Ok everyone, I have a confession to make.....I've become a neglectful, some might say abusive, pet owner....the dogs, the cats, the horses, and the goat are all fine. But the poor Beta Fish is just not getting enough of my attention. Not that the fish is mine, mind you, but as with all animals in my house, you know who is taking care of them....ME.
So here is how it all started. You all know that I am one of those people who is going to "save the world" as often as possible. My daughter in law has also begun to pick up on some of this, (my son is not happy with me for this) and she goes off on causes every once in a while. Some of her causes are a little strange...this is one of them. Her latest cause is to save as many Walmart Beta fish as possible. She believes they are being improperly cared for and abused by Walmart and some of their customers (probably smart ass kids.) She has found several of them dumped together in the same bowl....for those of you that don't know Betas are fighting fish...so when you put two or more of them together in the same bowl they fight and tear each other up. In order to prevent this abuse, my daughter in law has been trying to purchase as many Beta as she can. I have not been to her house lately, but I'm sure there are fish bowls covering many surfaces....
Unfortunately for me, two of my children celebrated their birthdays a couple of months ago. Guess what she gave them for their birthday presents....that's right, Betas, with their own bowls and everything. The children were thrilled, they have always wanted fish. I, on the other hand, was not thrilled. First of all, Betas basically do nothing but hang there in the bowl, I mean goldfish at least swim around and are active and can be slightly amusing. The only difference I can see between a dead Beta and a live one is the live one is upright and the dead one is upside down!
My youngest named his fish Spiderman, as it was red and blue. I do not remember what my daughter named her fish, but I'm sure it has a name. I have named it Lucky because it has managed to live so far!
Spiderman was murdered within about a week of arriving. I had worried about my cats because the bowls are small and the cats can reach in and get the fish. I will say at least, that the fish DO move when a cat paw is reaching into the bowl, rather than just hang there, unfortunately this tends to excite the cat more.....but Spiderman was not killed by a cat, he was killed by his 6 year old owner who was squishing him with the little fish net. My daughter in law was heartbroken, as Spiderman was the first fish she saved and special to her. I on the other hand was amazed that he lived that long.
But back to the abuse and neglect of Lucky. I will say that maintenance of a Beta is fairly easy, I am supposed to just put him in a cup of distilled water, rinse out his little bowl and fill it with distilled water and put him back in. I am also supposed to feed him 3 tiny little balls a day. Unfortunately Lucky sits on an end table at the opposite of the end of the couch where I usually sit, so I forget he is there, alot. I notice him when I have to yell at the cats to stop drinking his water. I believe the cats' plan is to drink all the water and then they can grab the fish without getting wet. Cats are so diabolical! Sometimes when I notice a cat drinking his water he has only an inch or so left. I have not been cleaning his little bowl once a week, and if you saw more poor skeletal little blue fish you would know I have not been feeding him regularly....I feel terrible, I have never been a neglectful or abusive to animals before. I have even tried leaving the fish food and distilled water behind the lamp on the table to help me remember and have it easily accessible. This plan failed when I found that the distilled water and fish food were also easily accessible to my 6 year old and my 4 year old grandson....thankfully I noticed the half a can of fish food in Lucky's water right away, I just had to run to Walmart to buy more distilled water since it was all over the living room carpet.
So I'm asking all of you to say a little prayer for Lucky. I'm also asking for a prayer for myself as I am sure I will be punished by God for this neglectful and abusive behavior. I am going to try and do better. I have already cleaned Lucky's bowl and fed him today. Now I just have to remember he is there tomorrow.....
Have a Great Day!
No comments:
Post a Comment