A Hedgehog for a Pet?

Meet Alba.

Alba is my sister’s hedgehog. How we ended up with it? Well here it is…

My mom is a Veterinary Technician (basically a nurse for animals.) My dad is allergic to animals. 1-1=0; we never had any pets (Fish doesn’t count, I’m really strict on that one. Many times, they tried to convinced me it was; it definitively is not a real pet!!) Despite his allergies, we still got to babysit many homeless kitties since my mom was the only employee of her clinic that didn’t have any pets at home. We would take care of the youngers till they were strong enough to take care of themselves by their own and would play with the stronger ones till they were adopted. Basically, they wouldn’t stop by for long enough for my dad to get sick.

As you can imagine, being a young cat lover that had to say bye to its new babies meant dealing with heartbreaks over heartbreaks, but you know what? It was absolutely worth the taste.

Since the first cat we took care of, I’ve been wanting one of my own. A furry cutie I could pet all day.

Obviously, I’ve got to learn to take no as an answer… But I was smart; if they said no to a cat, but we have fishes, then I just need to find the right furry animal!

Dog; no. Rabbit; no. Hamster; no. Sphynx; no (Wait!! They don’t have what daddy’s allergic to!) Rat; no. Snake; no (Your Grandma won’t ever come back to visit us!)

Let’s just say that I’ve grown many PowerPoint’s skills over these rejections…

My mother changed career and we never took care of any cats. I learned to live with the fact that I wouldn’t get any pets other than fishes. I’ve had all of them. All kind, all shades and colour of fish; we have tree aquariums in the house, and it all started before I was even born.

Everything was all right, until the day where my family announced me that my younger sister was buying herself a hedgehog.

She would have a pet. They said yes.

I will not enter in the details of the rage that followed up this big news. It’s better for you and I.

Day 1: They called it Alba. Alba? I was already determined not to approach it; they made the hostilities easier than I planned it.

Day 2: I still haven’t approached it yet; no temptation means no risk of failing.

Day 7: It’s been a week. I managed not to touch it. It was pretty hard when my sister put the Alba in my face though.

A month latter: Ok, I touched it. I might have pet it too. And maybe I played with it a little.

Well, I managed to ignore her for a couple of days, but now I was passing more time with Alba than my sister would.

Now, you’re probably thinking that it was so cute and all, but we need to make things clear; SHE IS NOT AN ANGEL!!!!

Expectation #1: It’s so cute, I’ll walk her with an elastic and a rope like I’ve seen on Instagram!

Reality: Look, lets be honest; she is full of spine. Not only it’s not nice to pet, the elastic won’t stay unless it’s fat or you choke it, and I’m definitely not dealing with an escaping hedgehog! Oh, and she won’t stay in that cute ball position, forget the pics!

Expectation #2: Awn it’s so small and innocent!

Reality: Listen up; I’ve never seen something with a character as bad as she does. A mad hedgehog literally becomes a moving sea urchin. Oh, you want to soothe it? Perfect, try to figure out where’s the head and pet it in the spine direction. Yes. It hurts.

Expectation #3: I’ll just forget it exist!

Reality: Haha! She’s sleeping all day and everything, it’s super quiet, but these are nocturne animals, and princess likes to run. You’ll never get to enjoy your quiet nights again.

Despite all of these, I definitely love her. I’m sorry, but she likes me more than you now sis! It’s not Instagram perfect and it’s not the cat that I wanted, but she’s my Alba.

I’m just going to finish with this picture of the time she though my sleeve looked comfortable. I couldn’t make her get out of it! ;)