“An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.”
Martin Buber, German Philosopher
Family Members
For as long as I can remember, my family has always had an animal in the house. We have had both dogs and cats. These animals are not just pets, they become part of the family. They are there through everything. If I cry, they are there to comfort me. If I laugh, they are there by my side, maybe even the reason for my laughter. Being here in Spain, away from my family, is hard, and it is just as hard to be away from my cat. Whenever I talk with my mom, she shows me him on the video call, and I get all happy just seeing him on the screen. He is one of my sources of joy!
Bandit
Bandit came to be a part of our family pretty unexpectedly in the summer of 2016. My family was up north in Oscoda, Michigan, at my grandparents' condo. My mom had invited her friend to come up that weekend, and they had taken a walk through the subdivision and wandered near some woods. I was back at the condo reading a book on the porch when my younger brother came out and asked me if I had wanted to go on a rescue mission. In my mind, I was thinking, "What do I need to rescue Mom for?", so I told him I wasn't really that interested. His bait to reel me in was, "What, so you don't want to go save some cats?" That got me up and ready in a split second!
My younger brother, his girlfriend, and myself went and there we found my mom and her friend trying to catch a mother cat and three kittens. My grandparents own a cat, and at the condo they had a cat carrier which we brought with us. It took some time, but we managed to catch all four of them. We brought them back to the condo where we fed them and gave them water. I reached out to as many people as possible, looking for someone to adopt the kittens. One of my coworkers told me right away that she was interested in one of the kittens for her son. Once the weekend was over, my family drove back with two kittens. My mom and I were thinking that we would take two kittens and hopefully adopt them out since my dad told us right from the start that we were not adding to the pets at home (at the time we had both Shadow and Shiner). That evening, my coworker drove by and picked up one of the kittens. Then we were left with only Bandit. The mother cat and the other kitten were still up north. We had left them with a neighbor who worked in an animal shelter and she was looking for people to adopt the two animals.
We ended up introducing Bandit to the other pets in the house. Truthfully, I was hoping we could keep him despite my dad's stand on "No more animals." As time went by, Bandit became a part of the family, and we stopped looking for someone to adopt him (though I can tell you I didn't try very hard).
Bandit is such a goofy cat. When he had energy as a kitten, he would race throughout the entire house. Sometimes he misjudged his jumps and would have landing fails which made me laugh. Now, he sleeps a lot more and isn't as playful. He sleeps on his back which cats only do when they feel safe, comfortable, and happy. His hobby is finding interesting sleeping spots. I've found him sleeping in my brother's closet, nestled in a laundry basket, burrowed somewhere in my parents' room, and resting on top of random objects around the house like the piano, the windowsill, and a coffee table.
Enjoy some pictures of my funny, precious baby!
Shiner
Shiner was a purebred Kerry Blue Terrier, also known as the Irish Blue Terrier (Irish: Brocaire Gorm). Kerry Blue Terriers came from County Kerry, Ireland. They were bred to hunt small game and birds as well as to kill rodents. Over time, this breed became a general working dog used for herding sheep and cattle and a guard dog.
Shiner had been returned to the breeder after his previous owners gave him up. My family adopted him from the breeder in 2009 when he was already four years old. It seemed like he instantly became my younger brother's dog. He seemed to follow my brother everywhere and only slept in his bed. Of course, he loved everyone in the family and was a happy dog, but he definitely favored my brother. In the spring of 2017, my family had to put Shiner down because he had bone cancer and was getting to weak to even walk around or go outside.
One of my favorite memories with Shiner is his hugs. When we came home from school, he used to jump up and greet us. Now, Shiner was a medium sized dog and standing on his four legs, his head came up to just below my waist. After jumping up to greet me, he would wrap his front paws around my waist as if to give a hug. That always made me smile, and it brightened my mood.
Shadow
Shadow was my first pet baby. My family did have a dog, Brandy, and some fish before him. But Shadow was the first animal I remember having the responsibility to take care of, so he will forever hold a special place in my heart.
I remember the day he came into our family in 1999. All of my family was at our house to celebrate my fifth birthday. I had opened most of my presents, and then I began opening the presents from my parents. I unwrapped the heavy one which was the cat litter. I unwrapped the rest of the gifts which were all the supplies to take care of a cat. I became more and more confused since we didn't own a cat. My parents had to tell me hints as to why I think I would need those items until I realized that we were going to have a cat. I was so excited! I missed having Brandy around, and I couldn't wait for the cat to arrive.
A car pulled up outside, and a person stepped out of the car with a brown box. Inside the box was a small black kitten which I named Shadow. That is the story of how Shadow came into our family.
Shadow had a lot of energy as a kitten. If we ran through the hallways, he would chase after us and usually run past us. He especially had a ton of energy when everyone was settling down for the night and getting into bed. I remember I would by lying in bed, and Shadow would jump up onto my bed, jump off immediately, and then race out of my room.
As he got older, Shadow calmed down and wasn't as active. He became more cuddly and liked to sit my lap while I did my homework or while I watched television shows. He was never really a people cat meaning he wouldn't greet anyone who came to visit or play with them, but he began to open a little bit more to visitors and family, and he would let them pet him. When we got Shiner and later Bandit, he was definitely not enthusiastic to having these foreign animals invade his personal space. He kept his distance for a good amount of time until he slowly started accepting them. In the fall of 2016, Shadow was put down because his health had deteriorated, and he stopped eating and drinking water.
To me, Shadow will always be my precious fur-baby (though my older brother would beg to differ and say that Shadow was his cat😂).
More Pets
My family had cats, dogs, and fish as pets. Do you have other types of animals as family pets? What are they? Are they part of the list below? Let me know!
Dogs
Cats
Fish
Birds
Lizards
Snakes
Turtles
Tortoises
Rabbits
Guinea Pigs
Hamsters
Gerbils
Mice
Rats
Hedgehogs
At the bottom of this web page is a more comprehensive list of different pets:
Here is a video on the benefits of pet ownership:
This video shows how having a pet can bring joy as well as laughs. The animals in the video copy what their owners are doing, and they do the actions with them.
Practice
Here is a website to practice reading comprehension about pets:
This site has a couple of mad libs (historias locas) about animals that you can do!
To complete the mad lib, you can play yourself or with others. Each of the blank spaces are filled in with the appropriate type of word as indicated below the line such as a noun, verb, or adjective. The choice of word you pick is entirely up to you, and the word can be as ridiculous as you want it to be. If you are playing with another person, you ask them for words without letting them see what the story is about. You will get some extremely crazy stories that way!
Here is an example of one of the mad libs:
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