The importance of a pet

The week this comes out will be the 15th birthday of our cat, Chewbacca. We got him when he was about four months old from the Steele County Humane Society. He bonded with the kids right away, and we knew we had an excellent pet.

According to multiple sources, two-thirds of all American households have a pet. Dogs are the most popular, found in 65.1 million homes. Cats follow that in 46.5 million homes, and fish are a distant third in 11.1 million homes.

When we considered a pet for the kids, we discounted dogs right away. Especially at the time, we were just beginning all the running with our children to activities. Knowing how much attention dogs crave, we decided against a canine. Plus, living in town, just leaving a dog outside a lot didn’t seem like a great idea. 

Michelle and I even talked about gerbils and hamsters and other pets like that. Honestly, cats became the preference because they are pretty low maintenance. Okay, most of the time.  But we’re sure glad to have picked out our cat.

I grew up in the country, so we had plenty of cats over the years. We had a dog named Benji when I was in elementary school, but he had to be put down after some biting incidents. My parents didn’t get another dog for many years, after a couple of us had left the nest. Freckles the Wonder Dog was the only other dog I recall on the homestead. 

Isn’t it funny how we extend the names of our pets sometimes? Chewbacca is often called Chewie, just like the Star Wars character for whom he is named. But his “full” name has been extended over the years to Chewbacca George Jumpster Shedding Menace Domeier. I think you can figure out why some of those names were added!

We didn’t realize how prescient we were in naming him Chewie. He liked to chew things A LOT as a kitten, including the hoses connecting our water softener to the pipes. Sigh.

Over half of all pet owners consider their pet(s) part of their family. We are among those. Chewbacca is firmly entrenched as a Domeier. But even he has favorites. He attached himself to Jayna right away. If Michelle and I are both sitting on the couch, he will almost always choose to curl up next to her. 

Having pets can be such a benefit. Many people procured pets during the pandemic as a way to help their mental health and for companionship. Pets can also help teach children about responsibility. You need to feed and provide water for the pet. You need to clean up their messes. You need to show them love. This is probably why many elementary classrooms used to have pets as part of the life-learning process.

Pets can be expensive, too. Chewie had some urinary issues years back, and now he has to be on special food to help him. By special, I mean really spendy. But it’s worth it to keep him healthy and not leaving lots of messes.

Being a veterinarian is a special job. It’s also a stressful one. Because so many of us consider our pets to be part of our family, vets have to deal with situations just like doctors in a hospital. But they also have to know a lot about many types of species. We love our vet clinic in Clarks Grove; everyone there is just wonderful and caring.

Statistics show that 35% of pet owners have more than one animal. We’ve never considered that outside of the few years that we had a goldfish as well. Chewie would not take well to another cat in the house since he’s used to being king of the hill. Jayna brought her kitten home on a visit one time; it didn’t go well. There was much hissing and many staredowns. Her kitty, Juno, just wanted to have fun, but Chewbacca was having none of it.

And he’s getting to be an old man. He’s lost a lot of weight over the last few years and is making some more messes. The vet suggested more soft food to get his weight up, but that doesn’t seem to be helping much in that department. Still, he gets the zoomies from time to time and hasn’t really changed his routine of waking us up if he feels we need to be up, taking naps, moving to another location to take another nap, and curling up with Michelle to watch a show. Oh, and to nap some more.

Just like about two-thirds of you, we love our pet! Many happy returns to Chewbacca!

Word of the Week: This week’s word is cumberworld, which means a useless person, as in, “Some might think a cat to be a cumberworld, but the joy they bring into a household is not able to be measured.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!