Pets & the humans who love them

[atomiczombie]

My black lab mix of 13 years, Beaker, died in early August. His picture is in my gallery. I got him as a puppy from the Animal Rescue Foundation and he almost made it to 14. We had to tearfully let go of him when his spinal arthritis made him paralyzed and incontinent in his hind quarters. I miss him every day.

We adopted Popeye in late September from the Homeless Animals Lifeline Organization. He is now 6 months old! His pic is in my gallery as well. He is a german shepherd/terrier/lab? mix and cute as a button. He is a love bug and thinks he is a lap dog. He is very much a puppy and chews on everything, so he has TONS of toys and bones and chewy rawhides so he wont chew the furniture and stuff. He is a joy in our lives and a bit of a rascal. I just love dogs.

I like cats too, but I am allergic.

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by atomiczombie

My black lab mix of 13 years, Beaker, died in early August. His picture is in my gallery. I got him as a puppy from the Animal Rescue Foundation and he almost made it to 14. We had to tearfully let go of him when his spinal arthritis made him paralyzed and incontinent in his hind quarters. I miss him every day.

I'm so sorry about Beaker. People who aren't animal lovers really don't get how our pets are our FAMILY and it's just as traumatic to lose a hairy member of the family as it is to lose the 2-legged kind.

You did got by him, I promise.

[katsarecool]

Originally Posted by atomiczombie

My black lab mix of 13 years, Beaker, died in early August. His picture is in my gallery. I got him as a puppy from the Animal Rescue Foundation and he almost made it to 14. We had to tearfully let go of him when his spinal arthritis made him paralyzed and incontinent in his hind quarters. I miss him every day.

We adopted Popeye in late September from the Homeless Animals Lifeline Organization. He is now 6 months old! His pic is in my gallery as well. He is a german shepherd/terrier/lab? mix and cute as a button. He is a love bug and thinks he is a lap dog. He is very much a puppy and chews on everything, so he has TONS of toys and bones and chewy rawhides so he wont chew the furniture and stuff. He is a joy in our lives and a bit of a rascal. I just love dogs.

I like cats too, but I am allergic.

I am so sorry to hear about the loss of Beaker!!! I know you did what is best for him!!!

I just returned from the vet for my daughter's cat Jeffrey. Beth noticed a nickle size wound on her hindquarters this afternoon. So I went with her to the clinic with Jeffery on my lap. She is still there and will come back home around 8 pm. She required sedation to stitch up the wound which turned out not to be an animal bite. I have been talking to my daughter for almost four years to keep Jeffrey inside permanently. This is not the first trip to the emergency room for this sweet girl calico who has the softest fur in the world. She will be coming home on antibiotics, pain medication and one of those halo thingies. Beth finally said Jeffery will now be indoors. The vet bill was $300! This cat got sick from something outside last year and the vet bill then was over $500! Roaming free outside is not a safe place for our pets.About the name Jeffrey; Beth was told it was a boy kitten when she adopted Jeffrey. And Beth did not know how to sex a cat. I finally had to break it to her that the cat is a girl.

[1PlayfulFemme]

Most who know me know of our "We rescue all animals" plaque that hangs in the Universe. We currently have 13 cats and two insane boxer puppies (who aren't puppies at 3, but when they were babies, they were the youngest of the 5 dogs we had at the time - the rest of whom died of happy old age!!)

Our babies are truly our babies. It doesn't seem as though I will be able to carry a human baby, so we love and cherish our furbabies. They are spoiled to the point of ridiculousness, tho my wife and I would both deny that. (But it's her fault! *G*)

We recently lost my number one kitty. His liver failed and he developed lymphoma. On the opposite side of that, his brother was diagnosed 6 years ago with bone cancer and is in remission and you would never know he was sick. Proof that things happen in their time, not ours. I will never feel the same without Moo - to some, that's an odd statement. He died minutes after being born and my partner at the time brought him back to life. I was at work and came home to a perfect pinkish and black tuxedo kitten. His attitude was bigger than him then, and it never shrunk!

I love all my babies, but he was my "F" word. (We try not to say it outloud in the house...too many ears). We have a lady (I'm being nice - very, very nice) who lives across the street who raises feral cats. She feeds them, but won't get them fixed claiming "They aren't mine." Yet she can touch half of them and feeds them all. They were her mothers (who passed a few years ago) and she refuses to claim them. So, we end up rescuing the babies who are born with respiratory diseases and other horrifying issues. Two of our most recent babies have only one eye a piece (opposite sides) yet you'd never know it!

We've lost several that we were trying to save. There are some sicknesses that all the time in the world and treatments can't fix. But, I believe in that old story about the starfish...we try to make a difference to "that one" as often as we can.

Our babies, oldest to youngest:

Cats:
Little One 12 - we didnt name him
Spike 11 - he hissed within days of being born, and then cuddled right against me
Princess 11 - she is...very much so, a princess
Sage (We assume he is close to 8) - named for his wisdom
Chance 7 - he was found in a dumpster when he was a few days old
Vegas 7 - named by a friend of ours
Kachina 7 - her name means 'Sacred Dancer', but we call her Chi Chi
Brianna 7 - her nickname is Bree Bree
Becca 7 - her name is Rebecca, but she would NEVER answer to that!!
and my newest baby cats...
Nina 1 1/2 - My one eyed wonder, she's a tough lil girl!
Max 1 1/2 - My other one eyed wonder..he's a love!!
Sampson 1 1/2 - Named for his strength as was
Hercules 1 1/2

When my baby babies were brought in, they were about 2 weeks old. Sampson & Hercules were the biggest at 1 lb and 1 lb 2 oz. Nina was 6 oz. and Max was only 4 oz...and somehow, my babies pulled through against the odds!! Sampson is now the smallest at 8 lbs, Nina and Max weigh 14 and 15 respectively, and Hercules weighs in at 19 lbs. Fat & Sassy...just the way I like em!

Our puppies are 3. They are Hannah and Hunter. Hannah had a perfect "H" on her chest when she was a baby, thus came their names.

We have had so many fun times with our babies!! Too many funny stories to tell!! I'll keep peeking in! I love this thread!

[SimpleAlaskanBoy]

I forgot to mention our outdoor feral, named Roo. He actually looks a lot like Moxie, and is very vocal. I feed him twice a day and he likes to sleep under our sycamore tree. He currently has something wrong with his rear paw and hops around on three legs, but other than that it does not seem to bother him. If we had a Trap & Neuter program locally and we could pay for it, I would but I found out the closest one is almost an hour away.
He used to sleep and eat in the garage, but he doesn't want to go in it anymore, even though we keep one of the doors cracked. Other cats use it now to stay warm. I am thinking of getting a cheap wood doghouse for Roo so at least I can keep his food dry and he's got someplace to go to stay dry and maybe get warm for a bit. He won't let us pet him but he gets within a foot of us while we are feeding him before he gives a look that says "Go away I am hungry!"
I've also seen a tabby cat with a lot of white in our yard and a skinny Siamese. I wish I could let them all in the house...
please spay & neuter!
~SAB

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by betenoire

I have four cats. In order of when they moved in, they are:

Clyde and Charlotte - I got them when I was living in Vancouver in 2002. The woman who lived in the townhouse next to where I worked got evicted and left many of her pets behind. We never got the actual numbers because we couldn't catch them all - but both cats and dogs in her house were up in the double-digits. They were both around 2.5-3 months old, so I took them both and a friend of mine took their mother. I wasn't in a position to take on an adult at that time because I still had Mo at that time (he has since passed away) who was also a rescue and was aggressive with other adult cats, but I knew him to be friendly with kittens (for some reason.)

Clyde is gigantic, weighing in at nearly 20 pounds. He's not FAT however, he's just huge. I have never seen such large feet on a cat, and he is incredibly long. He chirps rather than meows, so I suspect that he is part Maine Coon. He is VERY talkative and a real lover - seriously. He loves love.

Charlotte is a diva. She has a naturally snotty voice (for a cat) and if you pet her she will often groom the area that you had pet afterward - I think she thinks I am dirty. She ignores me all day, but once I am in bed she asks to snuggle. She likes to be held like a teddy bear until I fall asleep.

Eliot is the only cat I have ever had who wasn't rescued from somewhere. A friend of mine (who lived in Michigan at that time) had a cat who had kittens and she posted the pictures on facebook - it was all over from there. I MADE Nick take me to Michigan to pick Eliot up once he was old enough. He is Clyde's best friend, and still (although he is nearly 3 years old now) tries to nurse on Clyde's belly. He likes foil balls, is very tolerant of my desire to put hats on him, and usually lays across my lap when I am on the computer.

Elphaba is just over 3 years old and has been with me for 2 years now. The woman who used to have her had a nasty habit of going out of town for WEEKS at a time and leaving Elphaba locked out on the balcony. It was summertime and hot and she had no food and water (aside from the food and water I would climb up on a chair to give to her) and there was so much feces on that balcony that you could smell it from quite a distance away. One night I decided that feeding her wasn't good enough - so I got up on the balcony and "stole" her. She was really thin and scared and sickly, so I got her to the vet and got her healthy and kept her. She is still not quite over her "I don't know when I will be fed next" impulse and breaks into my garbage can on occasion - but I forgive her. She's very friendly and no matter what I am doing or where in the apartment I am, she is always right by my side.

All of your cats match their names! So many times, I see animals and their people say, "Oh, his name is Snotrocket!" and I just think "But he looks like a Charlie, not a Snotrocket!"

Originally Posted by katsarecool

I am so sorry to hear about the loss of Beaker!!! I know you did what is best for him!!!

I just returned from the vet for my daughter's cat Jeffrey. Beth noticed a nickle size wound on her hindquarters this afternoon. So I went with her to the clinic with Jeffery on my lap. She is still there and will come back home around 8 pm. She required sedation to stitch up the wound which turned out not to be an animal bite. I have been talking to my daughter for almost four years to keep Jeffrey inside permanently. This is not the first trip to the emergency room for this sweet girl calico who has the softest fur in the world. She will be coming home on antibiotics, pain medication and one of those halo thingies. Beth finally said Jeffery will now be indoors. The vet bill was $300! This cat got sick from something outside last year and the vet bill then was over $500! Roaming free outside is not a safe place for our pets.About the name Jeffrey; Beth was told it was a boy kitten when she adopted Jeffrey. And Beth did not know how to sex a cat. I finally had to break it to her that the cat is a girl.

I think it's lovely that you and your family don't abide by the gender police concerning the naming of your pets. Mimi for a boy and Jeffrey for a girl is fantastic!