Thank you Mocha.

I just read a recent HRSS post about a mother's decision to 'remove' a teenager's rabbit from her life simply because the teenager wasnt getting satisfactory grades.

I had it happen to me once. My mother decided to return the pet bird that my uncle gave to me and her reason was because my grades were slipping and the bird is taking too much of my time. I was 12. Unfortunately, before I completed my PSLE, the bird has broken free from her cage and flown away. I was distraught for a fortnight, before I realize that reveling in the fact that at least I had a good time with Birdy. The request for getting a pet again always brought quarrels and unease in my family for the longest time.

A pet shop uncle gave them to me because he had too many and did not know what to do with them. He even gave me the cage and a little bit of the feed. Getting hamsters for free is not a daily occurrence! I told my sister to take care of them in the playground, I’ll go tell my mum about the hamsters and maybe she’ll let me keep them.

 “I don’t want an animal in my house. I warn you right now. If I see you bring the animal into the house, you’ll see what I’ll do to you.”

I was 13.

So I got myself into secondary school, not the best one, but it offers Higher Chinese as a subject. I asked my mum if I can get a pet. I’m old enough to care for a hamster at least, right? Plus, PLSE is already over, I definitely did my best.

“If you want to get another animal, you show me how responsible you can be with your grades. Your streaming is coming soon and you can only worry about pets? Please, take your head out of the clouds. You can’t even do the housework around the house, why should I bring a pet in and have to clean up after you?” my mum challenged me. I got myself a couple of As for streaming, but it wasn’t enough.

I was 15.

“You want to get a pet? You cannot even take care of yourself, what makes you so sure you can take care of another life? Does it have diseases? Don’t you dare bring it home, put it back where it was! Can you please focus on your O levels? ” exclaimed my mum when I called to tell her about taking in this abandoned black kitten that a couple of friends and I saved from the deep drain near my school. I left the kitten at another friend’s place. That night, the friend called to say her mum doesn’t like black cats in her house, so she left the kitten in a box at the side of the road.

 I was 16.

Since then, I spent hours glancing longingly at all the animals in the pet shop, come up with ingenious ways of hiding the animal if I were to get one, design complicated cages and set-ups that I would use if I got myself a pet. It was a long time before I was allowed to have another pet again.

At the age of 20, I finished my degree and found a full-time job working with kids. I had a colleague that has kept a menagerie of strange creatures. I just sat at my desk wondering when it is going to be my turn. My determination to keep a pet, like her amount of pets, kept increasing. She often brought her pets to work and I would wish that I was offered the same liberty to keep pets in my home. Finally, one evening after work, it was too much to take and I got myself a fighting fish. The poor fellow was sitting at the bottom of a dirty, halved plastic bottle looking really desolated. I felt like him and I needed to save him. I went home. Mum had nothing to say. She was shocked, but I was able to refute her. So days went by and Owen Crataegus Thng was very well taken care of. He learnt tricks, he went to performances, and he was a happy fish.

But satisfaction in a human being never lasts for long, do they? Gradually, I was beginning to feel the need to get another pet for me to take care of, a pet that I can hold and hug. I cannot possibly go around hugging my fish, can I? The poor thing will probably die before I get to hug him properly. So thus began my tasks of looking for other animals that I can take care of. I looked into hedgehogs, hamsters, rabbits, gerbils and even fancy rats. I looked at their nutritional needs, their housing requirements, their monthly costs and so on. I studied fervently for a month before I decided to battle with my mum about this topic. I was so sure I’ll win.

My mum instantly said no. It ended up in a quarrel that lasted 2 hours before she dismissed me and left me sitting on the couch with angry tears spilling from my eyes. Dad told me to wash up and come back to the couch. It was already midnight, but he said he wanted to talk to me.

“Cam, you want a pet so badly? Okay, sure, I don’t mind if you get another pet, but there are some rules. No hamsters, they are really smelly. No dogs, they are too noisy. No hedgehogs or any exotics, they are illegal and I don’t want people stomping into my house asking me to pay money.” Dad stated. At that moment, I’ve never loved my dad more than I already did. I began looking into what makes the animals smelly and find out ways of eliminating that variable. My dad even went to my uncle and asked if he’ll let me keep one of his rabbits.

3 weeks later, an opportunity arose. My colleague told me about this rabbit that an acquaintance of hers found in Bishan Park. They couldn’t keep the rabbit anymore, and are considering abandoning the rabbit at a pet shop. I knew this was my chance. After work that day, I went back home and sat my family down. I told my mum about this rabbit and tried to negotiate with her. There was screaming and accusations, but lucky for me, I had my sister and my dad on my side. It was a long fruitful battle which lasted for 3 hours, but I’m allowed to bring the rabbit home.

Mocha came into my life on the 4^th of July 2013. He was the most adorable rabbit I’ve ever laid my eyes on. He has light brown fur covering his body highlighted with dark brown fur on his ears. A strip of white ran from the top of his head to his nose and he wears 3 white socks and one dark brown sock on his feet. According to my colleague, he looks like a goat. Barely 2 days in, he’s already comfortable enough to relax in his cage.  I enjoyed clearing his potty, feeding him and bringing him for walks and even napping with him on my off days. I brought him nearly everywhere, to my workplace, to the beach, to my room, to my grandma’s house and so on. It was the best feeling in the world; I was his as he was mine.

2 weeks later, he started grooming my hand. It’s like he was accepting me as his friend and I’m finally getting this love that I’ve been looking for since I was 7. I’ve never felt a closer bond with another living being as I did in that moment. Days past and it was Mocha’s neutering day. I was afraid that he’ll be moody and angry after the neuter and I was so afraid that something will go wrong. Fortunately, nothing went wrong and Mocha was back to his cheeky self after a couple of days. I taught him tricks and it was on the 8^th week when I finally manage to hug my ball of fluff. He began to feel comfortable enough for me to hold and sit with him for a couple of hours.

However, happy days never do last, I’m supposed to head to Melbourne for a month. I went to Melbourne to figure out if I liked living there. My dad agreed to take care of Mocha for me when I was gone. Then the most amazing change happened. My mum began to take care of Mocha. She would feed him small pieces of vegetables from a safe distance and tell me how much Mocha was enjoying it. When I finally went back home, Mocha just sat by his cage and we sat together for a couple of hours. It was peace.

About a couple months later, I was set to further my studies in Melbourne. Dad told me not to worry; he’ll take care of Mocha for me. I thanked him, hugged Mocha “See-you-later” and sat on the plane that will stretch the distance between my rabbit and I by 7 hours. Not a day has gone past since that I haven’t thought about my rabbit. A couple of times I video-called my rabbit, he went around looking for me when I called his name. However, the best part of it all is realizing that my mum has changed.

Just yesterday, she told me that the family has taken up different feeding responsibilities to make sure that there is no overlap feeding of Mocha. She’s taken to feeding the vegetables, dad’s feeding him the hay and my sister will be feeding him pellets. I jokingly asked if she can touch Mocha for me and she opened the cage and touched his forehead. I know that this seem like a small feat to everyone else, but I realized how brave my mum is and how much she has grown in the time Mocha has been in our lives. She’s beginning to trust Mocha and I honestly began to love my mum more for it because she had swallowed her fear for me. Mocha had not only taught me to have patience, he has also taught my mum how to love.

Because of Mocha, our family had grown. He’s more than a rabbit, he’s our family member.