I am concerned. I got a new pet last week and, well, my pet clearly does not know how to care for itself. It practically lacks all survival instincts. Honestly, if I left it alone for more than just a few days without making sure it was at least eating, I swear it would starve. Even then, some times I’m amazed it has lived this long on its own. I’ve left out food for it only to have it freak out when it sees it, as though it’s never seen its food before. How did it survive before I got it?

Don’t get me wrong, I love my new pet. The way it tries to talk back to me when I speak to it is adorable and the way it scrunches its face is a sight to behold. My favorite thing about my pet is the way it lets me cuddle up to it. As soon as I sit down beside it, my pet will freeze with anticipation. Sometimes it will even curl up with me if it’s in a particularly good mood, though this is admittedly sometimes too much for me since I don’t generally like having it right in my face.

I do need to do something about the scratching. It seems to think I want to be scratched all the time. I walk by and it swipes at my back side. I’m lying on the couch and it tries to scratch my head. I know some who actually like it when their pets scratch them. They think it’s a way of showing affection, but I don’t see it that way. I’ve tried scratching back to show it that scratching isn’t nice but I don’t think it really understood. It got upset and started acting like I was being the aggressive one. Fortunately its claws are kept pretty short and dull so it never really hurts. Maybe if I just appease it and let it get its fill of scratching then it’ll leave me alone.

I about died from shock when it presented me with what it considers food. I guess it thought I couldn’t hunt, or something, so it started leaving me things to eat. Gross, though I guess I should be grateful since at least it’s trying, right? I’ve been ignoring it for now, though my pet hasn’t given up. It’s even begun trying to bring me different things to eat. They’re all pretty gross, but it’s endearing in its own way. Though, I am concerned with the most recent offering it made. The previous ones were all dried out and pretty easy to ignore, but this morning it was gooey and runny and made a real mess. I waited until my pet wasn’t watching and then dumped it down the kitchen vent. Not the best option, I know, but I was desperate. The kitchen still reeks but there’s nothing to be done for it now. The pet has been going crazy in the kitchen ever since. I think it’s figured out I didn’t eat it’s offerings and is now trying to figure out where I put it. That’ll be a fun bit of excitement if it ever finds out.

Food isn’t the only thing it’s been obsessing over a bit too much lately. Every time I try to go to the bathroom my pet tries to follow me, as though wanting to make sure I do it right. Why? It has it’s place to do its business and I have mine. Leave it at that. I guess I should just be glad that my pet is already trained. I don’t think I could handle one of the little ones who leave messes all over the place. Nope, I don’t have the patience for that sort of thing.

Sheesh, it seems like all I’m doing is complain about my new pet. It really isn’t as bad as I’ve been making it out, and there are so many other things I love about it besides just the cuddles I’ve already mentioned. It’s those intangible things that I like the most. The companionship, the little friendly glances, and so on. The funniest thing is when it purrs, or tries to purr. I’m not sure if it’s got something wrong with it, or what, but it doesn’t purr like anything I’ve ever met. It almost sounds like it’s halfway between choking and spitting. The first time it did it I thought it was choking and I about tore the place apart freaking out over what I was going to do if it died! Now I just look at it and shake my head as it tries again and again to purr.

I was surprised by how much it slept at night. The first night I kept going over to it to make sure it was still breathing. I even poked its face a few times to make sure. It certainly didn’t like that and it glared at me when it woke up, but at least I knew it was okay. I guess it’s just a weird one and sleeps through the night. I wouldn’t have ever noticed but it decided right away that it would sleep in my bed, so now whenever I want to sleep at night I have to push and prod at it until it moves over and lets me into the bed. There have been a couple nights where it refused to make room and essentially chased me out. I had to make do with the small fuzzy pad in the living room instead. It wasn’t so bad, since it was big enough for me to fit on, but not hardly the size I’m generally use to. I probably shouldn’t have let my pet push me around like that, but it was so sleepy and cute that I couldn’t help it.

Even though I’ve only had my pet for a short while I’m already considering getting another one. They do tend to do better when there are more of them and it would be nice to watch them together. I’ve even had a couple of test meetings with some potential pets. They were just brief little meet ups, mostly to see if they could eat nicely together and if their personalities matched. The last thing you want as a pet owner is to get a second pet and find out it’s not a good match for your first one. Then it’s just a mad house until they either settle down or you decide to get rid of one of them. By then you’re attached to the new one too, though, and, yeah, it’s just a mess that I’m hoping to avoid.

Finding the right toys for your pet is also important. I can’t always be the one playing with my pet so I’ve been working on finding good toys for it. It seems to like shiny and glowing things so I’ve been finding ways to make sure it has a good variety of them. I thought I’d found the perfect toy early on. It was clear and shiny and my pet already liked holding it up to their face. I figured lots of clear shiny things would be better than one, so I pushed it off the counter to turn it into lots of shiny pieces. I wasn’t factoring on the noise it would make when it broke and the noise seemed to set off my pet. It was so put off that it just scooped up the new toys and threw them away. I tried again when it was out but as soon as it returned and found the toys it just freaked out again. I guess the memory of the first one crashing was too much for it. I honestly didn’t think they could remember for that long.

Maybe the problem isn’t that they need more toys, though. Perhaps they have enough of them but they don’t remember that they’re there. I know in the bathroom there are a bunch of toys on the counters that it never seems to play with. Maybe if I take those, along with some of the other toys I’ve found, and just hide them around the house it’ll help my pet remember all of the toys it has and it’ll start playing with them more.

In any case, I’m still learning how to best care for my new pet and it’s a fun adventure to be sure. We’ll figure it out together and make it work. If anyone else is out there considering getting a pet, I do highly recommend them. They’re a lot of work, and you need to make sure you get paired with the right one, but they are worth it.