Stargurl80's Blog

It seems that I've been writing a lot about pets lately, but I guess that's what my mind has been on...pets and pet information.  I love animals and think they can really bring a lot of satisfaction to someone's life.  I have friends and relatives who are so close with their pets that they put them in family portraits and sign their name in Christmas cards.  There is one thing I never understood in the pet world, though.  Why do people choose weird animals as pets?

I understand that the word "weird" is opinion, but this is how I see it.  It is perfectly normal for someone to have a cat, dog, hamster, bird, rabbit and fish as a pet.  Everything else is a little strange to me.  Now, I know that if you live on a farm you are going to have some barnyard animals that you call "pets", but I'm talking about inside pets here.

I could never understand having reptiles as pets.  Having a pet snake, Komodo dragon or iguana seems a little strange because I don't understand how anyone can really get any enjoyment from their presence.  They aren't cute or cuddly, you can't really pet them, they are really expensive most of the time.  I know that reptiles don't get fed as often as other animals and would require less pet care, but having a reptile as a pet seems a little weird.

As you guys read earlier, I like to post about animals.  If any of you read my recent post about animals, you'd know that I was thinking about getting a small, low maintenance pet.  Well I had the opportunity to "pet-sit" my aunt's cat this past weekend and there are a few valuable lessons I've learned.  First off, pet sitting my aunt's kitty reinforced my opinion that owning a pet is a huge responsibility.  Secondly, I learned a few things about cleaning cat droppings off of a carpet and wooden floor.  Thanks to my mom and aunt who gave me a few pointers.  Here are the three I found most interesting.

Apparently, by cleaning up after the cat while its still in the room, the cat thinks that its a good way to get attention.  Thank goodness humans don't act like that.  You are supposed to wait until the cat is out of the room to clean up after him or her.  I found that pretty interesting, as I have no doubt it my mind that I'd clean it up no matter where the cat was.

Another unique thing I learned about the joys of cat urination and cat diarrhea is  you have to be careful what scents you use to clean it up with.  Scents like pine and lemon smell like urine to a cat, which indicates that it is ok to pee there.  It is definitely not ok, so we don't want to give them that impression.

The last interesting thing that I've learned is how intensive discarding the feces can be.  This is a pretty gross part of pet care , but it is necessary.  If I didn't know any better, I'd just grab the poop with paper towels and throw it in the garbage.  This is not what you do.  When you are cleaning up after your cat, you have to clean the poop with a bunch of paper towels then put directly in a plastic bag.  You then put that plastic bag in a tied garbage bag.

This upcoming Monday, I begin my 6 week training program. It will consist of resistance training, a strict diet and body detox . I decided to do this because I would like to not only lose some weight, but get in better general shape. I've felt slugging and lethargic in the past few weeks and I'm pretty fed up.

The tentative plan is to do a circuit resistance training program 4 times per week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Each resistance session is going to be in the morning from 7 am to 8 am, working all body parts. I've heard that you shouldn't spend more than 1 hour in the gym at a time, so I'm aiming to get in and out in 60 minutes. The Wednesday break will be a nice break, and I don't plan on doing strength training on the weekend.

On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, I will be doing my cardio training. I will be splitting it up into 3 stages, 15 minutes each. I also plan on doing cardio Saturday morning as well. Hopefully, I can even work some abs in there as well.

Nutrition is going to be the hard part of the "training camp". I will be drinking a lot of water and tea for a body detox . In addition, my diet will consist of lean meats, veggies, protein shakes, egg whites and whole grains. Food has always been a vice of mine, so I'm looking forward to shaking it.

I was thinking about getting a pet.  A few of my friends have pet cats and my ex has a pet dog that I absolutely loved.  Unfortunately, I'm so busy right now that I don't think I can give an animal proper pet care .  The last thing I want to do is assume responsibility for an adorable, little animal only to have to give it away because I can't give it proper care and attention.

A few friends have suggested I get a low maintenance pet like a mouse or Betta fish.  I guess I could do that, but I kind of wanted a pet that I could actually hold and cuddle.  I have had Betta fish in the past that I loved, but I always felt a bit of a disconnect.  It is kind of like they weren't a pet of mine, they were just renting room.

Perhaps I can free up some time to take on a pet.  I imagine I could always give up a few things to spend time with a true, unconditional companion.  I would absolutely adore a pet cat, so I am going to talk to my friends and see what exactly it entails.  Hopefully they can give me the ins and outs of cat behavior , cat health and cat care so I can make an educated decision.  If anyone has any advice or information, I'd love to hear it.