17. our animal friends

R.I.P Beesley

I felt I should write a post about my pets, as on Monday, one of my family's German Shepherd's passed away on the operating table due to having a ruptured splenic tumour (tumour of the spleen). It hit us all quite hard, as we'd got him via the German Shepherd Rescue place, (as his original owner would no longer be able to look after him) exactly a year before he died. His name was Beesley, and I honestly hoped that his year with us was brilliant. I felt quite bad, as I'm more if a cat person, and so I've never bonded as well with our dogs as the others. This Christmas I'd actually begun to bond with them, only to have bad luck take Beesley from us.

Beesley and Breeze together :)

We have another German Shepherd called Breeze, who is much older than Beesley was (he was around 8), and she suffers from arthritis. We got her a few months after Beesley, so we've had her for less than a year. She likes lying down a lot, but when she's about to go in walks, her high pitched barking begins - which can give you a headache.

KitKat I have to admit is my favourite pet. We took him under our wing, after his previous owners (who lived on our street) moved house, abandoning him. We'd begun to feed him, and we even paid his vet bills for when he had to have an abscess removed from one if his eyes. This means he only has one eye, but that doesn't stop him chasing after newspaper or playing with his toys. After he'd been to the vets, we still weren't allowed to own him until he'd been declared officially abandoned by the RSPCA. My mum didn't want to see the little fellow go, and to be honest, I don't think any of us did.

My boyfriend Rob, with my
one-eyed cat KitKat

My family have always had pets, even before I was born. In total we've had 8 cats (including KitKat), 2 dogs, 1 rabbit, 3 guinea-pigs over the years, and we may have even had some fish. We usually get out pets from rescue places, or if not, they're usually strays or the animals left in pet shops because no one wants them. When I'm living away from home, I'd love to have a couple of pets, because I think that they just make the house a happier place to be!

08. we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

Last Saturday I went to Borth Animalarium with the geography society (geogsoc) and it was loads of fun!!! :) Although when we first arrived, it looked rundown and we thought that it was going to be an 'experience' However, we were wrong! Although it was an experience, it was definitely a good one. As we went as a group it was £9 each instead of £12 (win!) and for £1 you could buy a pot of food to feed the animals!

:)

When we arrived the reptile talk was just about to start, so we stayed and watched :) It was pretty cool, they had lizards, a tortoise and then quite a few snakes. I stroked all of them, but I wish I'd gotten to hold this little guy, he's adorable!!

This was the biggest snake at the reptile talk, so I couldn't resist having a picture taken with it. Unlike a lot of people, I'm not scared of snakes, especially when they're in captivity. I don't know how I'd react to one in the wild, but as British snakes aren't really too problematic, I'd (hopefully) be okay! 

I had to take pictures of meerkats, because... what's not to love?!? They are  lovely, bless them, even before the whole comparethemeerkat thing came about! Also, my grandad loves them, so next time I visit him, I'll have lots of lovely pictures of meerkats to show him! 

This photo is on a mummy meerkat and her baby. The baby meerkats (possibly pups?) were only 5 weeks old, and they were so cute! Because it was cold, they were doing little shivers, and we got to see them being fed meal-worms. We found out that the mums dig in the ground for the meal-worm escapees and then place them in front of the babies so they can have them!

This is me feeding a monkey called Mango! He was the fattest monkey in his cage, and would make sure he took the food off you before the other monkeys could! If he saw you feeding another one, he'd run over and scare them away so that he could get the grapes! All the same, he was adorable, even for a fatty! :')

This old guy was the kindest, gentlest monkey ever! When going to feed him, he'd reach is arm out slowly, and take the grape from your fingers without snatching or grabbing! His little face with the moustache and beard is just the best too! 

Baby wallaby! :D The arm in the picture was Kate, one of the girls on the trip, trying to feed it a piece of lettuce, but due to mine and another girl's random cabbage throwing onto the ground, it wasn't interested in hand feeding.

The baby wallaby again, captured eating a carrot stick that we threw down for it!

Cute little kid :') Unfortunately I'd given all my food away at this point (mostly to the monkeys!), so I was  unable to feed it, even though him and his friends were jumping up on the fence in the hope of some food! I felt so awful that I wasn't able to feed him :(

I had a really good day out, and I definitely want to go again, and this time, I shall take Rob along with me, so he can feed monkeys grapes too, as it's something that I think everybody should do! Go visit Borth Animalarium people! It's in Borth... erm, and you can get there on the train from Birmingham! I expect to see an article in the local newspaper about how it was overrun with visitors! :D
Anyway, that's all for now :)

Tara