Last week I was in charge of my nephew’s fish: Bubbles and
Goldie. My sister and her family went
out of town to visit colleges and the only living creatures they own are two goldfish;
my sisters first attempt to introduce pets into her household. Now I have
chickens, guinea fowl, and a rabbit of my own, so I am not new to this whole
animal watching duty, but these fish were different. If they died under my
care, how would their family ever recover? I know what you’re thinking; relax
Mel, they’re just goldfish. You can get more. Believe me, I looked into it. As
a back-up plan I checked out my local pet store to ensure they had plenty of
replacements in case things went badly. And they do—lots of plain, normal
goldfish, but of course that’s not the kind my nephew has. He picked out some
with black spots. You know what they say about snowflakes? Well the same rings
true for black-spotted goldfish. And my nephew is very observant, he’d know in
a second if he wasn’t looking at the true Bubbles and Goldie.
No fish in the history of the world were watched closer than
those two. I literally counted each flake of food that went in their bowl. I
would not be the one who kept that family from moving up to a
dog/cat/whatever. So, how did it go? My
sister got back Saturday night was over first thing Sunday to pick them up—she must’ve
sensed my stress—you know sisterly intuition—or possibly it was the five phone
calls and three texts, either way, they’re home and alive and I am free to live
my fishless life.
Ever had to pet-sit before? How did it go?
I've helped take care of dogs (other than my own). I had fish for a while, but keep the tank clean turned into a big wet messy chore so when the last one finally died, I gave the tank away.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever watched someone else's animals. I've always had people watch mine though. I don't think I'd stress if one of my 12 fish died though. I've killed enough of them myself.
ReplyDeleteReally glad the fish didn't die on you!
ReplyDeleteGoldfish are generally hardy, moreso than people think. But I'm glad it turned out well, having part of your nephew's happiness in your hands is a big job.
ReplyDeleteMy brother had to take care of my goldfish for me once. It did not end well. Later on, he trusted me to take care of his dogs. That went much better.
ReplyDeleteI have pet sat but never fish. LOL. Cats are easy and we've watched the neighbors and for family members many times.
ReplyDeleteI've looked after relatives' dogs before; I love dogs, so it was fun to play with them. There was one nerve-wracking moment where one of the dogs started choking on a dog treat; I was freaking out and trying to dislodge the treat from his throat, but it was too far down. Fortunately, the dog threw up the treat and was fine afterwards, but I was really scared that it would die for a moment there. Needless to say, I never gave the dogs that particular treat again.
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