Get Woke: Stop Buying Purebred Dogs

May 31, 2021 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column

Fifteen months after the pandemic arguably began, we see a light at the end of the tunnel. The willing are vaccinated. People are traveling again. Masks are off – mostly. And offices are starting to discuss The Return.

There’s also been an influx of returns to pet shelters. Now this piece isn’t shaming those who must rehome a pet — I covered my own personal turmoil on this topic already — but this is a unique opportunity for the many who want a purebred dog to get one ethically.

This is my plea for people to visit pet shelters when getting pets, especially for dogs.

Saying Goodbye To My First Forever

February 11, 2020 by Cazey Williams

On my 13th birthday, my mom asked me for a wish list so I jotted down the desires of a bookish adolescent, which included the latest installment of “Eragon” and probably a tennis racket. Item #10 was “a bird.”

The Pet Moss Ball

January 18, 2016 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's

Recently my friend and I went to dinner. Once our bill came and was paid, we had one of those moments where it was either we go home now or we come up with something else to do. But what to do?

I knew PetSmart was nearby, so for whatever reason, I asked if my friend wanted to go. She agreed, and off we drove. Inside, we started by looking at the fish. I reflected on my first pet ever, a betta named Rainbow, and then noticed the price markup on bettas. Or at least I don’t think bettas were $5 when I was a kid.

Feline Affairs

September 09, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor

I grew up with dogs. My brother's allergic to cats. But I remember the first time I saw a cat and knew that felines are much a part of me as needy, slobbering, domesticated wolves.

Some girl down the street was selling kittens, and I wailed and sobbed about why couldn't we get a kitten, who cares if my brother would have permanent allergies, it was so cute.

Yeah, that didn't sway my parents. Here are tales of cats I've loved:

When a Pet Passes On

May 05, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Life In Your 20's, life lessons

Last week I turned 24. Three days later the dog my family adopted twelve years ago passed away. I don't want to say my dog's passing is fitting, but it is cruelly symmetrical.

I was the only one in the family who could spell her name: Guinevere, not Gwenevere or Guenevere, but yes, Gwenny. I remember I wanted a dog so bad at 12. Our golden retrievers passed away two years before, but I was born into their family; I had never raised a dog.

Reluctant Fatherhood

March 04, 2015 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's, life lessons

When I was 14, my dad bought me a cockatiel. Abigail was four weeks old, too young to come home, so I visited her everyday in the pet shop. She was my child.

I didn't know she was also my mail-order bride.

You're about to gain some avian knowledge: Firstly, female birds can lay eggs. You're probably like, "I knew that . . ." But here's the trivia: They don't have to. A bird only lays an egg if she is a.) healthy and b.) comfortable/stable/dumb enough to think she's found a good nest and mate. (And when birds lay egg(s), no, it is not going to hatch unless there's a male to fertilize it. Immaculate conceptions don't happen in birdcages.)

Names For a Bunny and Who They'd Be As a Person [Cazey]

December 17, 2014 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Life In Your 20's

My friend visited me recently and told me she only had $40 to spend for the week. At dinner she ordered the soup du jour. She was saving up, she explained, for a bunny. She had already bought the cage, which included hardwood floors . . . . . That's almost as crazy as orchid babysitters.

I asked what she was going to name the critter. Now my friend and I bonded seasons ago over our mutual aspirations to be lawnies - a South African term for acting pretentiously rich, or so her South African boyfriend at the time told us. It's even more lawny that it's a South African term. So obviously the bunny needs a lawny name, which I excel at since I named my dog in sixth grade Guinevere (yes, of Arthurian legend). What follows is her list of possible names and my reactions.