How I Love My Pets

How I Love My Pets

I have always loved animals.  I grew up in a suburban California neighborhood with pets that include cats, dogs, snakes, lizards, rabbits, chickens, ducks, fish, and turtles.  I had my share of bites and booster shots.  I would stick my fingers in a rat's cage or tease a gopher snake with my wiggling finger until I was tasted, drawing blood.  Thank God my parents and grandparents acted quickly getting me to the doctors to get my shot.  I feared that needle so much more than the fangs of the animals.
Dogs were my predominate pet followed by cats.  My dogs and cats were allowed to roam the neighborhood back in the days of my youth.  It was easy to coexist in a free environment rather than an inside, fenced-in one.  There are more rules and opportunities to annoy someone when a household is occupied by man and beast.  By the time my family and I moved to New Jersey - I was thirteen - it was unheard of to allow your dog to roam outside of your yard.  Cats could free-range but a dog's behavior could not be tolerated by all of the neighbors.  
Growing up with animals taught me to care for other living creatures with compassion.  The loyalty of my dogs was a result of my treatment of them.  It was free love.  The seeming indifference of cats taught me humility.  My compassion for them did not warrant the same response elicited from my pet dogs.  I understood that each species had their own way of showing affection.  Eventually I accepted that the cat was not the object, or toy, of my command.  My dogs eventually understood what I wanted, somehow, more quickly.  
As a young boy in open space I pretty much had the same desire as my dogs when playing:  run, chase, pull, wrestle, run some more.  When I got tired, fetch was a good game.  I recuperated while my dogs continued their frantic explosion of energy.  When I tried to play like this with my cats, it was a one-sided affair that resulted in the cat escaping my torment.  
I learned that my cats loved to play their own games.  Their games were chasing sudden, erratic pieces of anything.  A string was always a definite lure.  I would like to hide my fingers under a pillow and have it move, stop, poke the tip out in plain sight, then retract it.  I always came away with scratched hands and fingers; most battle scars were superficial.  My cats always kept their claws. 
The snakes, turtles, chickens, ducks, lizards and fish were pets that taught me about the wonderful variety of creatures on this planet.  A living, fun study of behavior that never ceased to amaze me.  I named all of my pets exercising my dominion over them.  
Today I have three cats, claws included.  I would have a dog but my work keeps me away for thirteen hours at a time.  This is too long to keep a dog inside a condo.  
I remember all of my pets and how I interacted with them.  I only remember burying one of them, George, my pet lizard.  I was able to handle the ceremonies just fine as a little boy.  Early in the morning I took George in the back yard and buried him by the fence, then knelt down and prayed to God to receive him as one of his creatures now passed away.  I did not debate whether or not George went to heaven or just decomposed there in his grave.  I just thanked God for sharing one of His creatures with me.  
Now that I am an adult, I plan to have my cats cremated and have their ashes placed in an urn.  The pet urn will be the sacred vessel that holds the memories and remains of the pets that I love.  I shall buy the urns before they die so I can include their uniqueness on the urns.  Then I can display the pet cremation urns in a place of honor in or outside my home.  If I move, the urns will be able to travel easily with me.
Growing up with animals has made me respect the time I spend with them.  It has made me aware that they, too, are creatures of God and deserve my best consideration and treatment.  I vow to take an active part at the end my pets' lives and dignify their memory with a pet urn that is distinct for each one.