Did you have any cherished pets when you were a child?
We had quite a few small pets growing up but almost all of them turned out to be short-termers.
First pet was a parakeet named Conrad, given to my father by his HS musical cast after completion of the musical Bye Bye Birdie.
Conrad had a relatively long life compared to our other pets. He lived to the ripe old age of eight years.
We had some goldfish which were pretty short lived. Two were named Dave and Ingrid, our quite prolific neighbors to the south with the same names, oddly enough.
Then came the gerbils. I cherished the gerbils more than any other pets. First gerbil was named Morris after my maternal grandfather. Morris, always game to let me take him out of his home to play and run around the house, was the best. Then came a short string of undistinguished gerbils, some of whose names I do not even remember, but every gerbil I ever had lived in this monster Habitrail which I put together piece by piece making a pretty impressive edifice
My last two gerbils were named Leona and Vivian, for my two grandmothers. Lack of high quality care on my part lead to shorter lives for these two.
And that was the end of the line for pets for me. But Morris was my cherished pet.
So, did you have any cherished pets when you were a child?
I had a beautiful little red-brown Pekingese named Mr. Woo. He was a grumpy little curmudgeon who submitted to my kissing and petting and feeding and brushing him at all hours of the day. Technically he was my grandparents’ dog, but I lived with them as well and he was the light of my life .
2.5 years old, neighbors had some kittens, they offered my parents one. Long silky hair, white body with black and brown splotches, black tail, face a tiny bit pushed in (so we mused that she had some Persian blood).
I named her Pussywillow. Lord I adored that cat, and she me, despite a few mild pranks when I was younger (I locked her in a closet but forgot for 3 days, remembered and went rushing back upstairs to my sister’s room to let her out). She was the best critter catcher I’ve ever seen, despite lacking front claws. Lived for almost 19 years.
One day we were watching a local public service program on TV, where one segment they offer stray animals to any viewers watching. Imagine our shock to see her up on the screen! Then she walks in the room, and we all go wha… That other cat had to have been a littermate.
We had a cat named Panda, but then our house burned down and we lost her. I suspect she may have been partially responsible for the fire. A couple of months later we got a stray cat who was already preggers, giving birth to four kittens, of which we kept one. So Smudgie and her daughter Blackball were our main pets for the next fifteen years.
We also had a dog, a labrador named King, but he was stolen after a couple of years. Very disappointed by that at the time, but not enough time had passed living with him to feel that devastating a loss.
As a child we had two dogs. One of my sister’s friends became suddenly homeless and lived with us for a while. I was about eight when Eddie lived with us for a year or so. One day he brought home a black Labrador puppy named Boops. When Eddie left, Boops stayed. Not long after that Boops went to “live on a farm and help the farmer.” A couple of years later, another sister had a boy friend in the Air Force. They were married a while later and Sonny moved in with us. Sonny brought home a Beagle puppy one day named Queenie. Sonny was sent to Vietnam. Shortly thereafter, Queenie went to “live on a farm and help the farmer.” I mourned them both.
