Animal Rentals Blog

We have another birthday to be excited about here at Animal Rentals!  My friend Jesse James the Geoffroy Cat turns 12 years old today.  I hope we get to celebrate with more cake and presents.  I really like birthday cake…it is one of my favorite foods!

I just realized that I don’t know if Jesse likes birthday cake or not.  I’ve never seen him eat any.  Not even at my birthday party.  I’ll have to ask him if he likes cake.  But I’ll have to catch him at the right time, because you never know whether Jesse James is going to be happy to see you or not!

Jesse’s a great guy and all, but he’s still a little on the wild side.  He doesn’t ever really seem to completely relax…even when he’s just lying there, he is always alert and watching everything.  Out of all of my exotic animal friends, Jesse James is the toughest.  He says that all Geoffroy’s Cats are like that, and that they will never be as tame as domestic house cats – even though they are about the same size.  Jesse thinks people should remember that small doesn’t always mean cute and cuddly. ..sometimes it means wild and fierce.

I don’t know if Jesse is really as fierce as he thinks he is, but it’s true that when we do our animal shows at parties, festivals, college entertainment programs and all of the other exciting events that we travel to, people are really drawn to Jesse James because they say he looks like a miniature leopard or cheetah.  It is easy for them to forget that he is a wild animal because of his size.  The rest of my exotic animal friends and I never forget that, but sometimes people do.

Even though Jesse James likes to act tough, he is a really nice guy and a loyal friend – and everyone here at Animal Rentals really likes him a ton!  So we all want to wish him the happiest 12^th birthday ever!  Won’t you join us in saying “Happy Birthday Jesse James”?!

One of the best things about being an Animal Ambassador is helping people understand what exotic animals are really like.  A lot of animals are misunderstood because something about them keeps people too far away from them to really get to know them.  Because of their unique and stinky defense mechanism, skunks are definitely one of those animals.

One of my friends that lives with us is Sylvester the Skunk.  Sylvester is a really nice guy, and I like him a lot, but he always smells like he needs to take a bath.  And he doesn’t even smell as bad as most skunks!  In the wild, skunks spray a really stinky odor to defend themselves against predators – including people.  Sylvester was born on a farm so he doesn’t have the smelly spray, but he still has a gamey odor that is a little unpleasant for most people and monkeys.  It’s too bad that his smell is what keeps people from getting to know how intelligent, interesting and entertaining he is.

Even though he has lived with us all of his life, Sylvester likes to pretend that he is a wild animal.  Sometimes he acts all tough and he stomps his feet and grunts at us.  We all know not to be afraid because he is our friend, but when wild skunks do that we know it is time to run away or get sprayed!  When dad or anyone else picks Sylvester up, he is very sweet and gentle.  He even likes to be petted.  His job is to show people that you don’t have to be afraid of wild animals, but to respect them and not get too close to them when they are in their outdoor homes.  Sylvester loves meeting new people at animal shows and college lectures, and teaching them about what skunks are really like beyond the smell.

Have you ever seen a skunk in the wild?  Have you smelled one?