Your first pet and how it died....

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Most people recall their first family pet – something they either loved or hated, was a chore or a pleasure. Perhaps as time went on and you grew older your feelings towards them changed? Did cleaning out the fish bowl happen less frequently, or walking the dog too much of a bother? Oh how we kids could tire of some things over time - what used to be fun, like teasing the hamster, became a chore as the cage had to be regularly cleaned.

An what about those pet names? From fish to dogs, the naming of pets can give away how old you are. Why the need to call your pet after a TV detective or superhero? Starsky and Hutch or Bo and Luke? Funny how we see the similar trends in naming children after pop stars!

Do you remember how your beloved pet died? Happens to them all of course, but the passing itself can be very memorable for some………..............................................................

I had a number of pets as a child, one of the benefits of living in the countryside and being the daughter of a vet. Here's my memory of how my goldfish died. I think I was around ten years old at the time (but don't quote me on that):

Starsky and Hutch were great goldfish, just swimming around their bowl time and time again. Over the couple or so years I had them I must have put lots of those green plastic plants into the bowl because I remember this one day I was cleaning the plants as well as the bowl. The fish were in a bucket of water on the kitchen floor and I can still invoke the smell on my hands of the slime from the plants and from scrubbing the glass.

What I didn’t realise was that the bucket had been used for bleaching the floor in the porch. The fish had been in there for around an hour I guess. They didn’t look so good when I put them back in their bowl and called my Mum through to have a look. They seemed a bit listless – if you can get a listless fish. (?) All motionless and big eyed! There was little we could do. Mum scooped them out and rinsed the bowl. She even rinsed the fish out under the kitchen tap! Just picked them up and cupped them in her hands with the tap on.

It did perk them up, but only for a day or two. I found both of them floating on the top of their bowl when I got home from school. I did “bury” them so to speak – they were flushed down the toilet the same day!

For a few months after that I would imagine them swimming around in the toilet bowl and I was scared they’d jump up and bite me when I went to the toilet - a sick fish revenge for flushing them away with beached scales.