I grew up in a house with loads of pets, whatever type of pet I wanted I pretty much got. My mum and dad bred pedigree cats, from Chinchillas to Colour Points to Devon Rex’s. They also bred pedigree dogs. When I was young I had a hamster, which I gave to my best friend as she didn’t have any pets, a budgie I named Topsy, after Topsy and Tim, a canary, two lizards, a rabbit, a gerbil and numerous cats. I used to get dragged to cat shows most Saturdays, which yes they are great, but are a long day and once you’ve seen 100 you’ve seen them all. My mum is very much an animal person, she’s always been that way.
My husband however grew up with very little pets, I think they had a dog and that’s pretty much it. He’s allergic to cats and has asthma. So when we moved in together, my cat Sabrina the boy came too. Yes he was a male cat, long story but Sabrina the teenage Witch was my favourite tv show when I got him, well her at the time. Love me love my cat. Unfortunately he died shortly after Lucas was born. We got another one and he died too, very young and tragically of a brain haemorrhage. Very sad and we decided not to get another cat as Lucas had developed asthma.
However, I didn’t want the boys not to have a pet so we got guinea pigs. Guinea pigs are friendly little things that make a funny noise when you feed them. They are cute and cuddly when you catch them and make great pets for young children as they never bite and don’t stay up all night and sleep all day. The boys followed in my tradition and have two female guinea pigs called Shy Guy and Mr Skinny Legs. The grey one is Mr Skinny Legs and is Tyler’s and the black and white one is Shy Guy.
