Accidental animal crueltyI once invented a brilliant game - I'd sit at the top of the stairs and throw cat biscuits to the bottom. My cat would eat them, then I'd shake the box, and he would run up the stairs for more biscuits. Then - of course - I'd throw a biscuit back down to the bottom. I kept this going for about half an hour, amused at my little game, and all was fine until the cat vomited. I felt absolutely dreadful.
Have you accidentally been cruel to an animal?
This question has been revived from way, way, way back on the b3ta messageboard when it was all fields round here.
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rob, Thu 6 Dec 2007, 11:13)
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Splatted HamsterWhen I was about 7 or 8, I went throught the phase of wanting a cute, cuddly hamster as a pet. He had the imaginative name of 'Hammy'. Now, Hammy was a golden hamster, and could be quite vicious at times.
This made my young self quite nervous around him after the first week or so, after being bitten several times.
As we all know, hamsters like to take a stroll in plastic balls; which we have all longed for at some point.
Anyway, he was having the time of his life in the living room, as good ol' Mum was cleaning his cage. I used to like gently pushing the ball as a way of playing with him without getting bitten. I didn't push him hard, just a gentle nudge now and again, and he used to run back towards me; so I assumed he liked it.
I picked him up at one point, as we have a step down into the kitchen, and I didn't want him to go down it and hurt himself.
Plastic balls have small holes and lines to stop the hamster suffocating obviously, and as I had the ball in my hands, I felt something sharp on my finger. Having been attacked by Hammy before, I instinctively proceeded to throw the ball up into the air thinking I'd been bitten. The ball then crashed down onto the floor, splitting in two.
So, I saved him from falling down one step, instead accidentally making him plummet from about 5 feet up. The ball had split apart, and both pieces laid either side of him, he was spread-eagled on the floor motionless. I panicked and picked him up. As I held him in my hands, I didn't notice any blood on my finger. I then realised the sharp thing must have been his claws.
He recovered after about 10 minutes, with no ill-effects of his short-lived freefall. He died about 6 months later from an unrelated disease :(
RIP Hammy
(, Fri 7 Dec 2007, 17:38, Reply)
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