Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Cats and Dogs and ... Hamsters? Oh, My!

We now return to KITT-FM, where it's all kittens, all the time. And now, broadcasting live from our studios in Purrbank, Cat-ifornia - heeeeeeere's your hostess, Mother Catresa!

Hi folks!

I am crazy busy this week, but I just couldn't resist this quickie sound bite about an odd but delightful new development at Animal Friends. Apparently, a recent humane rescue involving an irresponsible snake owner wielded several homeless hamsters. The kindhearted humane agents rescued the hamsters, at least a dozen of them, and brought them in to Animal Friends, where they await adoption in individual cages.

Normally, the shelter adopts out cats, dogs and rabbits. But now, many adopters are surprising themselves by instead leaving with tiny, furry hamsters burrowing under sawdust. Shelter workers gave many of the rodents ham-themed names, like Hampshire, Ham Salad, and the like. Clever!

Now, as for me, I would love to take home a cute little hamster. That is one pet that I never had, even with a lifelong Noah's Ark-type lineup that included cats, dogs, parakeets, a rabbit, a hermit crab and even an Arabian horse. My high school friend, Lori Friedman, once jokingly called my childhood house "Animal Kingdom!" Surely, it's tempting to adopt a pocket pet and bring it home.

Yet, something tells Mother Catresa that - in a household of four cats, plus any number of baby, razor-toothed carnivores at a given time - a rodent is not the wisest choice of pets. Even if I could keep the hamster in a safe, high place, the poor thing probably would have a heart attack just peering down at the circling feline predators down below who view it, literally, as a ham salad.

Yes, indeed. A hamster is tempting. But for Mother Catresa, wouldn't having a pet hamster be like Charlton Heston of the NRA owning a pet deer?

Until next time, I remain,

Mother Catresa
Patron Saint of Homeless Felines
(and the "smitten kitten"0