Back in April, Amy visited us to tell us about some of her pets....Today we're featuring Amy once again but spotlighting her book, Something Furry Underfoot.
You’ve got to read Amy Peterson’s warm and funny book about her experiences coping with and caring for all manner of animals. Not only will you get a lot of laughs but you’ll also pick up some valuable tips about co-existing with your own critters!” - Bob Tarte, author of Enslaved by Ducks, Kitty Cornered and Fowl Weather.
Opening paragraph of Something Furry Underfoot:
“If he wasn’t as cute as a yellow duckling, tenacious as a pit bull, and energetic as a kitten high on catnip, I wouldn’t have a dozen animals in my house right now. But Mark exhibits all that, plus employs the killer phrase, “I’ve always wanted one of those.” He also knows how to blink his puppy-dog eyes.”
Interview:
Was your husband really able to blink his eyes and get another
pet?
Yes. He started with some frogs and iguanas for
his son, the latter of which were messy critters that found permanent homes
elsewhere. Then the pets came to
stay. Mark said he’d always wanted a
hedgehog, and one day a female hedgehog came home. She was soon joined by a male hedgehog that escaped
from his cage several times and fathered several unplanned litters of baby
hedgehogs. The first ferret Mark wanted was
soon joined by three more ferrets, including one that cost us $1,200 in vet
bills. Our first puppy had so much energy, the logical solution was to get
another puppy, said Mark. And did I mention that I’d only raised a dog before?
Were you responsible for any of the pets that came into your
house?
Yes, well, admittedly,
when a stray kitten showed up under the deck 10 years into my marriage, the
only logical solution was for me to bring the kitten inside, fleas, lice and
all. And when I saw a bunch of rabbits
running lose in a wildlife area, the decent thing to do was to bring them home,
fleas, ticks, botflies and all. And who could
say no to the co-worker who found a domestic duckling in a neighbor’s front
yard and needed some occasionally responsible adults to raise the duckling?
What surprised you the most about the pets you raised?
Three things: 1) That a domestic duckling has much
personality as any other pet; 2) that it’s possible to get nine hamsters for
the price of one and that some people keep all eight babies; and 3) that it’s
possible for a mynah bird to show up on a postal truck unexpectedly.
Tell us more about your book.
My book Something Furry Underfoot is a
humorous, touching memoir that aims to entertain and educate readers about
things most people don’t know about pets.
For example, while most guinea pigs live 5-8 years, we rescued one that
lived to be 11, and another that lived to be 12. That means that the 13-year-old child the
guinea pigs were purchased for went happily off to college while we cared for
the elderly guinea pigs. I also include 50 tips, some of which are about pet
lovers. Consider Tip #5: If your
significant other was ever denied a pet in his/her “previous life,” you may be
in for a lot of fur. Other tips are about animals, including Tip #31:
Fleas jump more than rabbits.
Some proceeds will benefit animal rescue organizations.
To see some of the
pets in Something Furry Underfoot,
check out my 3-minute video called What Animals Deserve at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keR2JssTtOs. It
includes photos and video clips of Bumpkin, the domestic duck, walking by two
dogs and the formerly stray cat, and our pet mouse we named Smokey Joe after we
rescued him from the barbeque grill.
At the same time Amy
was getting used to becoming a stepmother, her husband, Mark, was bringing
various critters home. Something Furry
Underfoot is Amy's humorous, heart-warming memoir about raising frogs,
iguanas, hedgehogs, ferrets, hamsters, mice, gerbils, guinea pigs, dogs, a
stray cat, a domestic duckling, rabbits, mynah birds and tropical fish. The animal antics in this book will keep you
laughing and the tips will teach you something about pets and pet lovers you
probably didn’t know.
Back in the day, Amy was
published in numerous magazines and does blog postings about nature, pets and
life at www.amylpeterson.com, many of which feature her photography
skills. She works for the state of Michigan and lives with her husband and a
variety of fuzzy animals.
Connect with Amy at the following places:
web site: www.amylpeterson.com
Something Furry Underfoot: as a paperback and e-book on Amazon.com
and as an e-book in a variety of formats on Smashwords.com
Well Friends, hope you enjoyed this spotlight! Stay tuned each week for more Tuesday Treasures, Thursday Thoughts and of course Saturday Spotlight!
Until later....take care & God Bless!
PamT
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