Feathers Fur or Fins

GEE I’VE HAD SOME PETS OVER THE YEARS..

It all started when I was a baby. There is a photo of me and walking behind me is Moon, my very first Brown Burmese. She was a beautiful little thing. I remember her only having one tooth – a fang. I'm sure she had more.
She was very tolerable. I remember taking her down the beach at the shack. She loved exploring the area. Moon ate everything. She loved roast chicken the most though.

Growing up I remember slightly remember having goats. Hansel and Gretel.

We had Mother Cat. She wasn’t our cat, but the neighbours. However she liked being at our house and having her litters – lots of them.

Zigo was a Cornish Rex. I remember I loved patting her fur as it was lumpy. One day she just vanished.

Not sure what age I was when my father gave me a kitten. I flew back on the plane with Albert in a box on my seat. My mum accidentally ran over him while I was at primary school. She tried to give him mouth to mouth but was unsuccessful. I remember walking home and Marie meeting me at the driveway. I knew something was wrong. It was so heartbreaking for all of us.

My next pet was Yasmine. I remember going to a cat show with mum, Marie and Marcia to Devonport in 1988. We walked all around looking at the beautiful cats and kittens, but one little kitten caught my eye and I played with her through her cage. Driving back home she snuggled on my lap. 

I used to dress her up in dolls clothes all the time. I'm sure she wasn’t impressed, but she was so damn cute.
One time when we lived in Queenstown, mum polished the floors with Mr Sheen and little Wiz Wiz went skidding along the floors, it was the funniest thing ever.

Yaz loved going in the car. When we went up to Marie & Keiths place, she would come along for the drive. No cage needed. She sat on our laps or walked around the car. 

Although she was mainly mums cat at first, once Moon had died in 1995, she solely became my fur baby.

In 2002 when I decided to move to QLD – I knew I was going to take her with me. I packed my car and my cat and we headed onto the boat then had the big drive up. 

She loved the heat and the sun of the Gold Coast. She was my baby girl.
I used to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow to her almost every day. 

In 2006, 2 days after her 19^th birthday. She passed away. What a wonderful life she had.

In my high school years I got some zebra finches.  I loved hearing their little beeps.
Keith made me a cage out of an old meat safe. It was an awesome home for them.

I had about 10 finches at once stage, breeding their own little finchlings. They were my babies.

One time, mum and I went away for two weeks on holidays. We got the cleaner from the school mum worked at to look after them. Knowing she bred birds as well, we thought she would be an ideal person to look after them. How wrong could we be.

We came home and it was silent. I couldn’t hear any beeps. I went to my bedroom window and I couldn’t see them. Fearing they had escaped and all flown away I rushed outside to find all my finches DEAD at the bottom of the cage. I was hysterical. How could this happen??!!
They had no food whatsoever. Mum was beside herself and rang Margret.  She said she came around the day after we had left and they looked fine. She never returned to feed them. This is a memory and a hatred I will never forget.

I cleaned the cage and we got some more.

Not long after that I got my first canary. I named him Clive. He was bright yellow and had an amazing voice. We kept him inside hanging from the ceiling. One day I notice Clive had laid an egg. Haha we still kept his name as Clive, even though he was a she after all lol When Clive died, I was so upset – I wrapped her in paper towel, placed her in a bag and she went into the freezer.. For years!! 

I also had Buttercup the canary. She was so beautiful. I gave her to the neighbours when I moved.

Mum and I became wildlife careers. Our first was a Rufus Paddymelon called Ruby Rose. She was so tiny. Her mum had been shot and now an orphan. We had to feed her every 2-3 hours on Divetalack – a powered milk especially for native wildlife.

She grew up to be quiet big and BOSSY! She used to chase me around the yard and bite me when she got the chance. That was we knew it was time for her to be released. We took her to a wildlife reserve just out of town where there was other wildlife she could be free, happy and safe.

Mum and I moved to Penguin and built a house with a yard. On this block was an old chook pen. It was huge, 6mtrs long, 2mtrs wide and high with a brick shed attached to the back. That was to be my new birdcage. We replaced all the chicken wire and added in some new perches and nesting boxes.

The finches loved it. I also added in some canaries. I also had some quails, but they didn’t last long. Mice were a problem and somehow black birds kept getting in somewhere, we could never find the hole. Sometimes the door would open and the birds escaped. But they would fly back in. They knew they were safe in my cage than in the wild. 

They got to trust me and could hand feed them. This was so special.

With having a yard and lots of grass, I got a rabbit. I called her Rachael. She was big, brown and white with floppy ears. She was beautiful. She died from old age.

I then got Cuddles the rabbit. I found her at a pet shop in Burnie. She was amazing colours. She looked like she had been dipped in grey paint only half way of her body and on her ears. She loved sleeping in bed with me.

I used to have Yasmine on one side and her on the other. I used to keep her in my shirt snuggled up she would just fall asleep. But the time came when she was getting to big and not being toilet trained, it was time she went in the cage outside permanently.

Unfortunately when I moved to Queensland, I couldn’t take her with me. One night she escaped. When she came back, not long later she gave birth to 2 babies. But during birth she died. Mum tried to raise the babies, but they were just too little and they died as well.

Mum and I got a massive fish tank. Living by the ocean, we decided to house salt water fish. Sand at one end and rocks and shells for the rest. We collect fresh seawater from Wynyard and the boat ramps where there were no factories around so to have clean fresh water for them.

We had a blue-ringed octopus, blennies, anemones, flounders, crabs, rock gobies, cocky salmon and any fish we caught in out nets. Not all creatures cohabitated. The sea anemones were well fed.
This was a lot of upkeep to maintain. We ended up letting all the fishies go.

In the back corner of the Penguin block we had a section fenced off for my new addiction.. A duck.
Sparky was one of the coolest pets I had owned. She was a Miniature Decoy. White with black spots. We got her as a duckling.
When she got out of her pen, she would come down to my bedroom window and quack away letting me she had escaped. I would go out and roll her on her back and rub her belly. She loved it. 

She laid a lot of eggs. I'm allergic to duck eggs, so I threw them at the neighbours fence. We decided to get her a mate. Flame was a colourful big duck. He wasn’t as tame as Sparky but he was still cool. They had some ducklings. Sparkies genes were strong as they looked just like her and nothing like Flame.
When I needed to relocate them before my big move. I gathered them in a box, drove to the local park and set them free. It was a stealth mission in the middle of the day, in my Parks & Wildlife uniform. Trying to contain 5 big ducks without being caught -  isn’t easy.
Years later, I was told there was an abundance of white ducks at that park. Mission successful.

In 2001 we got a call from the Wildlife rescue people WildCare saying they had a new born baby wallaby who needed a carer.
His mum had been hit by a car and died. This tiny little man had no fur. We kept him a beanie and fed him every 2 hours. I named him Harry.
Harry was such a character. He loved popcorn, nutella and the taste for beer. 

We would play chasing up and down the hall way. He was always bit wobbly on his feet, which I think was from being hit by a car when still in the pouch.
As I worked at Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park for the Parks & Wildlife Service, I was able to take him to work. He would snuggle on my belly under my uniform. His long tail would poke out at the top. Guests to the park would want to pat him. I carried him around in a little basket.
At night he would sleep in his beanie but in my bed. When he was hungry he would crawl out and nibble on my hair letting me know he needed a bottle.

One night he wasn’t well and didn’t want to feed.
We laid in bed with him on my chest.
I felt him stop breathing and his little heart stopped.
I buried him outside of my bedroom window, wrapped in his little blue beanie with a photo of me.

One day we had a fat ginger cat turn up at our kitchen window. He was super cute. So friendly. He would just sit at the window. We would feed him, give him pats and then he would wander off until the next day.
We named him Jake.
Over time Jake and Yasmine became friends. He would come in to the Bali garden and they would just enjoy the sunshine together.
One day a lady knocked on our door and said our cat had been run over. But Yasmine was right near us.
It was Jake.
He had been hit by a car. I vividly remember him laying in the middle of the road with his eye out of his socket. Mum scooped him up. He was buried next to moon in the garden.

Stray cats would be attracted to me. I had a white fluffy cat live in Marie and Keith’s hothouse. I named her Tiddles. I also named all my stray cats Tiddles. It was easier.
Then I got a job at the Burnie RSPCA cat branch. So many Tiddles there. I wanted to take them all home. One long time boarder was the spitting image of Moon. Bought back so many memories when I saw her each week.

Jose was my uncle and aunties dog. I told people he was half dingo and half teddy bear. Jose was the best dog I have ever met. He would come and stay at our place and I would take him for long walks to the shops, getting a bag of mixed lollies and he would eat the ones I didn’t like.

He loved the beach.

When I got the phone call from Uncle Al that Jose had died, I was so devastated. I never had a dog of my own.. but Jose was going to be the closest I would get to owning one.

Since Moon had passed away and Wiz Wiz now my cat, mum decided to get Kai.
Kai was born on my birthday. We got/rescued him from a breeder from Hobart. I remember going there and she had goats! Lots of goats. They had floppy ears and I wanted to bring them home with us as well.
Kai was such a cutie. He had these massive ears – which is grew into thankfully. His black paws and sleek coat – typical Abyssinian.

I remember coming home one day and there was a gold fish in the Bali garden. A few feet away, another one, and another one. In the kitchen.. more. Mongrel cat found a new play toy/s. Scooping out a fish from the tank on the bench, watching it flop around until it died. Then get another one out. Repeat.
It was hard to be mad at him as it was also slightly funny. He was a very clever cat. 

He was 100% mums cat. Keith and him really bonded as well.  He would hiss at me, and up till the end – many many years later, just before he died, he hissed at me. Now thats love.

One night working in a bar on the Gold Coast, I was handed a frog. Yep a patron handed me a big green tree frog. I quickly put him in a bucket. 

I set up a 3ft tank with rocks, a pool, some greenery and some climbing items. 

I place Lou in the tank and he loved it. Later on I was given another frog, we called him Lint as he was found covered in lint and dust from someone’s bathroom.

I went camping one weekend. As I was packing up my tent, there was a little frog sheltering under the fly. He was number three to the tank. He was appropriately named Intense.
They would certainly let me know when it was going to rain. They would croak so loudly. It was awesome.
I could take them out and handle them, I would get pee’d on 100%, but it was worth it. Such amazing pets.

However I was becoming unable to keep up with the feeding of them so often and it was getting expensive. I made the right yet very sad decision to release them in a wet area habitat.

Saying goodbye to my gorgeous boys was so hard and very upsetting. But I knew that they would be so happy in the spot I had chosen.

Now I had this empty tank.
I decided to get my coolest pet. A turtle. Skivy was the size of 50c piece when I got him.
He has the most personality of all my little pets. When he sees me, he gets so excited. Splashing around his tank. I can get him out for walkies. He scurries around on the carpet and tiles. He also bites.

I have collected his scales when they come off his shell. I don't know why, just something weird I do.
He loves to eat. When I have a gold fish die, he gets a feed. I give him feeder fish, they don't last long and he loves little crayfish as well.
He is now the size of a man hand span. I would highly get a pet turtle to anyone. Low maintenance, super easy to look after. Personality plus and just a cool pet to have!

Its been many years since I got a bird. So I thought it was time.
I got a beautiful budgie called Sky. He has a white back for the clouds, a blue belly for the sky and a yellow face like the sun.
He LOVES listening to the radio. He favourite song is Imagine Dragons – Thunder and Katy Perry. He goes completely nuts. So many different sounds.

And then there is Tia.

In 2008 a tiny little kitten came into my life. It was my 30^th birthday present to myself.

I held this kitten in my hands at only 2 weeks of age. It was pure love from the very first moment I met her. Every few weeks I would go to the breeders house to spend time with her and watch her grow.

The day came I could bring her home. It had been two years since Yasmine had died, having a new cat in the house was a breath of fresh air. 

I knew she would be the love of my life. She would be my everything. Everything I did was for her.
I hated being away from her while I was at work or even the shops. I would hurry home – just to be with her. I went to the beach for the day, but then started to miss her, so I would come home. 

She was born almost white and then turned this stunning brown colour. A true chocolate Burmese with gold eyes. She had shiny super soft fur which glistened in the sun.  

She was naughty. She loved to chew anything fabric. Socks, pillow cases, singlets. Cords – ALL cords. I had to place straws over them to deter her. She once got into Auntie Woofies expensive wool during the night, I could hear her downstairs and I was like “oh shit”. Mum made her woollen toys, she ate them.

She bit all my visitors. She wasn’t a people person. And she hated the ginger cat who sat at the front door. 

She loved going in the car “tar tars” so I took her camping. And I'm so happy that in her last week of life, she got to do what she loved the most.

She loved the sunshine, the balcony and just being with me. She slept on my head, between my legs or at the end of the bed. She watched me in the bath and trusted me enough to hold her while having a shower.

I have so many photos and videos of her. But all I want is to hold her in my arms again. I have so many memories of my baby girl. I thought I would have at least another 10 years of memories to make, but this was not the case.  

Miss Tia had the best life that any fur baby could have.
She made me laugh, smile and love.
With all these pets in my life. Miss Tia Maria was my sole mate. We had a bond that will last forever.
I LOVE her so much. I miss her so much. 

I am completely lost without her. My heart is numb and my tears sting my face.

This is her song.

You Are My Sunshine

The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and I cried

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

I'll always love you and make you happy
If you will only say the same
But if you leave me and love another
You'll regret it all some day

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

You told me once, dear, you really loved me
And no one else could come between
But now you've left me and love another
You have shattered all of my dreams

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

In all my dreams, dear, you seem to leave me

When I awake my poor heart pains
So when you come back and make me happy
I'll forgive you dear, I'll take all the blame

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away