“PALS With Pets” Chapter 97

I love having pets, and over the years, I have had lots of them. There have been many family pets, but the first pets that were my responsibility were the fish I had as a teenager. I had a typical fresh water 10 gallon tank with a variety of fish. As I got more knowledgeable about taking care of them, I stepped up my game to larger tanks. However, no matter how hard I tried, I was never able to teach them to sit, give me a high fin, or fetch. What I could never understand was how could fish be in schools all day and never learn a thing. Come to think of it, fish are very selfish... you do all the work and they never give back.

When I was 19 living on my own I found a pet store in the Bronx that sold Piranhas. This was not legal, but they sold them to me and the Army never asked me if I ever owned illegal fish before joining, so I think I am safe. I bought nine of them and at . At the time they were babies - only about one inch. Since goldfish didn’t want to learn any tricks whatsoever, I decided to try one more time and see how fast they could get away from the Piranhas. They didn’t learn that one either 😱. However, after I fed the Piranhas, I was able to put my arm in the tank and pet them. I also learned that Piranhas prefer to live in schools, but they also don’t play well with others and my nine fish ended up reducing down to three, six inch Piranhas. When I joined the Army, I gave them to my brother.

Later, when I was deployed to Panama in 1990, I had a pet Burmese Python. As a Military Policeman, we would often respond to complaints of wildlife in family homes. One day, one of the Soldiers decided to bring a snake back to the barracks, but when he got bit he wanted nothing to do with it, so I kept it as a pet. I would take him outside on walks on the causeway where many people walked or rode bikes. We were quite popular and everyone wanted to see or pet him. He was very friendly and loved holding me around my neck really tight. Funny enough that was the only trick he knew as if he was born knowing that trick. Before redeploying back to Ft.Lewis, WA, I released him back into the woods.

Over the past 28 years, Laura and I have had fish, cats, and dogs. Unlike the fish and snake, the cats and dogs have always wanted to be near us and love on us. Each of them would pick their preferred person, but in general, they would let everyone hold and play with them. Also, unlike the other pets, cats and dogs can learn tricks, commands, rules and even communicate.

Thinking back to the various fish and snakes, all of them could have lived perfectly fine alone, with minimal work and feeding required. Dogs and cats, however, are pack animals and want to be with others. This leads me to a question... are animals capable of understanding and having empathy from birth, or is it something they must learn?

We have all seen service animals trained to recognize signs and symptoms of a person needing help. The way they respond is a reaction/behavior they are taught to do. From afar, the barking, licking or nuzzling may look like they understand or are empathetic, but are they? If the animal wasn’t trained, would they react similarly or just walk away? When you get down on the floor at the animals level, they respond either in a dominant or submissive manner. If they want to, they will cuddle while sleeping with you and I would even say that they can recognize when you show weakness. These are all responses pack animals do in the wild or when domesticated.

My son’s dog will howl when he hears sirens. He will also start barking and jumping around if someone is crying loudly. He’s a Dalmatian, so maybe it’s just the breed.

Before I had ALS, my cats would cuddle with me and they always wanted pets. I had a thing for rubbing their ears, so as they grew up, they wanted to be pet in the same way. When I lost the ability to pet my cats, Athena would come sit on my hand, patiently waiting. I felt bad and wondered if she understood what was going on. Now, Athena sleeps by legs almost every night. Our other cat, Gypsy, uses me as Cat Tree during the day. It makes me wonder, do they see what is going on? Are they protecting the weakest one in the pack? Or do they just like sitting on top of me because I can’t move and push them off? Maybe they are even secretly laughing inside.

Maybe they just like watching TV with me since I watch food and veterinarian shows. There are some strange people on the vet shows who go all in for their pets. There are a lot of 4-H kids who bring various farm animals to get their health certificate for the fairs, and I understand that. However, like my father-in-law says, unless it’s a dog or cat, “Don’t name the animals.” I watch people bring chickens, pigs, cows and other animals and pay hundreds of dollars to get vet care. I look at the broken animals and think Fogo de Chao. For the price spent on a vet for a broken chicken leg, you could buy 10 more chickens, get more eggs, and a fried winner- winner chicken dinner. I totally understand paying for cats and dogs, because nobody eats them. I mean I may have that one time in Korea, but I was drunk and hungry. You know what I mean, you don’t care what is on the stick at that point as long as it’s cooked. (Right about now my daughter is saying, “Ew dad, that’s gross!”) she’s 32.🤣

I know one thing for sure. It doesn’t matter what pet you own. From as small as a mouse to as large as an elephant, it doesn't matter if they are empathetic or protecting the weak. Pets bring you joy (unless you rolled over 💩 with your wheelchair) and love. In a world where PALS are losing everything else, having the love of a pet makes the sad days pass more easily. So get a pet and like Bob Barker used to say, "Get your pet spayed or neutered."

Love and Blessings.

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