Pet Owners: Please Feed Your Pets

Yesterday, I went through a myriad of emotions all day. Mostly it started with disbelief and then sadness. But now that today is a new day, I am mad. And not just regular mad; I am furious.

Most of my readers would know that in September, my husband got my daughter and me four ducks for our birthdays. Our birthdays are only day apart so we always celebrate them together. And as a surprise, he got us each two ducks that we could raise. When they came, they were only one day old and we have been raising them ever since.

I've watched them grow. I've given them shelter that I built with my two hands with my husband. I've even woke up in the middle of the night to run outside when it was raining to make sure they weren't wet. And most of all, I loved them. I loved each of them.

On Thursday, I went outside to play baseball with Mary and while we played in the field, our four ducks, who were two months old at the time, laid down near us and watched us play. When it was getting dark, I took them to their duck cage outside that we built by hand for them, kissed each of them and told them goodnight.

That was the last time I saw three of them.

The next morning I got up to go feed them and only found Aflac in her cage, in the very back, completely terrified. Instantly, I screamed for my husband to come outside because three of our ducks were missing. We both scoured the yard until I got to our shed because I had saw something.

It was Daffy lying down the grass, without her head.

Right then I started screaming for my ducks and running through my yard to find them. I searched for hours and even when it started to rain, I still ran through my yard, desperate to find my baby ducks.

But I never did.

So what does this have to do with pet owners feeding their pets? I'll tell you.

I live in the country and around here, a lot of folks have dogs but don't take care of them. They let them run free and barely put any food out for them at all. Twice, I caught dogs in my yard, trying to get into my ducks' cage and twice, my husband had to go outside and scare them away.

But they came back and I never even knew. And now because someone didn't bother to feed their dog, they ate my ducks.

It makes me so mad when pet owners have pets but don't take care of them. I live with the central rule that if you can't afford to take care of your pet, you don't need to have one. I took care of my ducks. I raised them from a day old. I loved them and played with them. They played with my daughter. I picked them up and kissed them all the time. And now I will never see three of them again. I will never see all my ducks grow up. All because someone didn't feed their dog on Thursday night.

I can't express to you how mad and livid I am at this. If you're going to have animals, feed them. That's obvious. But apparently not obvious to all.

Seriously, if you don't know what to feed your animals, I'll help you out. Give them PetCurean. It's all natural and your pets will thank you for it. And I will thank you for actually feeding your animals.

So now I have only Aflac who is terrified to leave her cage. And when she does, she walks around the yard crying out for the others to answer, but they never will. So I've decided to make her a house pet because she has already gone through a lot and I don't want her to be lonely.

Now I know ducks are messy, believe me, I know. But a few companies make strap on diapers for ducks so they can be in your house without a mess. And I just bought an order tonight for her. So as soon as they come, she will be in my house for the rest of her life.

Right now, since she can't be outside unattended anymore, she's in my basement in a cage, by herself. Ducks aren't meant to be alone. And it's cruel that all my other ducks have to die such a horrible way. How would you like it if you died by getting your head bit off? I can't even imagine how scared they were and what bothers me the most is that I couldn't help them because I didn't know it had happened.

So in closing, if you own a pet, please feed it. Because if you don't it will find a way to feed itself. And it might be someone else's pet.