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Illustration: Eilzah Insyirah

A Life Of Pets: What It's Like Managing A Mini Zoo At Home

Welcome to my life!

I currently live with 11 rabbits, 2 dogs and 1 hamster. I know, I know, your first thought must be “Confirm very noisy right?” It’s actually very peaceful! Everyone likes each other. Unfortunately, my home is not cat-proofed and that is very important as cats like to jump around and may miss a step and fall. Hence, no cats (for now).

I actively foster for a few rabbit organisations and so, six of them are my foster rabbits. They are still looking for a forever home, by the way! And the other six animals are adopted by yours truly.

During the holidays, the space will be used for boarding of small animals. Pet-sitting is also an option too, if families have two or more animals that need taking care of. This means that I will travel up and down once or twice a day to visit their furkids to ensure everything is okay. Daily pictures and video updates will be sent to to pawrents to give them a peace of mind just in case they miss their furkids too much!

So, a typical day in my life looks like this:

BEFORE-WORK SCHEDULE

7:15am: Rise and shine!

7:20am: Wash up and sayang time for all my bunnies with a few gentle strokes to their head.

7:25am: Clean and change hay and water bowls for the rabbits.

8:10am: Lure my hamster out so I can feed him medication for this very stubborn bacterial infection that, sadly, has not gone away despite all the months of medication given.

8:20am: Quickly shower and change for work!

8:40am: Shower my dog with hugs and kisses and make her breakfast.

8:45am: Grab my sandwich in my reusable sandwich bag which I bought from Unpackt, a zero-waste shop that sells products without packaging, and hot tea in my solid stainless steel mug that can keep my tea warm till I reach work.

I am usually counting down the hours during the work day till I get to see my furkids again. Yes, #overlyattached pawrent here, but they are my therapy; they just make life so much more bearable!

Everyone who knows me can testify to this; I don’t have after-work plans because I want to go straight home to my furkids.

AFTER-WORK SCHEDULE

6:30pm: Take my dog out on her evening walk because that’s when she gets to meet and play with all her friends. This is the only time she can let lose all that doggy energy.

7:30pm: Make dinner for doggy.

7:35pm: My shower time and dinner time.

8:30pm: Bunny time! Second round of cleaning and topping up of hay, vegetables and treats! Cleaning involves sweeping up stray poops and changing of pee pads so they can start fresh. Bunny pee and poo has no odour unless its left uncleared for days. This is when flies start coming too and… we don’t want that!

9:15pm: Hamster medication time again!

9:20pm: Play time for my hammy! I’ll put him in a large plastic ball to run around in my room together with the rabbits. I’ll join them on the ground to do my work – perfect for human-bunny bonding!

11:00pm: Bedtime for everyone.

There you have it – a day in the life of someone living in a mini zoo. This schedule is repeated daily, but I never get tired of it. It’s been almost four years of living life this way and it’s amazing how these small animals can take up such a huge space in my heart.

When you have a passion for something, and that passion drives you every day, you’ll just see life so differently. I have never felt more passionate about anything in my life except for animals #truestory. I just know it in my heart that what I’m supposed to be doing, has to do with animals. My animal companions keep me going.

If you’re struggling to find your purpose in life, I genuinely hope that you’ll find it soon, so you can start making even more of a difference in the lives of others. Don’t stress! It’ll come to you naturally!

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