We spent yesterday at an animal sanctuary open day. It was a sanctuary I used to raise money for when I was little and I was excited about taking Ebony there. One of the tricky things about vegan parenting is teaching your child to have compassion for animals they’ve never actually seen because places like zoos and petting farms aren’t places we would visit. For example, up until yesterday, Ebony had never seen a pig. She’s seen a lot of animals in fields in the countryside, but we’ve never happened by a pig. So I was really looking forward to her seeing the rescue pigs at the sanctuary yesterday.
As it turned out, she was way more interested in the bunnies. We had rescue bunnies when Ebony was younger and she used to love watching them and stroking them. She used to help out with their care too and could often be found sharing a bag of spinach with them in the garden. She sometimes says she hopes we can get bunnies again when she’s older, but I’m not sure how she’d manage to convince Laurie. Bunnies aren’t exactly easy pets, unfortunately, they often have a lot of health problems and can end up costing you a fortune in vets bills.
Our original rescue rabbit cost us a figure so great I can’t add it up because it will make me cry. She was too old to insurance when we got her and insurance wouldn’t have covered existing medical problems (of which she had many). She was the loveliest rabbit though and absolutely worth every penny. Her BBFF (best bunny friend forever) cost us a lot less because we insured him with PetPlan as soon as we got him home, so even though he developed medical problems in later life, his medical costs were pretty much covered. PetPlan doesn’t just insure rabbits, you can also buy cat and dog insurance from them.
So, when PetPlan got in touch to ask if I wanted to be a part of their new campaign, I said yes. If you have pets, you need pet insurance. It is too stressful to be worrying about money when your pet is ill and vet costs can quickly add up. I personally think pet insurance should be compulsory for everyone who has pets, because, without it, it’s the animals who suffer from delayed medical care. No pet owner should be making medical choices based on whether they can afford it, pet insurance allows you to make the decisions based on what is best for your pet.
PetPlan sent us some drawing materials and invited Ebony to design her dream pet. Obviously, she chose a unicorn. With wings. What else could a four year old want? She had loads of fun drawing different animals and colouring them in, but it was the unicorn she settled on as her favourite. Once she had finished designing her dream pet, we sent the drawing off to PetPlan and a few weeks later, an exciting parcel arrived in the post. Ebony’s unicorn had been made into a soft toy just for her. She absolutely loves it and I think it’s pretty amazing to have such a unique toy. Ebony's poorly today so she's snuggled up with Unicorn (original name prize) watching Charlotte's Web under a blanket.
This post was made possible thanks to PetPlan, but all words are my own.
