We have always had pets in our house, and I’m inclined to list our two daughters and two grandsons among them. However, when we first moved to our village house from Galway City, we were not especially animal oriented. In fact our first immediate experience of a small furry neighbour took the form of a rat that ate through the base of the old shed door and gnawed through the plastic bin to get at the contents. We were advised to get a cat to keep away the rats and I’m pleased to relate that we were soon without both shed and rats and thanks to our feline friends we have never seen any rats since. Buoyed by the affirmation in the lyrics of the song: ‘Old McDonald had a Farm’ which our children used to sing, we decided to ‘swallow a spider to catch a fly’ as it were as we then acquired a Jack Russell to act not only as guard dog but as a pet. However, our rural idyll was shattered when the dog was killed by a passing car and our cat population began to multiply to such an extent that we soon had 10 kittens and two female adult cats. A combination of the help secured from the local animal welfare society, a protracted sourcing of ‘good homes’ and the intervention of a fox while we were away on a weekend break, soon reduced our cat population to more manageable proportions.
Undeterred by this experience, we then added some gold fish and a pet hamster that proceeded to introduce us to a breed of eight new born ‘babies’ on Christmas Day! I must admit that I often thought that our pet policy needed radical review but every initiative was immediately ruled out by my daughters with an intensity of wailing and keening that would not be out of place at a wake. Thus by way of a solution, we decided to add rather than detract from the pet ‘sanctuary’ of our cat home. Thus, we acquired an American cocker spaniel called ‘Cutie Kate’ on the basis that if such a dog was good enough for ‘Oprah’, then surely we could manage her as well. She (the dog, that is), proved to be a real dote except when she would roll in of the wet garden grass every time she was washed and run around with twigs and general garden debris attached to her coat. She used to sleep in the shed at night to avoid her coming upstairs during the night and waking the entire household.
We then considered that a balance had been restored to the composition of our animal home, only to find that our cat decided to leave in protest at our new dog’s presence and went happily to live in the next door neighbours house. This situation proved especially divisive as one daughter wanted priority for the ‘original’ cat and the other proclaimed that the dog was the more affectionate pet. After a few fraught weeks however, the cat, called ‘Catatouille’ (after the movie Ratatouille) decided to come back and reassert her presence. There was a certain amount of scratching, hissing and barking before both animals decided to share the shed. A few weeks later during a cold snap, I was amazed to find the cat sleeping on top of the dog for warmth. When she later had kittens, Cutie would lick them and protect them from any passing tom cats. In fact, we wondered whether she was becoming a ‘cat’ such was her docile and friendly manner to her cat companion.
Cutie Kate was a constant house companion for over 14 years until she got so old that she had to be put down but Catatouille is still with us and remains alert to this day. After the passing of our dog the cat would whine as she seemed to miss her company. She has now taken to greeting me every morning at the glass sliding door to ensure that she is fed before the chickens that have now joined our domestic brood. Although our two girls are now ‘grown up’ and living in Dublin, they constantly check on the welfare of our feathered and feline friends. We are also lucky enough to have Connemara ponies and cows grazing in the fields immediately behind our home. Thus, when I think of our little menagerie, it brings to mind the old children’s nursery rhyme, as follows:
“Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed to see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon”
In the current economic recession some people contend that our financial lot will not improve until ‘pigs will fly’ but in Moycullen at least I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if I saw the cows in the field behind us ‘jump over the moon’.
Written as a humorous part fictional memory only!
All comments and musings welcome!
Undeterred by this experience, we then added some gold fish and a pet hamster that proceeded to introduce us to a breed of eight new born ‘babies’ on Christmas Day! I must admit that I often thought that our pet policy needed radical review but every initiative was immediately ruled out by my daughters with an intensity of wailing and keening that would not be out of place at a wake. Thus by way of a solution, we decided to add rather than detract from the pet ‘sanctuary’ of our cat home. Thus, we acquired an American cocker spaniel called ‘Cutie Kate’ on the basis that if such a dog was good enough for ‘Oprah’, then surely we could manage her as well. She (the dog, that is), proved to be a real dote except when she would roll in of the wet garden grass every time she was washed and run around with twigs and general garden debris attached to her coat. She used to sleep in the shed at night to avoid her coming upstairs during the night and waking the entire household.
We then considered that a balance had been restored to the composition of our animal home, only to find that our cat decided to leave in protest at our new dog’s presence and went happily to live in the next door neighbours house. This situation proved especially divisive as one daughter wanted priority for the ‘original’ cat and the other proclaimed that the dog was the more affectionate pet. After a few fraught weeks however, the cat, called ‘Catatouille’ (after the movie Ratatouille) decided to come back and reassert her presence. There was a certain amount of scratching, hissing and barking before both animals decided to share the shed. A few weeks later during a cold snap, I was amazed to find the cat sleeping on top of the dog for warmth. When she later had kittens, Cutie would lick them and protect them from any passing tom cats. In fact, we wondered whether she was becoming a ‘cat’ such was her docile and friendly manner to her cat companion.
Cutie Kate was a constant house companion for over 14 years until she got so old that she had to be put down but Catatouille is still with us and remains alert to this day. After the passing of our dog the cat would whine as she seemed to miss her company. She has now taken to greeting me every morning at the glass sliding door to ensure that she is fed before the chickens that have now joined our domestic brood. Although our two girls are now ‘grown up’ and living in Dublin, they constantly check on the welfare of our feathered and feline friends. We are also lucky enough to have Connemara ponies and cows grazing in the fields immediately behind our home. Thus, when I think of our little menagerie, it brings to mind the old children’s nursery rhyme, as follows:
“Hey diddle, diddle, the cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed to see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon”
In the current economic recession some people contend that our financial lot will not improve until ‘pigs will fly’ but in Moycullen at least I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if I saw the cows in the field behind us ‘jump over the moon’.
Written as a humorous part fictional memory only!
All comments and musings welcome!
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