My Family's Pets Through the Years by Veronika Waltner

     Throughout the years of my life my family has contained many pets. This is especially so because my parents got divorced when I was very young. This meant that I had two sets of pets in my family from a very early age, one that belonged to my mom and one that belonged to my dad.

Nico and Precious

     I've decided to group these two together since I don't have many memories of either of them since they passed even before my parents split . Nico was an older seal pointed Siamese cat that came with my dad from a farm in Turkey, and Precious was a black Persian cat found by my mom outside her work with matted fur that she ended up keeping. All I remember of them is that instead of meowing Nico made a "Nip" noise that was very cute, and that Precious meowed a lot and licked me once. I also apparently went with my mom when we had to put down Precious. Overall the very few memories I have of Nico and Precious are positive though.

Heide and Copper

     I also have chose to group together Heide and Copper because they are from the same time period as Nico and Precious. These two were dogs, Heide a purebred German Shepherd and Copper a German Shepherd mix. They had Copper first and got him from a police station that found him and were holding him in case they found his owner, the owner didn't end up showing up and the police station couldn't keep him (and didn't want to send him to a shelter since he was an adult dog) so he ended up with my parents. Heide was a puppy that they adopted after Copper that ended up extremely loyal to my mom. Heide was extremely obedient with my mom however she did not listen to my dad, this is because German Shepherds tend to pick a person and she picked my mom. Copper picked my dad but was much more obedient with my mom than Heide was my dad. Amusingly enough, rather than either of my parents being my first word, Copper was my first word. Of course as a baby I couldn't pronounce his name correctly, but it was definitely what I was saying since I said it whenever he would be near me. Least to say when these two passed I was very upset and we couldn't stay without pets for long.

Banjo

Banjo

The next pet we got was Banjo, who is still alive to this day. He is an English Shorthair Pointer who is 11 as of writing this. As expected of the breed he is very energetic and needs a lot of exercise. We got him while my parents were still together but they didn't split up long after getting him and he went with my dad when they did. I have distinct memories of my dad picking him up and flying him around like an airplane. Unfortunately he ended up with epilepsy and because of it has seizures at random. Despite this he is still dear to our family. Soon after Banjo we got Shylah but, they didn't get very close because they were separated so young.

Shylah and child me

Shylah

As previously stated we got Shylah soon after Banjo and it was not long after we got her that my parents separated. She went with my mom and was with me the majority time while I grew up. Sadly Shylah passed away not so long ago. She was a German Shepherd mix but despite this was of very little brain. Shylah was extremely affectionate and as a child I treated her practically like a sister. Least to say I was heartbroken when she passed, especially since it was extremely unexpected. She had cancer in her veins, including her heart. This kind of cancer is very untraceable until it is too late and she died at the young age of 9. You may have noticed that I did not specify any memories of her, this is because despite it being over a year since she has passed I am still very upset by her passing.

Sparkles

     Sparkles Pipsqueak was another pet that was gotten on the very edge of the time before the divorce. He was a hamster that I felt the need, as a 6 year old, to give the most ridiculous name. Because he was a hamster he didn't have much of a personality but was a weirdly good escape artist. Many a time he got out of his cage and we had to go through many before we found one that was mostly safe. At one point he broke out in winter and my mom had to go into the crawlspace and lure him out with apple slices. Despite him being Houdini in hamster form there is not much to say about him.

Shoeshine

     Shoeshine was a Guinea Pig and the first pet that I had gotten at my dad's house after the split. He was named after Underdog's terrible dog name because as a child I loved that movie. Not much to say on him either since I only saw him on Wednesdays and every other weekend. I do have the distinct memory of pushing him around in a Barbie car and the many night he kept me up with his squealing.

Stella on my shoulder

Stella

    Stella was the first in a line of many rats that I've had. She was a cream colored rat that I got because for some reason as I child I had the desire for a pet rat. Even though now I know what amazing pets rats can be, I do not know what originally got the idea in my head to get one. Just to be clear pet store rats are entirely sanitary and have been raised their entire lives in captivity. The point was that I desperately wanted one and was thrilled to have her. She ended up being one of the best pets I've had, she was very kind and I could have her sit on my shoulder for hours. Although this might seem gross to those who haven't had a rat before, I was incredibly endeared to the way she would kiss(lick) me. After having her for a while I wanted another rat very badly since I loved her so much.

Starburst

     Following up Stella and Shoeshine is Starburst. After Shoeshine passed I wanted another pet at my dads house and ended up with the green and yellow parakeet, Starburst. I am unsure as to why I named him this because there are no green starburst candies(and I know that he was named after the candy). Ignoring this I was very attached to Starburst and mourned his death much longer than one would expect for a parakeet. Especially so when you considered that I had long ago accepted that small pets don't live as long with Sparkles. The only memory that I have in particular pertaining to him is of me crying in class soon after he died because we were watching an American Doll movie with a llama named Starburst.

Luna

Luna trying to explore

     As previously stated I really wanted another rat to be friends with Stella and my wish was granted Christmas morning. I woke up to find a little black rat named Luna with a note saying that she needed a home and that I wanted a rat so our needs matched up perfectly. It went on explaining that she had been beaten up before we got her and that we needed to make sure to give her the medicine Santa provided to make her feel better. The reason she was injured was because she had been a feeder rat that was being beaten up by the other feeder rats. My mom went to a pet store and the separated the most social ones and my mom couldn't bear to leave her (she made the pet store workers give her medicine). Luna was extremely afraid of Stella at first since, as previously stated, she had gotten so beaten up by the other rats. Luckily, Stella was nothing but kind to her and after being sick of her being afraid held her down and licked her until she understood that Stella was not harmful. After that she became much more adventurous and crazy. My mom and I called her Lunatic because of this. She ended up being my favorite out of all the rats, even though I loved them all

Amber(left) and Aura(right)

Cirrus(grey) and Aura(black and white) sleeping

Amber, Aura and Cirrus

      After Stella died Luna got very lonely so we ended up getting another rat, Amber. She was champagne colored and a lot more ill-tempered than Stella. She bit us frequently and was not as cuddly as the other rats. After Luna passed we more careful in getting a more social rate. This got us Aura Blase who was a rat with large black spots and a blaze of white on her forehead. She like all properly socialized rats was very sweet and, despite how Amber acted with us, got along well with Amber. After Amber passed we got our finally rat Cirrus, who was a bit more antisocial with us than Aura but not mean like Amber. After Aura passed we felt bad for Cirrus since she was so lonely but we were done with having rats due to another new member of our family.

Koko

Wasabi

Wasabi and Koko

     This member was Wasabi, a cockatiel with the usual yellow and grey coloring. The way we received him was complex, but it breaks down to me seeing a cockatiel out my window, we failing to catch it, and trying to see if anyone else found it making us find Wasabi. At the time we though we could try and re-socialize him, now we know that was not an option. However, we did not see this through failing to do so but rather by the experience we gained with the bird we got after Wasabi passed. He did not live long in our family and we believed that the cause of his death was the stress of living in the wild before we got him. Since we had only had him for a short period of time, we hadn't gotten good use out of the supplies we bought leading us to getting a new bird. This bird is Koko, who is also a cockatiel but an albino one from a pet store. Least to say he is much more social that Wasabi was and much more talkative too. He is still a part of our family today and often does cute things like calling everything he likes a "pretty boy."

Bo

Bo sleeping

Back on my dad's side of the family we got another dog after moving house. This dog is Bo, a huge white German Short-haired Pointer with dark brown spots. He is a huge mush that love to snuggle into you. Despite being such a sweetheart he is not so well behaved, often eating food off of the counter. Even so I love him very much and have issues getting too mad at him for doing so. Like Banjo he has a lot of energy to spend but luckily can do so with Banjo. This way they can wear each other out.

Psyche and Odin

A rare peaceful moment with Psyche(bottom) and Odin(top)

Finally the most recent pets that I have gotten are Psyche and Odin. Psyche is a stubborn yet delicate Husky mix and Odin is a mischievously loyal German Shepherd mix. I know it's a cliche to say that you cannot pick a favorite out of your children but cannot honestly tell you which of them I love more. They both have their charms, Psyche is basically an anime Tsundere in dog form and Odin is always trying to please you but still is a puppy at heart. Either way I love them both as vital parts of my family.

A total of 19 pets have found their way in my family and, even if I was not incredibly attached to some, they have have been important in shaping me into being who I am today. Just like any other family member I could not imagine my life without any of my pets and feel truly blessed to have them. I know that none of them are reading this, because, you know, their animals, but if they could I would tell them that I love them and that they are a most vital part of my family.