Sorry for all the pets that died. I would love to have pets too, but I believe I have this pet killing aura too! Hahaha.

I figured fish would be the easiest to care for during my college time. First time, I bought 4 gold fish. All of them died a week later. Cause of death, unknown. Then I got another 6, thought the previous 4 could have died of loneliness. They all died 3 days later. I didn’t give up, got another 3 gold fish. Damn, again they died within 3 days!

My house-mate once asked me to take care of a pair of his hamsters while he was away. The hamsters died one after another within a day, with plenty of food and water. I found one of them half dead with the body hanging outside the cage but the head inside. Suicide?!

Oh boy, I really think I’m a pet killer!

Still, I wish to have a dog/cat.

I come from a family that loves dogs. My mom and dad had several dogs when they were kids and they still have that love for dogs until now. At the moment, we have 4 dogs, 2 pomeranian spitzes , a rottweiler and a dog of an unknown breed.

Being a dog person I never thought I’d pick a up a stray kitten (this happened more than 10 years ago), maybe because I was so guilty having dissected a cat (2 of them, actually) because it was a course requirement when I was in college. Anyway, I named that cat ‘Tama’, a japanese word, short for ‘tamashii’ which means soul. I spoiled this cat too much. One time, it was meowing for his food and my mom’s friend gave it a small but whole fish. Tama simply stared back at her then meowed endlessly again to my mother’s friend’s confusion. Any cat would have sinked their teeth into that piece of fish, but not my Tama. I figured out that since I always pick out the flesh from the fish, removing all bones in the process, Tama wanted the same thing again. He wants his dinner served without the fish bones.True enough, after I ‘dissected’ the fish, he ate with contentment.

We moved to the countryside a few years later and imagined our surprise when we saw several snake heads on the ground – Tama was responsible for that. Too bad he passed away about 6 years ago, and no, he didn’t die from snake bite. I’m considering adopting another cat, but with 4 dogs, I think that would be difficult.

I hope you get a pet that stays with you

Oh, such a sad story. Pets are individuals. It is a big responsibility to have a pet. Starving dog…that’s too much…

Omg, do I have a few pet stories! After rereading this one, I see that I was WRONG. I swore we would not seek a replacement pet, but one came and sought us. A week after the death of our boxer, and weiner dog moved himself right in and refused to leave. So, we still have 4 dogs, 2 cats, a few turtles, some fish, frogs, lizards, and a bird! Welcome to the ZOO

I could never imagine a home without pets. For as long as I could remember we are a family of animal lovers. Pets would range from the domesticated types to the not – so – domesticated ones like boa constrictors, monitor lizards, civets, monkeys, etc. At present we adopted four stray cats and our neighbor is going to give us a puppy. =) It’s hard to lose a pet, most especially when you’ve been accustomed to living with him/her. But then again, everything is temporary and pets do come and go. Although we also have to be responsible enough to ensure their welfare. I hope you’ll have the dog that you’ve always dreamed of. Not everyone appreciates the beauty of having animals around. Good luck! =)

Tweety A Connoisseur of Rock-And-Roll By Cherokee Billie

I will never forget the first time my little sky blue Parakeet, Tweety, heard the song, “Stairway To Heaven.” The year was 1974 when Led Zeppelin first released; “Stairway To Heaven”, I was a young married, 23 years old, and usually had the stereo on loud every morning in our rented house after my husband went to work.

Tweety’s cage was right next to one of the stereo speakers in the living room, as Tweety enjoyed music so much. I had Tweety since 1967 so she knew rock-and-roll really well living with me. Tweety would lose control bopping up and down while chirping loudly whenever I put on music by Jimi Hendrix. Tweety would chirp softly to the Beatles. Tweety was a true connoisseur of music.

Tweety’s cage stood about 3 feet from the base with a large wood branch extending from the bottom to the top of the cage. There was several little branches shooting out from the main branch and Tweety would perch on the different branches depending on what she wanted to see or hear at that moment. Her favorite jutting branch was toward the top of her cage where Tweety would stand poised like a ballerina about to engage in her own choreograph, which she often did bobbing and weaving to the music.

This particular morning Tweety was on her favorite branch enjoying the music from the radio. The song “Stairway To Heaven” came on the radio for the first time. The song starts very softly with Robert Plant singing in a very beautiful tone. I noticed Tweety was stretched as far as her little body could stretch to get her ear, as close to the speaker as possible. I watched mesmerized at how still and quiet Tweety was during the first part of the song. Normally she would be chirping along with the music. But not today – not during this song.

Suddenly Robert Plant burst out with the verse, “As we wind on down the road,” accompanied by a barrage of heavy metal music; going from the soft melodious sound to harsh rock-and-roll. The contrast was startling to poor little Tweety. She fell instantaneously onto the floor of her cage. She looked stunned for a moment but started climbing back up the wood branch by her beak and feet to her favorite perch to finish listening to the song. Tweety listened in complete silence until the song concluded. If Tweety could have been a music critic she would have said, “That was the best song I have ever heard.”

After this episode whenever Tweety heard Robert Plant singing she would fall silent and study every tone of his voice. Tweety never did this with any other musician or song only with Robert Plant.

She continued to chirp and dance wildly for Jimi Hendrix and rock to the Beatles. Until the last day of her life she was a dedicated classic rock fan.

To this day when I hear, “Stairway to Heaven” I always picture the rapt attention of Tweety’s little face and I smile.