through the cage to delicately tap at him.
I heard some snuffly sounds and realised he was crying. “I am just so happy,” he said. She’s already proven me wrong on one front.
She’s one of the most affectionate creatures I have ever met. She splays her legs out any chance she gets in the hope of a tummy scratch. Modesty be damned.
As a strictly indoors cat – we also have outdoors pet green tree frogs that I will ensure are protected at all costs – she’s fitting in and is deeply loved.
From watching her play I can see why cats are such effective killers, but the biggest casualty so far is my furniture.
Born: June 12, 2020, weight: 3650g, length: 52cm, parents: Mark and Belinda Rantucci, siblings: Oliver 3, hospital: Cairns Private Hospital, photo: Nellie Ireland Photography