Pets?

[ArnoldBabar]

My late, great hero, Jake. I thought he would live forever, and he damn near did:

My new boy, Toby, who I love like crazy. He's not burdened with an abundance of intelligence, but he's as sweet as any dog I've ever met.

 

[Big Buckin' agate_monkey]

My late, great hero, Jake. I thought he would live forever, and he damn near did:

My new boy, Toby, who I love like crazy. He's not burdened with an abundance of intelligence, but he's as sweet as any dog I've ever met.

Toby's my kinda dog. I like me a good nawin' stick too.

 

[zeke12]

A 15-pound deaf beast named Franklin who showed up at my folks house begging about three years ago.

I got stranded in the snow last week and almost cried when I had to call the vet's office and tell them to keep him another day.

He sleeps on me. Not by me. Not against me. On me.

And, regarding cats v. dogs, it's just different. Someday when I have a house I'll have a dog. But I'm inherently suspicious of unconditional love. Cats make you work for it. I can respect that.

 

[ArnoldBabar]

Yeah, he likes a good stick. But mostly he just runs, all the time. He'll fetch a ball as far as I can throw it 100 times and run as hard after the last one as the first one. Skinny as a rail, even on super high-calorie food. He must burn 10,000 calories a day.

 

[Flash]

Dammit, Shep won't fetch. He's by no means a retriever. He's a shepherding dog ... so he'll play 'chase' but definitely not 'fetch.' Matter of fact, if I throw a stick, he gives me a particularly indignant look and walks in the other direction.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

A 15-pound deaf beast named Franklin who showed up at my folks house begging about three years ago.

I got stranded in the snow last week and almost cried when I had to call the vet's office and tell them to keep him another day.

He sleeps on me. Not by me. Not against me. On me.

Man, I thought having our 6.5 pound cat sleep on me was uncomfortable.

 

[BYH]

And, regarding cats v. dogs, it's just different. Someday when I have a house I'll have a dog. But I'm inherently suspicious of unconditional love. Cats make you work for it. I can respect that.

It's earned unconditional love. If that makes any sense.

 

[Write-brained]

And, regarding cats v. dogs, it's just different. Someday when I have a house I'll have a dog. But I'm inherently suspicious of unconditional love. Cats make you work for it. I can respect that.

It's earned unconditional love. If that makes any sense.

Unconditionable love until you put that plate of food down for the cat to eat ...

 

[ArnoldBabar]

Dammit, Shep won't fetch. He's by no means a retriever. He's a shepherding dog ... so he'll play 'chase' but definitely not 'fetch.' Matter of fact, if I throw a stick, he gives me a particularly indignant look and walks in the other direction.

My last dog was like that. He looked at me like, "Why should I go get it? You're the one who threw it away. You go get it."

 

[zeke12]

You learn to wake up with various parts of you asleep.

But he was a stray when we got him, but neutered and declawed and deaf. So he was someone's cat and they didn't take very good care of him. He has abandonment issues. It took him more than a year to sit in me or the girl's lap. So I let him sleep where he wants.

 

[ArnoldBabar]

A 15-pound deaf beast named Franklin who showed up at my folks house begging about three years ago.

I got stranded in the snow last week and almost cried when I had to call the vet's office and tell them to keep him another day.

He sleeps on me. Not by me. Not against me. On me.

Man, I thought having our 6.5 pound cat sleep on me was uncomfortable.

Trade you for my 19-pounder. He's like a little fluffy planet.

 

[Highway 101]

Thank you to everybody who posted pics of their pets, or their kids, or the pets and their kids.

Coming off a view of the “tourist” thread earlier today, this thread backs up all of the thoughts about how we are a community of heartfelt, intelligent and compassionate folks. Dare I say the word “family” with the squabbles, oddballs and arguments we have?

To share about my pets, I had several growing up, including a cat named Banner that has similar colors and markings to SC’s ‘Maggie.’ I also had between 200-250 rabbits over a 10-year period, but most of them were considered livestock for 4-H projects. Almost all of them were French Lops which can have as much personality as some cats. (Google for cute pics) As for the breeders, I sold a handful of the bucks for $150 cash - yeah.... for a rabbit!

That was a long time ago. When I went home for this last Christmas, our 13-year-old Corgi named Emma came jumping on my legs as soon as I got out of the car from the airport, begging for attention just like she did as a puppy so many years ago.

Unfortunately, she was worn out the rest of my visit but still remembered me as “Big Brother.”

After I put my bags in the car to return back here, she wasn’t as chipper. I gave her a big hug and kiss because it was probably the last time I’ll see her.

I hope it wasn’t.

And I sure as heck miss having animals around me every day — cats or dogs or rabbits or horses or even cattle.

 

[audreyld]

I miss my dog. He's back home.



He just had his second knee surgery.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

I haven't had my own pets - either I've been at home or in apartment complexes that prohibit pets.

But this thread reminded me of a step-grandmother I lost less than three weeks ago. There wasn't a time I knew her when there weren't pets around the house. Mostly cats, but there were a couple of dogs as well. I can't think of one I didn't get along well with.

Thanks for the bittersweet memory.

 

[ServeItUp]

A little black cat named Lucy. Five years on the board and I can't post pics. She's jet black with yellow eyes and about 10 white hairs on her chest. She also sleeps on me. And on the rare occasions when I've had romantic liaisons she's kind enough to leave the room... grudgingly.

 

[Hammer Pants]

I have a cat who belonged to my girlfriend's sister until she had to move and loved a downtown apartment that didn't allow pets. I love her already. She's fat and fluffy and spazzes out when she sees a shadow. I had a cat and dog when I was a kid, and I love animals. I can't wait to get a dog. I love blue ticks and most hound dogs.

My roommates have a cat and a jack russell mix, and they roam freely from my part of the house to theirs. We're a big, happy, lint-rolling family.

 

[Hammer Pants]

On a side note, it's always pissed me off that some people make jokes about cat people being weird. Since I was a child, my parents always had a cat. We had Tigger, who was orange and white, and when he passed way (one of the worst days of my childhood), we got another cat named Avery, and we've been close since I was a kid. I think of him like a third sibling. I get excited about going to see him. And now I have Lilly (I know ... I didn't name her, but that's her name). I just love cats. Why do people make these jokes? Cats are great. I think one dog and one cat in the same house is a perfect mix.

 

[Highway 101]

Shadow-spastic cats rock!

HP: Way to go as an adopted kitty Dad!

 

[Hammer Pants]

Shadow-spastic cats rock!

HP: Way to go as an adopted kitty Dad!

Thank you, sir. Nice win for your Hoosiers against some douchebag brats in Champaign.

 

[rascalface]

I have a cat ... Smokey (her given name by the humane society folks), aka Smokeybear. I adopted her from the local shelter, she was picked up wandering the streets of the city at about a year old. She moved in with me about a year ago and is just the sweetest animal ever. Sometimes when I come home from work, she's waiting for me to come in the door, purring like crazy and running circles around my feet.

I made a couple of trips to the shelter to decide if I really wanted to adopt an animal (it is a lot of responsibility, after all) and then to make sure I got the right one. I picker her out because she seemed to be the only animal there that was just as lazy, if not more, than me. She was asleep every time I went in there. If you tried to pet her, she'd just look at you like, "OK, whatever, guy" and roll back over.

If only that was the reality of it. She's a very active cat, loves to chase around her cat toys and sit on top of the kitchen cabinets to keep an eye on things. Don't get me started on her irrational declaration of war on all things paper towels.

She also has her spot on the top of the back of the couch in the late-afternoon sun. She lies there so much, that cushion has a nice concave shape now. And I have to vacuum up the cat hair every 10 minutes, it seems.

Small price to pay. One of the best decisions I've ever made.