Do You Realize?

Woofday Wednesday--Nibbles

The story of how Nibbles joined our family is a sweet one but one that gives testament to the absolute disregard for animals that some people have. In late 2000, we had an ice storm that knocked out power all over our town. We decided to go out to eat for dinner, and as we passed Fairview Park, in the dusk I spotted a little dachshund struggling through the ice & snow. We stopped to pick him up, and he was so sweet and so cold. I wrapped him in my sweatshirt, and we began to drive through the neighborhood to find this little guy's home. On our second try, we found "home;" this angel's name was Rusty. We expected his family to be grateful or worried about him; instead, they simply said that he had been gone since that morning (eight hours in the snow & ice), and they figured he would come home on his own. They also had two other dogs that they said didn't really like Rusty. We sadly left, and for the rest of the evening we talked about Rusty and his terrible family. The next day, we went to his house & asked if we could take him home with us: it was a bittersweet moment, as they rather quickly let us have him. We changed his name to "Nibbles," and since that day, he has always been so humble and loving and grateful.

A couple of sad things that we've not been able to  overcome in the seven years we've had him: he still cringes when you reach for him, even to pet him, and he still treats all food as if he were starving, nipping fingers and growling for his spot at the dish.

He now has degenerative disc disease, common for dachshunds. Cold weather makes his back ache like arthritis, so he now stays indoors. We have to lift him up and down from high objects (like beds or sofas).

He is truly a "Mama's Boy." He makes the greatest grunts and whines and howls. He is a little spoiled and as a result is a pain, but after coming from the family he came from, it's all good.

Love a stray; neuter & spay!

Meowy Monday--Rosie

Last week, you met my kitty soul mate, Gilda. This week you meet her sister, Rosie, who looks a whole lot like Gilda; many people get them confused until they get to know the sisters. Rosie is Eldest's kitty; she is never far from her at all. She is quite talkative when she wants something, and although Circus terrorizes her frequently, she always gets respect at the food dish for some reason. She is truly the sweetest-natured cat we have.

When we went to adopt a cat from the rescue group, there were so many beautiful kitties to choose from, but my heart went out immediately to these two that looked alike and were in the same cage. It was obvious they were sisters, and I really felt torn; I asked if Hubby would mind getting both, he said okay, and they were mine.

Their naming process is one I've made scrapbook pages about. They have had so many names. Their adoption certificates say Annabelle and Annalise. Those names just did not really suit them. So for a while, we called them Pink and Red, for the colors of the collars they were wearing. We noticed that one stayed close to us, but one of them shied away from people in general, so they became Hither and Yon. The kids couldn't remember those, as they were very young. So we tried Nearly and Farly. Those names were too comical; these were more regal cats than comical, though, and those wouldn't do, either. After searching the internet I found a site dedicated to naming pairs of animals. Coming across their names, I knew immediately they were the ones for our kitties. And thus they became Rosencrantz & Gildenstern, a.k.a. Rosie & Gilda.

Truth be told, Rosie is the cat I chose that day. If we hadn't decided not to split the sisters up, I would not have found my kitty soul mate. A note of advice for anyone considering splitting up a pair: don't.

Love a stray; neuter & spay!

Meowy Monday--Gilda

Now that I'm somewhat back on schedule, let's get back to another love-- cute, cuddly, fuzzalicious kitties!

You've met one set of our sister kitties, Sapphire and Circus. Today, I present one-half of our other set of sister-kitties.

After Poogan came into the house, I decided it was missing some feline fancy, so I asked to get a cat. As a testament to his love (he was an avowed cat-disliker... not quite a hater, but, well... you get the picture), Hubby went with me to look at the rescues available at PetSmart through the local SPCA. Among all the beautiful kitties, there were two that really caught my eye. They were beautiful brown long-haired tabbies, they were in the same cage, and they were nearly identical. One was aggressively seeking love and rubs, while the other one gracefully let her sister take the limelight. I simply could not make up my mind. Luckily, Hubby came through and suggested we take them both, because had I had to decide, I would never have found my kitty soul-mate.

Gilda (short for Gildenstern, which I will explain next week, when you'll meet Rosencrantz) is definitely my cat and my cat only. Anyone who says cats don't display loyalty like dogs has never met this cat. She is the softest cat I've ever met, she sleeps next to my head every night, and we are like peas & carrots.

Gilda recently inexplicably lost about 30% of her body weight with no other symptoms whatsoever. After several blood panels, two ultrasounds, an endoscopy, a possible cancer, and a several-month-long regime of steroids, there is still no real explanation. It seems that eight pounds is her new "normal", as opposed to twelve. Bizarre, but I have decided to just go with it; I was worried so long that she was going to die, but now I just want to concentrate on how well she lives.


Love a stray; neuter & spay!

Woofday Wednesday--Marshmallow

Marshmallow has been with us for a little under a year. We found her in February running up a busy street with a television cable tied around her neck. That's how her "loving" owners kept her contained, by tying her up with a TV cable. She'd chewed through it and was running free, with no collar to be found. Eldest suggested her name because she's colored just like a toasted marshmallow.

She's the largest dog we have, at 40 pounds, and she's so hyper that she's a handful lots of times. It's amazing how friendly she is, considering her former living situation. She was still a puppy when we found her, so when she gets bored, she chews stuff up. She ate the hammock in the back yard. Ate it right off the frame. She's not picky; she'll chew on wood, plastic, or metal alike.

My favorite thing about Marsha is that one blue eye and how she "talks" to you, in short little howls. When she was in heat (right after we found her, so we couldn't spay her right away), and still sometimes at night, she'll start a dog symphony with long, wolf-like howls. I love to hear that.

Love a stray; neuter & spay!

Meowy Monday--Sisters

We have 2 more kitties to talk about, but before I do, this week I wanted to share a couple photos of Sapphire & Circus . They are so sweet together sometimes, and at other times, they start out sweet but quickly dissolve into a kitty smackdown. One will start to give the other a bath, and... BOOM! It's on. They both have the most animated tails, too, so when they are duking it up, those monkey tails are going a mile a minute. Very amusing to watch. I cannot imagine having one of them without the other.

Love a stray;
neuter & spay!

Woofday Wednesday---Prozac

Another cute face & sweet personality from my backyard.

The kids found Prozac while hanging up flyers after our Pomeranian (named Pig) went missing. We lived in a neighborhood where assholes who couldn't bother to spay & neuter their pets loved to dump off their "extras" knowing that there were a lot of kids to haul 'em home (same place they found Sapphire and Circus). We named him Prozac because he was so incredibly hyper; now knowing more about psychiatric drugs, we should have named him Concerta or something.

I always say that Zac is part Yorkshire Terrier, part Ewok, and part Wookie. I call him "Ewook" a lot, because he looks like an Ewok and smells like a Wookie; he looks and smells so nice for about 2 hours after a bath. He's incredibly sweet, but he is definitely NOT cat-friendly. I LOVE this pup!

The two included photos are just after a bath, and in terrible need of a bath.

Love a stray;
neuter & spay!

Meowy Monday---Circus

Last week, I began my Meowy Monday postings by introducing you to Sapphire, one of our four rescued kitties. This week, I present her sister Circus.

To make a long story short, the day after Eldest & her friend found Sapphire, they found another kitten in the same spot.  It was obvious the two were sisters, both with creamy white fur and sparkling blue eyes. We decided they shouldn’t be separated, and suddenly we were a four-cat family.

Early on, we learned that Circus would play with anything and everything. (She was playing when the girls found her, which led to her name, and, oh, how aptly she is named!) One of her favorite games has been to go into our bathroom & knock random stuff off the countertop onto the floor to hear the noise that it makes. She and Sapphire wrestle and play like sisters still. Circus sleeps on top of me at night. She is the ultimate good "bad" cat; she loves mischief and a good smack-down with any one of the other cats. She is fourteen pounds of fun and love, and she’s a true testament to the value of rescue.

Love a stray;

neuter & spay!

If I had an extra hundred grand or so lying around, I’d have this cat cloned (except it would be a waste of cash, since her clone likely wouldn't act or even look like her).

Woofday Wednesday---Poogan

We have six dogs. All of them are rescues of some brand or another. Each of them has their own sad story & their own baggage that they carry with them, but I love each of them dearly. For a while Wednesdays will be dedicated to our canine friends and others' canine friends who were adopted.

Buying a dog from a breeder is like buying a T-shirt from Saks Fifth Avenue. You're paying way too much to find a designer dog, when a pound puppy will likely fit better and be happier to serve your needs.

Without further ado, this is Poogan. She was named after hubby's & my favorite restaurant in Charleston:  Poogan's Porch. We were so taken by the story of this restaurant we decided it would be the name of our first dog.

Some may say Poogan doesn't qualify as a rescue, because she came from a pet store. After one meets Poogan, your mind will change. If anyone but us or another 0.00001% of the population had ended up with Poogan, she would have been dropped out in the country to fend for herself, used for a bait dog, or euthanized. This dog is truly NUTS! She is a fear biter, and she is afraid of a whole plethora of evils: the vacuum, aluminum foil, brooms & mops, shadows on the wall, reflections on the ceiling. The list goes on. And when she's afraid, she yaps... in a high-pitched, little dog yap... a lot.

Despite all this, we love her. She was our first dog. She was supposed to be a Pomeranian, but having come from a disreputable puppy mill, we really can't pinpoint exactly what she is, since she weighs about 15 pounds. (She weighs more like what original Pomeranians weighed when Queen Victoria loved them so.) She's fiercely loyal to hubby & me. She has a heaping helping of neuroses that might otherwise get her kicked off another family's island, but we run the Island of Misfit Animals, so she's Queen Bitch here.
She's getting on up in years (almost 11), getting kind of blind (that really helps her neurotic state of mind, I assure you), and when she gets really anxious about something, she starts panting & does the greatest Jack Nicholson "The Shining" impression I've ever seen.

Love a stray;
neuter & spay!
AAAARRRRRRRGH!

Meowy Monday---Sapphire

Two things I dearly love are animals and photography. Two things I run low on most days are time and, apparently, non-controversial blog posts. We have four kitties, all of whom are rescues. What better way to share their stories than here in my little corner of the web? Every Monday, you can meet another of my feline friends. (Stay tuned for Woof-day Wednesdays.)

This is Sapphire. My daughter and a friend found her abandoned in our last neighborhood about five years ago. Hubby and I had gone out for the evening, leaving the kids with our regular babysitter. We came home to a kitten, complete with name. She was obviously part Siamese, with her lovely points and sparkly blue eyes. When she came to us, she was much lighter than these photos show; Siamese start life as white or cream, then slowly develop dark "points" (ears, paws, tail, face) and darker cream to tan fur. In fact, when we had her spayed and her belly had to be shaved, the hair shaved off was pale cream, and the hair grew back almost black. I love Sapphire's coloring. Her face is two-toned, half deep brown, half almost tortoise-shell. Her front paws are the same colors, except the sides are switched.

Sapphire is my hubby's devoted friend. She loves the way he smells when he gets sweaty from working out, and she will wallow in his workout clothes when he takes them off. She waits patiently (some days, more patiently than others) for him to get ready for work each morning, then leads him downstairs to the door. On his way, she stops at her food dish for breakfast, where hubby gives her a goodbye rub and is on his way.

Love a stray; neuter and spay!

Dog-gone green

One of my precious pups, Nibbles, is not only old & infirmed, but pretty naturally naked as well. And so, in the fall and winter, when he goes outside, he wears sweaters and jackets. Not by his choice, mind you, because he hates them with the fires of a thousand suns. But, because he loves me (and because I've gotten smart and now know what kind of apparel he can wiggle out of), he wears them. He still gives me the stink-eye, but he wears them.

One of my other poochies, Prozac, on the other hand, LOOOOOVES him some doggie sweater. Although he is younger and slightly more covered in hair, he gets jealous when Nibbles is looking snappier than he, and so Zac-y usually gets cute shit, too.

And so it was that I was perusing the aisles of Petco (yes, an evil corporation, but there's only one other one-stop shopping alternative for our menagerie in town, also an evil corporation) that I came across two of the cutest sweatshirts ever... made of recycled plastic!  They have the little "recycle triangle thingie" embroidered on them. They are from the American Kennel Club Green Planet line of accessories. There are toys and sweatshirts (and a jacket, I think), all using recycled plastics and recycled content in their packaging.

So sorry, Nibbles; I know you were hoping I wouldn't find anything in your size or an acceptable color. ;-)