Ever since our beloved bunny Hazel died, I have turned my devotion to our latest guest, the most esteemed Earl Grey. He (or she) is a rat that has supposedly eluded us for the past few months, stealing carrots, pooping in corners and seeking shelter in our garage. While he may be a wild rodent, he's actually quite pretty, with a coat so shiny you can't doubt we've been feeding him well. I've seen him leap into our rabbit's doggie dish and scale up the barbecue grill, and find his acts very admirable. Of course, my parents wish for nothing more than to see his head under a shovel. I would catch it and let it loose in an orchard, but I'm a pussy when it comes to fast things with teeth.

Last week I bought my father a book on rabbits because he misses having a pet and plans to buy another soon. He's actually reading it thoroughly, which is a surprise given the lack of research we conducted for our previous two bunnies. I have been searching the internet for animal shelters in NorCal so we can adopt. There are so many rabbits listed for euthanasia, I just want to adopt them all.

The upside to adoption is that the bunny will already have been neutered/spayed (if it's old enough) and litterbox trained. The only con is that it will still be traumatized from being abandoned by its previous owner, so it will take a while before it bonds with its new owners. Anyway, no matter what we decide to do, I'm persuading my parents to keep our next pet indoors.