A little about Me:
I grew up in a household that consistently had more than one animal, more than one species and sometimes multiples of the same. Gerbils, hamsters, rats, guinea pigs, dogs, bunnies, birds, goats, a horse and a sugar glider (not all at the same time) were the creatures that filled our lives with joy. Every weekend was filled up with full cage cleaning, and cutting up extra treats for our pets to enjoy. More often than not, our tv would be off and my family and I would busy ourselves with playing with and enjoying these animals in which we shared not only our living space with, but also our lives.
It became a "thing" between my sister and I to pretend to read the thoughts in which we perceived our animals to be having. We soon developed voices for each and every dog we had, each with variation in sound and personality. We got made fun of by our cousins a lot, but it was fun for us and made life much more interesting living in a small town.
Impersonating our animals helped us develop a deeper bond, one that would carry over to every other animal in which we continue share our lives with.
A little about Nut....
(Pea)nut was a farm cat who came into the veterinary clinic that I work at. It was not the first time I had met her, she'd come in months before for a check up of her and her kittens. Peanut had come back for her spay surgery to be performed. As I was getting her ready for her procedure, I held her and cuddled her as I do with most of the farm cats (who are tame enough) to reassure them and build some trust between us. I remember picking her up, from her cage so that the veterinarian and myself could prep her for surgery. It wasn't the first time I had held her that day but in that moment I looked at the veterinarian and said, "we can't spay her, I think she's pregnant." It was a combination of gut feeling and the slightest, almost indistinguishable firmness in her belly that caused such a sudden anxiety to be present within me.
We opted not to spay her and decided to take a couple of radiographs instead. Knowing by feel alone, the babies inside were very unlikely to be far enough along to show any signs of bone calcification (something xray's could pick up) but did see a smaller black dot in the area of her uterus. That was indication enough for the veterinarian to not go forward with the spay surgery.
I gave her a snack and we sent her home to fatten up with the instructions that she was to return about a month before she was due to give birth so that we could give her proper diet and nutrition for the last leg of her pregnancy. We set it up so that she could have the kittens in the clinic and that we would adopt them out as soon as they were able to be adopted. Upon weaning her kittens, Peanut would be spayed and either returned to the farm, or be adopted herself.
This is Peanut's story as told through her own thoughts and perceptions of her world, at large.
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