well i've kind of resisted having any pets because well i had some pets as a child
uh-huh
but uh now that i have two kids they're sort of like pets
you have to take care of them a lot and they require a lot of time and um neatness and plus you know now that i'm married i have
a husband that i do some things that you know help him
uh-huh
and so it seems like i have plenty things to do and so i thought that if we got a pet that that would be just one more person
what kind of pet did you have as what kind of pets did you have as children
well the kids you know the kids wanted
the kids love all kinds of pets you know cats and dogs and things and i know some kinds of pets are more
uh-huh
independent and as a child i had um you know like a we had a dog and we had turtles and
we had um
you know small lot of the small things like i know we got a little bunny at Easter once and
uh-huh
uh-huh
a little baby chicken and all that but they say you shouldn't do that any more but um
yeah
well i have um i have a cat that i've had for about eight or nine years
uh-huh
oh yeah
and i wouldn't trade her for anything i also have a child
uh-huh
cat's lot easier to take care of than the child you can go away and leave her for a few days
yes
they can take care of themselves especially cats are pretty good about being independent
yeah i've left her well i've left her alone up to about four days
uh-huh
because she doesn't she's real good she doesn't overeat or anything
uh-huh
and so i can leave food out and know that you know she only eats when she's hungry i know some people have cats that no matter how much you put down they'll eat it all
oh yeah
and then if i'm
if i'm gone longer than that then i'll have somebody come in and um you know make sure that she has food and and fresh water usually i just leave a faucet dripping in a bowl in the kitchen
and i've even she drinks out of the toilet
well we just last week we got a gerbil that's a thing that i picked for the kids because they were wanting to have a pet and i i didn't want to have one i picked gerbils because
uh-huh
they apparently they aren't like you know they don't smell as bad as other
uh well you have to keep uh if you don't keep them clean my friend had gerbils and you could smell it as soon as you walked into their her house
yeah oh that's awful and i don't like that odor and um
and they don't require as much but we'll see how it works out it wasn't as
it's not something that um i had to like learn to
yeah
something that's going to be running around your house that if you're unaccustomed to that you wouldn't like such a big change and
they stay in their little cage and you throw a few things in there they're not loving you know you know like a cat
yeah
yeah can you hold did they let you hold them or
well we're just getting used to them right now we're kind of just letting you know touching them
uh-huh
and we've picked them up before but that was kind of scaring them pretty bad right now
was it are they young do you know how old they are
well they they
seem like you know they were smaller compared to some of the other ones
uh-huh
but we
we i did that i
let the kids have a pet because
i wanted them to have practice in caring for someone else and you know not being so selfish
uh-huh
how old how old are your kids
they're four and five
okay mine's five
and i thought it would be good for them to just practice you know having someone else to care for and
everything i know that a lot of pets a lot of people have pets
because they make good companions and
yeah
friends and
they do or my cat does to me like she doesn't like anybody but me in fact no one would know i had her because if anyone comes over she immediately goes into hiding
uh-huh
but um
i i had a dog for a while before i had my son and i grew up we grew up having dogs and i'd like to have a dog but
uh-huh
kind of like for the same reasons as you i just the care that goes into them and you know if i you know decide to take off for a week or so
uh-huh
you know i can't leave a dog like i can leave a cat
yeah
and plus they require a lot in the way of training and
which now that i'm home would probably be a good time to do it if i were going to do it but
you know i just don't you know there i don't know why but with dogs it seems you have to have a lot more vet bills
yeah
plus they're more expensive to get
yeah
now my cat i've had her for eight or nine years
i had her spayed and i had her declawed which you know was an initial expense but
then she has not been sick one day i have never had her to the vet other than just her you know her maintenance stuff
and it seems like whenever i've had a dog you know something always they're always getting sick or you know breaking a leg or
uh-huh
something
yeah
and i just i don't need that expense right now plus they eat more and
expensive to maintain and
keep the flea powder and the flea dip and
yeah that yeah i don't know if that's such a big problem here in Dallas
my cat stays inside because she's declawed so i don't really have a problem with that but yeah if you had a dog you know they need exercise and you have to walk them
uh-huh
uh-huh
that's true they are a lot i guess that's the number one reason why i'm
i'm not really ready to have a pet too much i kind of consider these gerbils just kind of something you look at
not really pets just kind of things
yeah they are not
because they don't really acknowledge that they know you you know it's not like a pet pet a pet is someone that comes up to you and is happy to see you and that kind of thing
yeah
yeah yeah
well they make you feel special you know i live alone with my five year old and my cat and she really does she makes me feel like she cares about me and
but
uh-huh
you know it it gives you some strokes there that you may not get otherwise because i'm cooped up in the house all day
that's true
and um
i would like to have what i would really like to have is an aquarium and have some really nice fish
um
but until i get in a place where i feel like that's where i'm going to be for a long time they're just their so hard to move
a long time
yes and they they take up a lot of you know good space you know kind of like a bookcase
yeah
now i have some friends who have aquariums and i enjoy
watching the fish and looking in at them you know but that's something that you really i feel need to learn about and read about you know you need to learn how to take care of them and you need to learn
uh-huh huh
what fish are compatible you know and what ones you can put together and what ones you can't you know how to feed them and how to you know to clean them you know the thought of cleaning an aquarium is not very pleasing but
no
with filters and all that stuff that they have now i mean they're almost maintenance free
yes and i noticed um that's kind of what i was attracted to these gerbils for is that they they have a certain area that they use like their bathroom
uh-huh
and you can just um you know rinse that out it's kind off to the side it unscrews and
yeah
well that's good
and so you can just take it out with a garden hose rinse it out
oh
and you supposedly you don't have to change all of the the bedding and everything except every three weeks which is not very often
well that's good yeah that's not bad
i had two i managed i guess when i was in high school or junior high i managed to talk my parents into letting me have a gerbil
uh-huh
i won't tell you what happened to it if you just got them you don't
oh no
it's something awful oh
poor thing part of it was my fault i guess i just didn't take care of it like i should have
um
well i'm hoping that it'll be a little bit of diversion for the kids and a little bit of a
do they like to watch him
they do and they're anxious for us to be able to hold it but i
these just aren't going to be as tame as the book i got a book first
uh-huh
they just don't seem like um well i guess we've have them about a week now and they're just not kind of
how many did you get did you get two are they male or female does that make a difference
two
well we hope that we got two females so that they're supposed to get along better
uh-huh
and they won't have any babies
but you don't really know
i guess we won't know unless they never have any babies
really until there are about six more in the cage
well you know the people that sold them go well it's hard to tell but we think and we're going oh great
oh no
so if they have babies then we'll have to get rid of one of them
but i've heard that it
that after they have babies that you have to separate the then you have to separate the male from the female or the male could hurt the babies
yeah that's what i hear so i'm hoping i think they have a really quick reproduction cycle of only like thirty days or something
yeah
so within a month i guess or two we'll know
oh no
that's funny
well i guess i better run go
okay well it was nice talking to you
yes nice
and good luck
well thanks and it was nice to hear that you've had such good luck with your cat
yeah i i i know my cat she's reaching her life expectancy and i'm already thinking oh no
