Most of my pets can be traced back to my cat Dixie. She even gets credit for our home itself: I learned about my apartment from a neighbor whom I’d originally met through Dixie.
But the pets. First there was the aquarium, because I thought she’d enjoy looking at fish. (She did, and still does.) Some time later, my then-roommate got the idea that Dixie would also enjoy looking at a small rodent zipping around in an exercise ball. I picked a rat because they’d got the best write-up of all the smaller animals. (Take that, rat-haters!)
Well, you know the rest. Miranda, like most rats, simply hated the exercise ball. Dixie quickly learned not to mess with her. And, over time, one rat grew into two, and three, and...
Later, I caved in and got a hamster so the exercise ball wouldn’t go to waste. Predictably, she adores it. But the cats, by now well trained to avoid resident rodents, pay her no attention whatsoever.