Animal House

It started with a simple question...

Billy asked, "Why is the beta fish's bowl only half full of water?"

I started to explain....  "I started putting in less water because ever since he got sick while we were out of town and lost all his fins, he has trouble swimming.  It was too much work for him to get all the way to the top to eat, so I lowered the water.  I want to be sure he eats, so he can grow new fins."

I'm crazy.  Go ahead and laugh it's okay.  It's a disorder, I know.

Why am I stressing over this fish?! The same fish that live in plastic cups in gas stations can't cut in a glass bowl in our kitchen?! Go figure.  But we haven't given up on him.  Though I wonder at times if he's suffering.  I just don't have the heart to flush him and kill him myself. Again, I know I'm crazy.

Pet problems aren't new to us.  Chloe is our sweet white long-haired cat.  I received her as a gift 13 years ago from the children I was nannying for at the time.  She is so gentle and loving.  She loves kids and being with people.  About 8 yrs ago she started having medical issues.  After many trips to the vet for tests, an $800 surgery determined she has IBD.  She is fine most of the time (as long as she eats her prescription $5 a pound hypoallergenic cat food!).  Unless she gets stressed.  Unfortunately her source of security is having me around daily.  When I am gone she panics, which induces bowel distress.  You can imagine what that looks like in your house.  Not pretty.  She's been doing fairly well, but Julia's cancer treatments over the past year and 67 trips to the hospital did not please her very much.  Every episode she would have would then require two weeks of tapered dosing steroid pills.

Then there's the aquarium- 2 snails, a catfish, and two small tropical fish.  It seems so simple, right?  But we discovered female catfish lay eggs on a regular basis all over the sides of the tank.  And it turns out the snails are male and female and have taken to mating regularly which means clusters of snail eggs adhered all over the tank.

Do these things happen to other people or only in our nutty house?! Seriously, it makes me feel crazy sometimes. 

So for now I will continue to make accommodations for my disabled fish, clean up after everyone, and try not to upset the cat.