I used to have trouble keeping small pets. As with George’s pal Lennie, something always seemed to happen to them that resulted from my actions. I recently mentioned the kitty in the attic in another thread; that happened nearly 30 years ago and I still feel guilty about it. That longtime faimly pet likely got heatstroke-induced brain damage because of me!
It’s been nearly 20 years since I lost a pet due to anything I did and do not want to be Lennie ever again.
You would probably have been better off keeping this to yourself. But I’ll let you know that my two-year old son once crushed a lizard to death by stepping on it. He wanted to look at in the plastic bag that we brought it home in, dropped it, then stepped on it when he went to pick it up. It died a day later. My wife also baked a lizard to death. We had just moved to California and had this one in a clear plastic carrying case that my would occasionally take outside to give him some sun in NY. She didn’t realize how much hotter the sun in SoCal would be. None of these things were intentional. Unless you deliberately locked your cat in the attic you don’t have anything to feel guilty about. I would have assumed it went up there because it was curious.
I won’t bother mentioning what happened to 4 elephants when I wanted to test a theory concerning Volkswagons.
Lute, aren’t you the same guy that asked for money from the SDMB for air conditioning for his rabbits, even though you had money in various savings accounts and just wanted somebody else to pay to keep the rabbits from getting heat stroke?
He was driven by guilt to ask for the money.
I’m getting the impression that you posted this as an explanation of why you asked dopers to pony up for you air-conditioning your bunnies.
I understand that you feel like you’re misunderstood, but this “confession” probably isn’t going to help your case in regards to that. If you feel such guilt and worry over your animals, then YOU need to do what it takes to make sure they’re comfortable and well-cared-for. I’m sorry to say to most people, hitting up (relative) strangers on the internet to pay for those things doesn’t count as YOU stepping up to the plate and being responsible.
I didn’t do a good job taking care of my bunnies when I was seven years old and they got sick and malnourished. I still feel guilty about it, even though I now have one very pampered cat. I have periodic nightmares that I am neglecting various pets.
What is it you’re looking for from us, exactly?
Absolution? Condemnation? Why you looking to us for it?
You don’t want to be Lennie ever again? So don’t be.
As there is nothing to discuss or agree/disagree with here, I’m thinking you might be wanting a blog!
I once came home from an unexpectedly hot weekend to find my poor little baby ball python dehydrated into snake jerky. It was horrible, and yes, I still feel guilty over 10 years later.
I once had a deaf kitten. She decided to nap behind the front wheel of the car. You know the rest. The kids were in the car with me. It was horrible.
I did the same when I was around 6…I was shattered. All I wanted to do was get a closer look.
Maybe I helped my karma a bit by rescuing this little fella from the neighbor’s cat yesterday.
I lived with a 5 year old for a short time during college and he had a pet hamster. One day he accidentally killed said hamster with a toy truck - something about putting the hamster into a space on the truck and closing the truck part on it…I think I was more upset than he was and I freaked out when he went to pet my cat, like he was evil or something. I later found out that little kid’s brains at that age haven’t developed the spatial recognition (or something) that would tell them that you can’t put something into a space then something else into that same space. That poor hamster though.
I thought he was blaming depression or something.
Send your bunny to me. I have air conditioning and a nine year old who desperately wants a bunny to love. This way you won’t have to touch your “multiple” retirement accounts nor justify your actions to other Dopers.
Ooooh! Pretty!
I hadn’t thought about this in years, but my elementary-school class did the incubate-eggs oooh!-chicks! thing and I remember one boy accidentally stepped on one of the chicks. He was absolutely shaken to the core. 
Hell, I smashed a baby gecko once - was sliding a heavy potted plant into the shade, tipped it up a bit and … yeahhhh. I cried, even though it wasn’t really my fault or anything.
I always check under my potted plants now before moving them …
There’s something in my eye.
Man…this is just exactly like Citizen Kane, only with a heat-stroked, special-needs puddy-tat instead of a sled named “Rosebud” and a guy who can’t touch his fortune (in the movie because of a miserly banker) but here because and…um…er…
I’ll just go sit over here, and eat some popcorn.
Sorry! Sometimes my penis has a mind of its own.
There’s no going back to the way things were, Lute. Just like I’ll be forever known as “that ridiculously handsome and witty-as-fuck poster AClockworkMelon” you’ve been marked as “that guy who begged for money from strangers on the internet rather than tap into multiple accounts in order to keep his bunny cool, Lute Skywatcher.” I’m so sorry.
Look Guin, that’s hardly relevant… oops! Sorry, nevermind.
Ha. LOL. And shit.
