Aw crud my son wants a bunny rabbit.
With his 10th birthday right around the corner Hud suckered us in to visit our local pet store to investigate the lizards. This is an item of interest mentioned in the past and, after finding out they do not need crickets to survive (a deal breaker), we all strolled up on Friday night to see how reasonable the cost and care of a wee little lizard would actually be. The lizard perusal took all of 127 seconds before the furrier animals became more of interest.
First it was the hamsters who were only 40 bucks including the hamster, the cage, the food, the frayed paper, even a little red wheel so Hammy could get his daily exercise in. It was all very cute and highly logical. I thought, I could handle this form of live entertainment for the next couple of years and they could easily survive two nights alone with ample food and water.
Hey cute sales girl with the cowlick on your forehead – ring this bad boy up and let’s get the hell out of here!
Hey wait; let’s check out the guinea pigs.
Here we go.
I have a bit of history with guinea pigs. My sister had a couple of them when she was like nine and I was six and for whatever reason, a friend of mine thought it would be fun to juggle them. Now, rightfully so, my sister was aghast, ratted me out and it quickly turned into a sore form of punishment for this circus performance. Needless to say, later on that summer, one of these creatures was stalked and hunted by a local cat, and, on a sunny afternoon, was snatched from our grassy backyard while our backs were turned. I am still haunted by the shrillness of my sister’s shriek as she watched her beloved guinea pig being dragged to its inevitable death by the local Tom.
Anyway, I digress. Hud liked the guinea pigs, but you could tell there was an air of indifference about these truly odd creatures. We asked all the right questions and pet store cutie told us all the right things about taking care of these hairy rat-like creatures.
Would you like to hold a bunny? She asked, blonde hair swirl plastered to her shiny forehead.
That’s it. Game over. My overly sensitive boy who I love so much for wanting a pet to take care of on his own fell in love with an unnamed, four week old bunny rabbit who seemed terrified while Hud pet his (her? No idea) ears back and wiggled its nose.
Now this cute beast is much more work. Needs an hour a day of exercise and there is no way you could leave this animal over night, much less the weekend. That mattered not to Hud as he tried every kid tactic in the world to try and convince us that this is the only thing he wanted for his birthday. The promises of care and of helping with the cost (this was a good one, considering he has no job, no prospects and no money). Even coming up solutions with how to get it to the cottage (cage on the roof, bunny held in his lap on a towel, towel shook out the window if it poops). It’s been relentless and every form of logic has been ignored or solved by fantastical solutions.
I am a total sucker for making my boys happy and this bunny sure is cute, but to add another layer of responsibility to our already very chaotic life? Not even considering that we have a 13 year old dog that needs are attention more than ever as her days are numbered.
Beyond that, I have no idea what to get him for his birthday.
Help me internet.
Laura,
Now you’ve gone for the heart and jumped in there with the word, “dog”!
Jason, they’re right…we are screwed.
Ugh Jason – this is a tough one for sure…. I asked for a guinea pig every year for christmas and was disappointed every year. Personally – it sucks, he’ll be upset but you have to do what makes sense for your family – and it sounds like right now a rabbit doesn’t. I’m a cold hearted bitch
you can litter train the rabbit (i know, i’m not helping) but i am strictly no pets here. i dealt with poop for a good 7 or 8 years (and am still getting the occasional misstep) and i am done with poop, human, animal, alien. NO POOP! 🙂
I’m sorry to say this is a bad situation. Once he has decided this bunny is it, anything else he gets for his birthday is just a huge disappointment that he could end up remembering bitterly for his whole life. Your only hope (but I think you’re in too deep for this) is if you had managed to keep an “Oh right AS IF!” attitude- in the same way as if he had asked for his own apartment for his birthday. But I think you’re past that. You seriously considered it and he saw that, and that’s his in. So, probably, you’re getting a bunny.
OK, here’s one idea that occurred to me just now. You could talk to him very seriously about the fact that if you got a bunny you for sure couldn’t get another dog, because that would be too many animals. See if he gets excited about the second dog, and then you just have to do that instead. If you were mean, you could delay the search for the dog until an opening happened in the family (if you know what I mean) by saying that the right dog hasn’t come up… oh, that’ll never work…. Face it Jason, you’re getting an animal. A dog or a bunny seems to be the only choice you have left.