Furry, Scaly, Feathered Friends

Thought it would be nice to have a place to share stories and/or images of our furry, scaly, feathered friends. When we first moved in my Dad set rules of conduct for the household. One of which was no pets inside except for fish, which we had none of at the time. This seemed fine to me as my last kitty was no longer with us, and I was in no hurry to relpace her. Being that we are out in the boonies I also didn't want to get an outdoor kitty that the local wildlife may decide to snack on.
My Mom started it she bought a huge fish tank and got some of the oddest behaving fish I've ever seen. Next one of the local feral cats had a litter in our shed. Well my nieces couldn't resist so that managed to make sure that the momma cat would leave one behind during her move (which they blamed on the nephews). So, I ended up bottle feeding a five day old kitten, essentially becoming Mom to her. Now Miss Wiggles (aptly named) has just celebrated her third birthday and is the reigining queen of the house. We've since given the fish to my eldest niece's science treacher last school year, Mom got tired of the tank maintence with thirty plus fish. Then Friday morning I looked out the kitchen window and saw this large black lump laying out on the hill in the backyard, so I called my Mom in and wouldn't you know it was a pup. We tried the go home bit that the neighbor dogs get but he didn't go away, just happily came up to the window and began jumping up and down, wagging his tail. We decided to let Dad deal with him when he got home it was only a twenty minute wait. Nothing doing, as soon as Dad told him he better go home, this silly pup ran right up to him as if greeting a much missed master. Long story short, we finally figured out that some cruel person had just dropped the poor thing off during the night. Since we live on a private, dirt road wasn't to hard to do unnoticed. So now we have come to terms with the fact the in addition to the silliest cat on the planet inside, we now have the silliest dog on the planet outside. He was officially named Huck yesterday evening after much debate, as Dad thinks he has Huckleberry Hounds facial features. I'll post pics of these silly members of the family later. I just don't understand why someone would dump the poor thing, he's very friendly and as far as I can tell his only crime is chewing things up. The kids of course were thrilled, they've been begging for a dog for ages. Why he picked our house is beyond me but he seems to have decided this home and he's staying put. Oh and did I mention we also fill a hummingbird feeder weekly and go through about five huge bags of birdseed a year? Oh and who could forget the ever growing lizard colony, and the family of deer that hang out on the property.
update:

Lucky fur babies,Weesa.
Our neighborhood gets a lot of drop offs too. I would judge those people except I had to make that awful decision once myself. I've been making up for it ever since by adopting four other cats, trying to make amends.
When I was married before and 9 months pregnant with Colin we were forced to leave our apartment building as it was sold and being torn down. We had little time to find a replacement home and in Miami the choices were strange. You might be able to have a pet in one complex but no children over the age of 2 (Dylan was 2) Or, the reverse..children were welcomed but no pets.
We couldn't find a place to rent or buy in a few weeks' time and faced with the decision of taking our 2 year old black cat to the shelter (not cat friendly and definitely a kill zone) or setting Pepper out into a nice neighborhood where we had seen lots of kid's toys in yards.
I cried for weeks and 37 years later still feel shame but what could I do? I thought I was giving him a chance to live. Since that time I've tried to adopt whenever a stray found its way to us.
Maybe those who found their way to your area were loved so much the thought of a kill shelter was more than the former owners could take but there were circumstances that forced the issue.

or maybe those people were skunks.
I'm glad your Dad was adopted by Huck. Rescue animals can be so grateful.

I could understand it if there weren't programs here to help but there are several besides the local shelters. I mean the Pet Smart store will even help. Oh well, it's their loss no matter how you look at it because he really is a lovable guy.
I'm sure you've more than made up for having to let your kitty go, and you did it to give him a chance. Around this area it's more like a death sentence. I've seen more dead animals on the side of the road than I care to count and a lot of the time they've been hit purposefully by some people who live near us. Normally I wouldn't say such a thing but they brag apparently and one of the girls in the family spilled to my niece. They'll get theirs eventually.
Anyways, going to call the vet today to get him an appointment. I'm sure he needs his shots and we'd like to know how old he is, and how much he's supposed to eat a day. Don't want to overfeed him (or not give enough). He also needs the heart guard, and flea/tick stuff. Have to remember to pick up Miss Wiggles refill on her heart guard while there. My Dad is so funny he's informed both of them that their doctor bills, food, treats, and toys are not cheap these so they need to go out get jobs to help support them. Miss Wiggles just looks at him like he's crazy, I'm sure in her mind she has a job being queen of the house. Huck on the other hand just ignores him, he's to busy trying get someone to run and play. Funny man that father of mine.

I do not have any pets. I have lived for many years in apartments with very strict no pets rules.

I now live in a building that allows pets, but requires a huge pet escrow (equivalent to one month's rent) and increases your rent around $100/month per pet.

So, no pets.

But I do have a not-cat. Or actually a not-my-cat.

Shortly after I moved in here, a cat started visiting the porch. My mother enjoyed the cat's visits. She gave him a name. She called him He-She, because she couldn't tell if he were a boy or a girl.

I asked the cat, he told me his name was "Abe."

Okay, then.

One day, my mother says, "Oh, the cat is here. Pet him."

"Mom, I can't pet the cat. It's not our cat. It's a strange cat. He may not want to be petted."

"Pet the cat," she said, with a air of finality.

Okay. Okay. I know when I'm beaten. I petted the cat.

He loved it.

Purred, bumped me with his head looking for more.

One of my "jobs" around the house was to do the marketing. Mom would go through the sale circular and make a market list based on the bargains, and I would go over it, to see if there was anything missing or anything I wanted to add.

One day I was going through the list and ... "cat treats."

"Mom," I said in the careful tone you have to use with the elderly, "we don't have a cat."

"They're for the cat who comes."

"But Mom, he's not our cat. He's someone else's cat. He has a collar, and a tag, and someone who feeds him. We can't give him treats."

"They're on sale."

As I said, I know when I'm beaten.

Cat treats were purchased and doled out. I would give one treat. Mom, thinking that He-She looked "hungry," would give four or five.

Of course, because her mobility was somewhat limited, she sometimes wasn't able to prevent him from coming in the house. I often awoke to cries of, "The cat got in!"

Most of the time he played by the rules, though, waited nicely on the step for his treats.

Around about this time, he got a new collar, and instead of his owner's last name, his name was on the tag. "LEVY."

So, I was pretty close with Abe.

My mom passed away two years ago.

Levy still comes by. And I still give him treats. Sometimes I think he's looking for her.

Occasionally I'm not fast enough in getting the treats, or I'm on the porch when he arrives. When I open the door he rushes in, and sits in front of the treat drawer.

He is a very smart cat.

And an excellent hunter. But we do have a deal ... when he catches something, he shows it to me, but takes it straight home to daddy. Who, by the way, knows about the treats. I figured out who he was, and fessed up. He's okay with it, just so long as I don't give him a full meal, because he worries when Levy won't eat. Apparently there's someone else on the court who is leaving out whole cans of cat food.

But treats are okay. And pettings.

Great story...and a smart kitty...
My dog used to seek out yard sales on weekends because in our subdivison, sellers sometimes would fire up the grill and cook hot dogs for people wandering through their stuff.Bear would guard the grill.
Bear used to visit all the neighbors and must have practiced sucking his big Lab face in so he looked gaunt,because everyone always fed him..He gained so much weight one year I had to send out postcards asking the neighborhood to "Please,do not feed the Bear"
No one can convince me animals do not have intelligence (and scheming little minds)

You can't convince me of it either Maxecat. That smart little Levy sounds like Miss Wiggles, she does the sitting in front of the treat door nightly, waiting patiently As for Huck he gets to go to the vet tomorrow morning. Should be interesting, he doesn't seem to have a problem with the leash (Mom had to get a one and a collar today) so hopefully he won't be difficult about going in the morning.
Meant to ask if anybody had any idea why Miss Wiggles has decided that Huck is ok? She has routinely hissed at every other dog and cat that has ever come through the yard but not him. Not one complaint (other than he got treats first today) out her. They sit nose to nose at the storm door and no objections from her at all. We can't figure it out at all.
I told the parental units that it had to be a sign, that if her majesty has no objections to his presence he was meant to be here right.

Yes Weesa, they are already friends! They will tolerate & even like each other. Both are very cute & sweet looking.

My little kitty is Shiraz, a reverse tortoiseshell (started out black with a few gold streaks), who is nearing 9? We rescued her from a storm drain, in a large park. She had no tag, collar, and a broken off tail tip, the end still broken. She was a small cat at the time, and never grew very large. But sometimes that little 6 pounder can feel like 20 pounds when she steps on you!

I'll send Weesa a pic - I have limited photo skills online.

Oh, and she was named after a middle eastern "city of roses", not the wine. Also my first bellydance teacher's name.

Love how we can adopt so easily!

Kitten lets me know when she wants me to get up for feeding in the morning, and half the time when I've filled everything, she just really wanted the warm spot in the bed - little sneak. But she wakes me up by licking my fingers, just a little bit, on each spot she can reach. It's a very cute way to wake up, most of the time.

As for her presents, she has finally learned I appreciate them to not be living any longer. Also she places them at the foot of my chair, or in my shoe, whichever is there. I have learned to check my shoes every time.

Ok got Huck to the vet and it turns out he's not as old a we thought, only about 7-8 months she said. So they gave him a birthday of February 9th, that way he can get birthday cards in my email like Miss Wiggles does. He is very healthy with only a minor case of hook worms which we began immediate treatment for along with the heartguard. He goes back for booster shots and re-check on the 27th of this month.

This is the picture of Shiraz in the "Kitty Cave" as Karentia called it. Such a cutie

Well as of this morning we are now a 3 cat house our old calico Lil bit's decided life had finally run it's course and laid down by the fire and died, she came to us when she was still so tiny she could hardly walk and our Lucky Dog decided it was her lost child and raised her even nursing her and hauling her around by the scruff of her neck, Lil bit's mourned for weeks when Lucky died! She had been having some major issues, that the vet said there was no cure for, she would have siezures and then go into sneezing fits, don't think these last few months have been all that pleasant but she endured, and would always be there for breakfast and a scritch, when she didn't show this morning I went looking and found her by the fire! SIGH Life goes on! She will be missed!

Oh,samtibbs,what a beautiful kitty...and a great life story,too.I've never seen such exquisite whiskers! And a long haired calico to boot..How long did you serve her?
Now she can find Lucky Dog..I hope they can hang with Doc,Bear and Max. Good times with no fleas.or vets.

samtibbs, I`m so sorry. She will be missed. As maxecat wrote, she is with Lucky Dog now again. I`m sending you one big hug full of love. Take care.

On other note, I want to post a picture of puppy. HIs name is Apollo and was born in 2004 to my dog Cecilka. It was very complicated and she needed surgery to get the puppy out of her. Then she only fed him but didn`t care of him. So for two month I was dog`s mother. When he was fourteen days old we realized that something wrong was with his back legs. He wasn`t moving with them and had them in strange angle. Our vet told us to wait for another fourteen days and then put him to the sleep if there won`t be any improvement. For ten days I was doing exercises with his legs, doing massage and pressing some points on his legs and his spine. All done by intuition. And after that ten days he was running like normal puppy. I was very happy.

Here is the photo when he was six weeks old. It is done by my husband and the photo is from our website. I hope I can post it here directly from the site:

And here is the photo of my dog Cecilka and my mother`s dog Dor. They are 11 now but on the photo they are maybe 3 or 4 years old.

The photo was taken by Mr. Novotny and is from our website too.

Evening all

She was beautiful when she was younger and always had me at her beck and call, Maxie we did some figuring I was her servant for 17 years, I am certain Lucky was sitting there waiting for her to come home, and in death she will be beautiful and well groomed again, My youngest said she looked peaceful when he buried her and and that is something because she hasn't for quite some time. Lady she needed those long whiskers at one time she was a rather rotund kitty, as she grew older she became thinner and thinner, I think she had been trying to die for a long time now! I know by looking at her this morning she was relieved to go!

Ladyhawke that is the best story I have ever read, I loved it!

Maxie I think Sugar dog must have been every bit as pitiful as bear was, she learned my dad was a real sucker with the scraps and treats, and would follow him around like she was on a string, I suppose her colesteral count was a contributing factor to her demise!

Lady that is wonderful, I have a friend who owned a dashound who's hind quarters were parralized for a time making it impossible for her to walk, she relied on accupuncture and reiki to completely rejuvinate her she lived for several more years healthy and walking and running fine, sounds like you are a natural, nice job with the magic hands!

God bless all of our furry friends! Me I'm looking forward to seeing all of them when I get there.

Samtibbs, healing the puppie was the point when I told myself to do something with my hands. I took reiki I and II a couple of years after. Third grade is too expensive for me but I would like to have it once too. Sometimes I wonder why I don`t use my healing power more often.

Will be back later to write some of my stories with lost dogs. As many of you have "cat`s soul", I`m having the dog`s. Very often I find lost dog and help him/her.

I'm one of those rare "love them both" kind of people. When Bear's liver was failing,I found a holistic website that provided us with suppliments specifically for his weight and I made all his food. The last 6 months of his life he had all natural food and I could see the difference. His vet was very pleased and didn't laugh at me for finding other things to do to keep him alive.Larry still thinks it's funny I cooked more for the dog than him. Well,he was always at work and Bear kept me company,so of course I'm going to try to help him.

I like your puppy story,Lady. I would have done the same thing.

Had trouble getting the last post through..this,hopefully,is Bear and Maddie,and me...about 4 years ago

Maxe, that`s nice picture. I can feel big happiness from it. How long is it since Bear passed?

Last time I was sending healing energy to Cecilka in May when she was balancing between live and death. I know that help was given in change of what I`ve done for other dogs. When I go outside, sometimes my hubby says: And don`t come back with some lost dog again, please. (must mention, that he stopped car on highway just to let strange wild lost dog to jump into his car to protect him from hitting by another car).

Have an odd and kinda sad story. My aunt and uncle at the end of the road adopted a stray a year or so ago they fed her up got her and after she had a litter they had her fixed. Gave all kittens to good homes except one boy. Well momma cat got hit by a car and there was nothing that could be done for her so they had to put her down. The boy kitty was healthy and thriving. Last week a little puppy showed up on their door step almost starved to death so they took him in got him wormed and bathed to rid him of his fleas (guess they were bad) and he is doing good. All of the sudden kitty stopped eating didn't want to do anything and before they could get him to vet he just died. No idea why it's very odd. They buried him by his momma on their property poor little guy.

lady, I didn't see if you mentioned it or not ... but are Cecika, Apollo, and Dor Viszlas?

Yes ladyhawke, they are Vizslas! I`m very surprise you know them. And Josur - my mother`s youngest one is Hungarian Vizsla too. If you want to see some photos, go to www.madarsky-ohar.com Each of our dogs has its own section with photos (foto in our language). Sorry, the site isn`t in English. Do you know someone who has got one?

By the way, two days ago I think of you, there was film Lady Hawke in our tv :-)

About 25 or so years ago, one of my cow orkers got a dog that was rescued from an animal horder. That long ago, the condition wasn't much heard of ... the house was filthy and packed with animals, many cats, dogs, lizards, and birds. The smelly, underfed, but very loving puppy was a Vizsla. At the time there were only about 200 or so in the United States. They are a lot more popular now, but he was pretty unique back in the day. His new people named him Golden Bonz, because he was all skin and bones but his coat was still that beautiful ruddy gold color Vizslas are known for. So that is how I know Vizslas.

And yes, my friends nicknamed me Ladyhawke after the movie! I love that movie.

I`m happy that puppy was in good hands. Vizslas are very popular here too. Cecilka is 12 next month and by the time she was born it was quite hard to find puppy with pedigree. Now there are a lot of them for the whole year. Vizslas are very hyperactive, but faithful and very happy dogs. Boss of my husband had one female and I fell in love with her. I was outside with her three times and I really wanted own one by myself. I remember the final decision. We were standing at the bar, drinking red wine, were a little bit drunken and boss asked: So do you want one? and I said: Definitelly yes!. And next day he phoned to the dog breeder his female came from and booked one puppy for us. That is how Cecilka came in our life, the breeder is very good friend of my mother from that time and one couple who owned sister of Cecilka are very good friends of me and my husband. The boss passed two years ago by an accident while he was down-hill skiing, the Cecilka`s sister passed three years ago but those friendships are still here. And I`m very thankful for that.

Oh, what beautiful pictures! Maxie, Lady, and the lovely pets.

Vizslas are beautiful dogs! I don't know why I was seeing another breed in my head. Had not checked this thread in quite a while.

Ladyhawke, that is one of my favorite movies as well - too many reasons to list.

I keep hearing Shiraz around the house, expecting to see her in the driveway, and leave the door to the bathroom open for her to come & visit. I'm not going to get another cat. Not yet, or for a while. I do enjoy pet friends, and they do keep you company, but I am done for now - the snake is not the same as a cat. We can feed her & go away for a week and not be concerned.

But yes, I hear bebe chomping some dry food, or jumping off a perch. Have not felt her fur brush my leg, but wouldn't put that past her.

We are so funny, us humans. We gave bebe a lovely sight to be burried at - beautiful view, birds, trees, etc. My mother asked to be cremated & is in a box in my brother's garage. I figure he is waiting for dad to pass, cremate him as well, then we will scatter their ashes up in the San Juan Islands. If nothing else, I will mix their ashes in the sand & make a sand castle with them - if there is anything against human ashes & spreading them in the waters. If it just looks like sand... Point being, they will just be spread to the wind, after sitting around in the garage. Kitteh gets a lovely view. We are strange.

Rest of the family? Spread all over a Seattle cemetary, both sides of a busy thru way, some below ground, some in family spots above. Nice spot, was originally more in the country feel, but the city has grown up around it so huge, dirty & busy.

Love to visit with other people's pets, but need the space for now I guess.

Forgot to drop by here last week. Took Huck to the vet to get his rabies shot and all. He's a healthy boy, the vet said, we just needed to tweak his diet a bit so he doesn't start to get heavy. He's such a happy guy, they all like it when he comes in. If only Miss Wiggles could be that way she thinks that vets
are to claw and hiss at.