Pets

Since I remember myself I always wanted to have a dog. But my parents thought it was too much work, and tried to introduce different animals.

First we had guppies. I wasn't too interested until one day I noticed I have a lonely guppy in the aquarium and it's not looking too well. Imagine my surprise when next day I found 9 small guppies swimming happily. Since that day I remember that guppies are live-bearing fish.
After guppies my parents allowed me to have a bird, we started with a small goldfinch. Minutes after bringing him home I let him fly in the room. Poor bird hit the window and died in my hands. I was devastated and cried 2 days in a row. Next weekend I got another bird, it was siskin. Now I was smarter and never allowed it to fly in the room with uncovered windows. Siskin happily lived in our family for a few years until it flew away from our country home.
One summer day while living at our country house we discovered a turtle. It wondered into our yard and stayed with us for the whole summer, then somehow it managed to break a brick wall we've constructed for her (it wasn't cemented, but I'm still puzzled how small turtle could move heavy bricks) and wondered away.

Finally, the night before my high school prom, my mom asked me if I still want a dog. I couldn't believe my ears. Since that day I always have a furry companion at home.
Dogs are my absolutely favorite animals. But once in a while I'd add another pet to the house.
I've had few Betta fish, couple snails and shrimps. Now I discovered hermit crabs. Those are pretty amazing. One of my crabs just molted. When I brought him in from the store I've noticed that he is missing one of the legs. During molting he regrew the missing body part, and now happily climbing around in the aquarium (he couldn't climb while the leg was missing).
Our pets are wonderful addition to our lives, the only complaint I have is their short life span. Unfortunately there is nothing that could be done about it.
While visiting veterinary clinic few days ago I've noticed a chart, courtesy of F.L. Metzger, DVM of "Relative age of your pet in 'human years'". I always thought that to calculate relative age of a dog or a cat you need to multiply their real age by 7, but this chart seems to be much more accurate: