Showing posts with label pets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pets. Show all posts

Wednesday, 9 April 2008

Q: When is your dog not your dog?

A: When you've bought a microchip instead.

Hello.

I'm afraid that our modern life has led me to begin sounding like a bad first-year philosophy tutorial, but: we recently had to fill out a change of ownership form for our dog. Our dog that we have owned since he was legally saleable. He came fully microchipped, you see, and we were given all the papers, food, certificates etc etc etc ad nauseum that one could want to collect with a 9 week old puppy.

Fast forward a year, and...we decided to register him with the National Pet Register, just to ensure that if he did wander, he would have every chance of getting delivered back to us. That was when we made The Discovery: our doggie's microchip number is different to the one on his paperwork. The vet confirmed which chip number was right, by scanning the pooch. Then came the rigmarole of calling the National Pet Register to correct the problem.

Which can only be corrected by filling out a change of ownership form.


Am I the only one who thinks this is seriously out of kilter? I bought a dog, not a microchip. I was against the chip anyway - unnatural, controlling, etc etc - but went along with it because of various regulations and flat out 'no, you may not buy this puppy without a microchip' -type statements. And now I find that I really did buy a microchip, and that the outer casing of furry dogginess and slobbery, enthusiastic goodness doesn't actually rate a mention in this whole debate.

*Sigh*

What a strange world.

Lucky it's got things like dogs in it.



Friday, 17 August 2007

...and then there were two

...pets, that is.

First in our home was Gilbert Lightfoot, a scrawny stray who fell over my back fence when I lived in the inner city, and didn't have the strength to leap back out again.




I think he might possibly have some other reason for not being able to jump over a fence now. That is 7 kilos of premium cat you are looking at there.


Second is our recently acquired pup, Sharik. Chaos on four legs, but so cute! And so willing to please for any form of cheese, it's almost unbearable.




Gratuitous cute cat shot to close: