"I gots my eye on you, hooman!"
Mr Freddie doesn't like being picked up. He doesn't mind being held. He doesn't mind being put on shoulder and running around till he's tired and eventually just curls up in my hair to sleep. He just doesn't like being picked up. I can't say I rightly blame him. I don't know how thrilled *I'D* be if this giant hand came out of nowhere and tried to catch me and then scooped me up. Poor little guy is half the size of my hand. He has the right to not like it!
Unfortunately for him, he got picked up *FOUR* times tonight. FOUR. That's beyond a sunflower fixable offence here, folks. That's straight to a pumpkin seed and a drop of apple juice just to get something other than a tail waved in my general direction.
I'd purposefully left half a bag of Carefresh litter at my parents place for my next visit. I forgot this when I cleared out his cage this evening and found myself without litter for him. Ruh-oh. So it was an emergency run to the stores. Of course, being 7.30pm on a Saturday evening, not much was open. I *normally* buy his Carefresh in Petsmart, but they close at 6pm on a Saturday as far as I recall. So I started searching for a store that was A) Open and B) Had Carefresh. It took me a few tries, but I ended up at Petcetra.
Some may remember Petcetra is on my no-shop list because they sell bunnies. Not even just that they sell bunnies for a horrifically overpriced amount, but they keep all their animals in nasty conditions. Their bunnies almost all have some sort of respiratory infection (they sneeze), no hay, and are on pine or cedar shavings. (Which also may be the cause of the sneezing.) Countless peeps have reported individual stores *and* the chain itself. Not much has happened because of it. Now we just hope we can drive them out of business due to lack of customers. But, the only other choice was Walmart. So, I had to choose between a Canadian evil and an American evil. Both are on my no-shop list, but in the end, Walmart may not have had Carefresh, its on the other side of town AND it's not Canadian.
Of course, Petcetra don't actually carry Carefresh either, they carry a subpar clone for more money. Freddie gave me a "What is this sh!t?!" look when I put him back in his cage. I didn't know gerbils could even MAKE that look. He spent a good couple of hours giving me the "talk to the tail!" expression and sulks. He never chews on the bars.. but tonight, he'd chew on th ebars to get my attention and then turn his back on me. Oh, he wanted me to know how much scum I was in his world!
Fortunately, like human, like gerbil.. He has the attention span of a squirrel on crack.. so a few sunflower seeds over the evening and he's mostly forgiven me. The new litter doesn't fluff as well as the old, so he's having trouble building himself a burrow. I'll probably just give him extra newspaper and cardboard to chomp up.
But tonight, Freddie has whole new sympathy for bunnies and the trouble they have finding good help!
I am scum.
Should have gone to Wal Mart. The only living thing they sell are fish. I would rather buy a monkey, have it shipped from South America and pay all the fines and fees, make it horribly angry, and then set up in front of the pet store that sold bunnies in those terrible conditions and let it throw poop at the building.
ReplyDeleteAt least Wal Mart only abuses their employees. But THEY at least can walk out anytime they choose, unlike an ill treated animal.
Freddie is so cute. We used to keep pet rats and they LOVED long shreds of newspaper. Twinkie would make a huge round ball of a nest and would only stick his cute nose out when he smelled a treat. Rats make the best companions!
The damage Walmart does isn't just to their employees.. It was a damned if I do, damned if I don't situation. But I suspect, with reconsideration, I'd probably go to Walmart next time. They, at least, don't follow on your tail treating you like a would-be thief and leave you alone to make your own choice on what you want to buy!
DeleteMr. Mick has no sympathy for the "foo' gerbil", and says that Freddie should consider himself lucky to get picked up at all. Now, had a lack of treats been the reason for a run to the store and a substandard product purchased, His Majesty would have not only sympathized, but would have organized a protest and offered his services pro bunno if legal matters were necessary.
ReplyDelete(Freddie eyes Mickey for a long moment.)
DeleteAuntie Jade.. Aren't Mick's claws starting to get a little long? Oh, and he has that fur skirt shedding thing happening.. And as he ages, he probably needs that butt shave thing bunnies get to prevent cecal messes as they get arthritis in their hips and..
(Smiles sweetly at Mick.)