When I was pregnant, I remember reading up on introducing pets (especially cats) to newborn babies and how to ease their anxiety over the presence of a new, loud family member. There were also stories of the worst case scenario, where the cat lashed out at the baby and scratched or bit. At the time, I couldn't fathom giving away our cats for any reason. They were just as much a part of our family as the new baby ever would be; in fact, they had been here longer.
Well, let me tell you, these cats have lowered themselves considerably on the totem pole. Not by any overt action. They are actually pretty perfect with Timmy. I still love them and cuddle with them, but last night I realized that there is indeed a difference in how I view the animal members of the family from the human members.
At 4:30AM, Furious George (our younger, male cat) woke up PJO and me by puking. All over the house. Constantly. Every minute or so he was throwing up. Without giving you all of the unnecessary and unappetizing details, this was out of the range of normal for him. We looked up Vets and nearby animal hospitals, but I was not about to pay for another ER visit that turned out to be an overreaction. I asked PJO if we could just put Georgie in the bathroom, go back to bed and then take him to the vet at 7:30am when the office opened. Luckily, George stopped vomiting and curled up on a blanket right then, so we did go back to bed (not sleep). Now he seems fine.
It struck me that I have officially lowered their status from family member to family pet. Please don't call PETA or animal rescue on me. I swear I feed them and give them fresh water.
1 comment:
I have done the same thing. We had a dog for 2 years before our daughter came along. Despite our dog's easy-going demeanor and getting along great with our daughter, I definitely have now relegated her to family pet. It kind of gradually happened over the first few months and one day I jsut realized the change.
Good luck on Friday! I know how hard it is waiting for bar results. We got ours on Oct 30 (Georgia). I, too, was coming up with Plan B. Although, I figured I could always tell people I wanted to be a stay at home mom if I didn't want to tell them I failed :)
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