If you thought this was going to be about how our pets give us unconditional love, loyalty, companionship, etc., you were wrong. My pets do give me all those things and more, but today I’m talking about the actual physical things they give me.
Unfortunately, a few days ago one of the wild rabbits who lived in our yard was hit by a car. A turkey vulture and some other creatures started hanging around, so we figured nature was taking care of things. Fast-forward to the next morning. I wake up late, throw the dogs out, and rush around helping the kids get ready for school. When it’s time to leave, only four of the dogs have come to the door and been let inside. One is suspiciously absent. When I call her, she bounds over to the door with little rabbit hind-legs dangling from her mouth. We’re guessing the vulture or some other critter brought the remains into our fenced yard to get away from the busy street. She seemed quite proud of the half of the rabbit carcass and when asked, obediently dropped it. On my feet. Just the hind end. I’m not particularly squeamish, but I made my oldest son go get some gloves and toss what was left of the poor rabbit over the brick wall at the back of our property (there’s a pack of coyotes living back there who probably appreciated the meal).
The Guilty One
She’s not the only one of my pets to give me a present. Right after I graduated from college, I lived on a horse farm and had a cat who regularly brought me presents. Live presents. I didn’t cook much, and I think he thought he was doing me a favor, bringing food to the stupid human who didn’t know how to get it herself.
What sort of presents have you received from your pets?
My husband adopted a stay cat when we were still dating. Shortly after the cat began living with him, she dropped a freshly dead bird on the door step and meowed until we came to see her prize.
I’d rather receive slobbery dog kisses from our spaniel than animal carcasses. 🙂
I prefer the slobbery dog kisses, too (but not after they’ve handled the animal carcasses!).
I’m so glad to say mine (2 cairn terriers) haven’t ever brought me “presents”. I think I would freak out. 🙂
You’re lucky. This isn’t the first thing she’s brought me (but it was the most disgusting).
I used to have a cat bring earthworms and locust to me.
Interesting. Mine brought birds and rodents, though I did have one who liked to chase butterflies (but he never caught them).
Hey Ally,
Huge vet bills? Poop in the yard? Do they count as ‘gifts’ from my pets? lol.
I have two dogs, and a cat. I also have a dog who visits (my son and his gf’s dog). Sometimes it’s like a zoo in here.
My house has a definite zoo atmosphere. We have a kitty, too, but she is strictly inside only. The vet bills are a real concern. I’m debating whether it’s fair to make the kids pick up the doodoo (after all, they’re the ones most likely to step in it).
we have 6 rescued cats, various ages, our little munschkin always brings baby snakes in through the cat door in the spring and baby bunnys, that she carries like kittens also, I never walk into the kitchen with the light off LOL!!
Yikes, Donda! I’ve always wanted a dog door, but I’m rethinking that now.
LOL…One of our cats used to go outside and play in the barn (he’s older now and rarely goes out), but he’d always drop a mouse on the front porch or on my husband’s boat.
As for the 2 dogs we have….I can tell you they’ve brought home things I have no clue where they got them from…and I won’t go into details because I am squeamish. lol
I prefer to just have their love and devotion and companionship…they can save themselves the trouble of bringing any other type of gift. lol
I agree, Christine. I wish I could convince them I don’t need presents from them.
My daughter’s cat whom we sent over the rainbow bridge several years ago was famous for bringing my daughter dead gophers. I’d open the front door and almost step on the carcass. Yuck. But not as bad as my youngest daughter’s tom cat who in 2001 brought home, and then proceeded to play hand ball with, a baby kitten head. That was when my daughters all learned a lesson in nature. Unneutered tom cats will kill kittens to help bring the female back into heat sooner. That cat’s prey games is also how my sister got one of her cats that she still has today.
Eeeek! Your house sounds like Wild Kingdom gone amuck. Is your sister’s cat a headless zombie cat?
LMAO Ally! No, Kitty is very much alive and ‘headed’ on my sister’s ranch.
🙂
My dog brings me a Frisbee, my socks and his toys. He’s a little pug, ( a lover not a fighter). I should’ve never gotten him fixed. He’s afraid of his own shadow, but I love him.
Neecy
Aww. So sweet. My little poodley dog carries a toy with him wherever he goes.
We had a wonderful service dog who would steal from everyone and give to my sister. He brought her the electrician’s leather glove (out of the guy’s back pocket), the realtor’s shoe (she didn’t need it, she was sitting down), my Visa bill off my desk (perfectly OK so long as my sister wanted to pay it), a fiver out of a friend’s purse (after that we told everyone to zip things shut) and, oh yes, he brought things that actually belonged to my sister–like her neatly folded underwear while she was having a conversation with someone else. (Maybe he thought she forgot the old bra and panties that morning???) I can’t complain. He was a good dog and the one thing he always brought to me was the remote. And, of course, his crazy self.
What a lovely story. He was serving your sister in every way he could think of. I would love to teach one of my dogs to bring me the remote, but I don’t suppose it would work so well covered in slobber.
When I lived in Houston on a bayou, the last in a long line and the most beloved Doberman I raised had unrequited maternal instincts. One day he went on a mission and after one of many frantic searches, the local police called to say a neighbor a mile or so down the bayou reported a huge, scary black dog was under his house… I rushed to the scene where my Hawk was curled around this poor, slobbery wet puppy that he’d stolen out of a litter “somewhere. We took it home and let Mama Hawk keep his baby for a while before finding its rightful mother.
Joelle Walker
Aww. Dobies are such sweet dogs. My sister has had four of them. I also had a male dog who had a strong maternal instinct. The first time he saw kittens at the barn where I boarded my horse, he refused to let anyone other than me and the mamma cat near them. And whenever he saw a puppy, he would pee on it to mark it as his.