Animal Obsession

Even people that just kinda know me are aware of my love of animals. And I go through certain phases of mild obsession...

I had a serious Meerkat obsession for almost a year a couple of years ago, having had the experience of having one in the house during a visit to my bro-in-law's farm. There had been lots of rain and this little critter was rescued as the rest of the mob (yes, that's what a whole bunch of meerkats are called....isn't it cute?!) had left the burrow and this little thing had been left behind.

I could go on for hours and hours as to how cute it was, teeny tiny, makes the most awesome noises.....remember the huge ant in Honey I Shrunk The Kids...? Like that :-)

Man, now I want a Meerkat again...But seriously, look at them, how can you not fall in love?

Anyhoo. I get over these phases for numerous reasons. The reasons mostly stem from 2 places, 1. doing research and 2. hubby dearest not wanting to get on board with my newest idea.

You see, I research something every which way till Sunday until I feel I know all there is to know. One of the reasons I do this is so that I have good argument to any objection of my idea that comes my way, the other, because I genuinely am interested in wanting to know more.

In the case of the Meerkats, I found out that they live in these communities - mobs. So I approached Hubby with this dilemma:

M: Guess what?
H: What?

M: Meerkats live in Mobs

H: Mobs? What does that mean?

M: It means I need at least five, coz one'll be lonely

H: Are you crazy?

M: No *big smile* I don't want anyone to be sad

H: You're not getting a Meerkat, or MeerkatS. They are naughty

M: I can train them

H: You can't, they're wild animals

M: No no, I saw it on a website, you can train them, I'll show you...

I don't think you need the rest of the convo, but 2 months later I got Fudge :-), my dearest Beagle Boy....and besides, having a Meerkat is illegal (the voice of reason and sensibility of my husband that seems to always put an end to my latest craze)

Well, my newest craze is bunnies. I want what they call a House Rabbit. Yes, that's exactly what it sounds like, the rabbit lives with you in the house, some people aren't new to this idea, but I know alot of you are, so this info might not be interesting to everybody.

There is even a House Rabbit Society...... for real. Check it out: http://www.rabbit.org/

Learnt everything about training them, introducing them to Fudge, feeding, bunny-proofing (although alot of useful info came from one of my online friends). Then the searching, phoned every Perky Pets in the Western Cape, they all have the white ones with pink eyes, I don't want white ones with pink eyes. I want a cute brown one or black one, well even white with dark eyes'll be OK. I found someone in Durbanville that sells Angora ones....ooooh, so cute, but maintenance sounds high, then I found out about ones you can fly down from Durbs, again, this could go on forever...

Hubby Dear put up with the Meerkat crazies way longer than he did the Bunny one. Prolly coz the Bunny one is WAY more likely to happen. And it will still happen, I've just put it on ice, let it lie for a bit. Pick my moments.

OOOOH, did you see that programme on Animal Planet about the Tigers??