Being owned by a pet can bring up deep-seated psychological issues! For example, if you have been raised by a feeder family, you will have emotional attachments to all sorts of foods. You will link food to comfort, to love, and to spoiling loved ones!
The best spoiling comes from treats. I should know. I'm a recovering treataholic. If we are at the mall and stroll by the chocolate shop, I am drawn in there like a wire filament to a MRI. Just try and stop me, it's like trying to mess with the awesome power of nature. Though I am healthier now, I can still treat myself to one piece of melty, high-quality chocolatey goodness once in a while.
Enter Gizmo, the first pet I have had in a long time with a dedicated, no, an obsessive sweet tooth! If he were a human pal, we would ruin each other's waistlines with trips to get ice cream, cookies, pastries, you name it. We would be the worst kind of enablers for each other, and Weight Watchers would ban us for being bad influences. Thank goodness he's a bunny and he doesn't know how to use a debit card (yet). But I have seen him longingly watch smoothie and fresh fruit commercials, and I know the signs of unhealthy obsession when I see it.
Bunnies are crafty. To earn treats, Gizmo has a host of tricks he will do. But after four or five heavenly sweet golden raisins given for circle turns and pushing a ball with his nose, it's time to clamp down on the treat jar. Too many sweets can upset the balance in a rabbit's tummy, resulting in the runs (not the good kind) and even possibly death (the worst kind).
My husband once told me about a squirrel who got into their dorm room, panicked when it couldn't get out, and ran hurly-burly over every surface leaving squirrel poo. This is what I imagine over-treating Gizmo would result in. So we shower him with extra petting instead.
Despite our best plans, the bun does his best to sneak extra treats. I call it the SSDD trick, or Same Snack, Different Dope. Here's how it goes down: I have played with Giz, given him treats, and am now busy in the laundry room. My son comes downstairs to watch TV, plays with the bun, and is hit up with Bunny Begging Act I. Didn't Gizmo get his treat today? No? Are you sure? Gizmo is acting like he hasn't had a treat in a week, let alone today. He is putting his paws up on my son's leg, looking adorable, head cocked to the side, big brown eyes pleading. Before I can say "don't give Giz any more treats", another raisin is making its way past his lips.
When my husband comes downstairs with some popcorn, it's BB Act II. Just try to eat popcorn without giving any to Gizmo! He is all over that like white on rice. Once he jumped from he floor all the way into the popcorn bowl on the couch! Cowabunga! Foof! Popcorn everywhere! (If it had been during Big Shed time, we would have been pulling fuzz out of our teeth for weeks. There is no way we would let great popcorn go to waste.) Luckily for me we are stocked up on healthy bunny treats, like carrot slices, parsley and freeze dried strawberries.
Yes, in Gizmo's world, if you have food it's meant to be shared.
