Kitty Cats, Turtle, and Fish OH MY!

I have learned to love animals. Living with Cole has taught me patience when it comes to animals. Krik is not better in this arena. My guess is I will get very use to any animal that is brought home. The fact is Animals are not cheep. And if you want to be a pet owner you must keep up on all their care and needs. This can be done with in reasonable cost and it can be quite fun to figure out was to save money while keeping a pet. For me it is a challenge. Something that I can compete with myself. I have a few examples below of how cost has been avoided by ingenuity and simple questions.

A while ago Krik brought home a Felis catus. This little creature came up to Krik one night while he was sitting in a screen writers meeting. It went past 20 people and jump right into his lap. Krik was so attached that this little kitten was from then on he was a member of the family. (cost to us Free)
We have named him Puss because he looks like "Puss in Boots". He is a common mediam haired domestic cat. Orange in color, this cat has now become like a kid to us. He sleeps all day and plays all night. His favorite game is attack my feet while I sleep to see if I will wake up.
I think animals , what ever kind of animal you like, have a certain sense when things are not quite right. Just before Krik went into the hospital Puss would follow him around and lay at his feet where ever he was. This is unusual for him because he would rather be chasing the kids or string or a ball around the house. But I noticed that the week before Krik went in because of his heart he just stayed really close to him. While Krik was in the hospital Puss would wander around the house meowing. Late at night he would come and sleep with me. On Krik's pillow of course.I have never had a cat before. I have always owned dogs and to have a cat seemed so wrong in a way. Cats are not something I would ever own. I never wanted a cat growing up, nor after I was out of the house I was raised in. I had no desire to have a cat in any form. 

Puss adopted us. The whole family. He puts up with Kanyon picking him up all the time. He puts up with Jimmy rubbing him behind the ears. He puts up with Cole loving on him as soon as he walks in the door. He even puts up with Byron trying to brush him all the time. 

I have no idea where his curiosity comes from. He has to know everything you are doing all the time. I know now where the saying "curiosity killed the cat." comes from. Puss needs to know what you are eating, reading, or typing at all times. It is not unusual for him to up and nudge my hand while I am typing until I talk with him and tell him what I am writing about. He may have found and adopted us be are more then willing to keep him. 

Now that being said I must keep up on his health. Yesterday he was neutered. I called around and could not find a place that was with in my price range to do this procedure for us. I asked a few people who they used and if they new of any great deals, My friend came up with the clinic we used. No More Homeless Pets: Spay and Nuter Clinic in Orem was wonderful to our cat. They not only nutered him but gave him all his shots as well. For the three shots it was 10.00 a peice. and for the neture it was 10.00. All told I spent 85% less then what I could find form veternary services. Now , I understand this clinic is not a veteranary service but it did get our little kitty cat the services he needed with a great price and good service.

They even sent us home with pain killers incase the cat needed them. They treated me and the cat with respect and I could not ask for better care.

For Cole's birthday this year he got a Trachemys scripta elegans. Or more commonly known as a red eared slider turtle. This little thing loves to swim. He is so small though. I thought that he was quite large when I got him from the store with Cole. Then he was put in a tank with two larger red eared sliders triple his size.
The other day Cole was cleaning the tank out for Super. That is the turtles name Super Turtle. While cleaning it he happened to break the tank. Cole is fine but the tank is garbage. He cried so hard because it was a gift from his Aunt Kennie. I told him she would understand because he was doing what was best for Super at the time. It was a genuine accident. I emailed Kanyon's teacher, Miss Teresa, to ask if we could put Super in her tank with the class turtles until I could find another tank. She emailed me back and said of course and we might have a tank for you.
I helped Cole take super in the next moring and sure enough Miss Teresa met us , we found an extra tank she had and she let us have it. I took it home, put water in it and kept it there for the rest of the afternoon before going back for Super. I did this to make sure that there was no slow leaks that would drain out water from this used tank. Once I knew this was going to work I thanked Miss Teresa for it and she thanked us for taking it off her hands.
(replacement tank free)
Now we had this big new tank we needed some rocks for the bottom of it. The boys went out to a rock pile we had in our yard. Washing these very well, we placed them in the bottom of this tank. The turtle is having a ball in its new habitate.
(cost of rocks- 0.00)
The turtle is a farley easy pet for Cole to take care of. I found a phsypon on Freecycle.com and now Cole can clean the tank with out having to lift it to the tube. This will prevent future accidentes with this new tank.



One Fish, Two Fish , Byron and Kanyon have fish fish fish. Byron decied to bring home three fish one day from school. These little fish were a bag for $0.25. He said he brought them home for Kanyon because he lost his gold fish during the move. I think it was really becasue Byron wanted a pet. Either way now we have three very small neon fish. The fish tank Byron got last year from school is a 5 gallon tank and it fits all three fish very well. I already had the food and everything needed. I think it is good for them to have these living things to take care of.
Byron shares very well with Kanyon and Kanyon loves that he has fish.
All told I paid 0.25 for fish. Plus water for the tank.

Some how over Christmas Break we are getting a few extra animals here at the Myers Home. We are babysitting Cole's class pet a Chinchilla named Chewbacka. or Chewy for short. The boys can not wait. Also Kanyon's teacher asked if we could take the two turtles over the Christmas Break as well. They are bigger then Super so this should prove to be intresting. I will post pictures as soon as I get them.
Over the holiday season the house will be full of furry friends but I will be okay with that becuase we are all animal lovers in this house.