Palma: An ode to you and your pets

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I know it has to be done. I just don’t want to, like, I really, really don’t want to. But I have to.

I have to cut Mimi’s nails, and I already know she is going to hate me for it. It’s not that I am lazy and don’t want to; it’s more so just putting my rabbit in a limiting position.

See, rabbits don’t enjoy being picked up, or handled in any which way for that matter. They’re considered animals of predators— so they’re prey. When a rabbit is picked up, it will immediately trigger a fight or flight response. Cutting Mimi’s nails is going to be a process.

I could just take her to a fancy professional who would do it for me, but that’s a little much in my opinion. I have to figure this out myself. It’s up to the unknown to determine how I will end up going about this, and the final result.

I think I’ll be more scared than she will be. Or she’ll be scared because she doesn’t know what’s happening and I’ll be scared because she is scared and I’ll be worried about messing it up. Can you tell I’ve never cut rabbit nails before?

Our pets put up with a lot of our nonsense. For instance, Mimi probably thinks there is nothing wrong with her nails at all. She’s just chillin’ and living her life and soon I’m just going to come along and interrupt her routine of rabbitry.

People often treat their pets like they’re actual living people. We dress them up in costumes, we give them human names, we care for them like they’re a family member and sometimes we even feed them like they’re people. We even buy them fancy furniture for their leisure, and they end up sitting beside it.

So why do we do it? Why do we treat our pets like humans?

I think it’s because of our social instincts. We care for our pets like they’re people because that’s how we know to instinctively act. We wouldn’t treat a rabbit like another wild rabbit, because we obviously don’t know how to naturally go about doing that. Unless you consider yourself a rabbit, I don’t know, be whoever you want.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing, and I find that many people take pride in being a “parent” to their pet. Just keep doing what you’re doing. Keep showing your pet the love and affection they deserve, and in return hopefully your pet will continue the same.

Unless you betray them by cutting their nails.

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