Pets

Years ago we took in a pregnant stray. We called her Half Cat because we already had three cats, and didn't want to admit we had four. Turned out she wasn't pregnant, just FAT!!!

"Big Mu'Fuzz" was a huge black tomcat I found in a dumpster in the early '70s. He was a real hellraiser, yet very dear and incredibly protective of me--he would have tried to take down a rhinosaurus if one had charged me.

When I was a girl in Coronado, CA, I had 3 beautiful white ducks: "Big Nose Kate" (after Jesse James' girlfriend), "Johnny Quickstix" (a corruption of Don Quixote), and "Jack the Nipper." Pretty embarrassing when the day after we gave them to our next door neighbors (we were moving), Johnny and Jack both laid eggs--apparently Kate was the father :-).

Obviously, I didn't make duck sexing my life's work... .

Bubbadee,

I LOVE Half Cat!

I take care of many feral cats with FIV and FELV, and my mom named the last FIV positive cat I brought in "Bogey" (after the golf term for one stroke over par). She said he was one-too-many cats.

Of course she fell in love with his beautiful big heart, his plumy tail, and his sparkling golden eyes.

Rose, My daughter has a miniature Chihuahua the is named Penelope. Penny for short. Small world isn't it?? Oh and by the way, spoiled rotten!!

As an aside, Oy is about 3 years old a and VERY laid back cat. Oliver is about 7 months old, and we thought neutering would slow him down a bit. Wrong! The first day we brought him home from the pound, (very young) he fell down in the litter box and had poop stuck to his butt and tail. I was just getting into the shower and told my wife to let me have him. He did not mind getting soaked at all. Seems like he is now a "water kitty". He sleeps in the bathroom sink. Turn on the water, and it will get about 2 or 3 inches deep before he even thinks about moving. He just recently quit sitting in the back of the shower with me, but still climbs on my wife's legs in the tub and drinks bath water. Gotta have the toilet lid down at all times!! Oliver is a tiny kitty, and Oy is plump. Oliver loves to attack Oy, jumps on his back, and Oy loves to pin him down and give him a kitty bath licking.

I love Papillions, the cat is pretty too!

In graduate school I got a guinea pig which I named Sir Reginald Hamhock III. My first dog was Rachmaninoff because of all the dogs I had known she was the "pianist." Our current pets are a couple of cats, Bud and Lou, as in Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, but we also refer to them as Loucifer and Beelzebud. As you can see, our kitties are "big boned." Lou is at his fighting weight of 22 pounds while Bud is a svelte 18 pounds. (A little boy in our neighborhood once saw us outside with Lou and asked if he could pat our dog. Pitiful, really pitiful.)

bubba--penelope has a badly defective heart. she is 3 years old and the vet never thought she'd live this long. she was born here in the house (maya is her mom) and she has always been inside, and i think that has helped her stay alive this long. she is skinny and frail and sleeps a lot, but she is spirited and energetic at mealtime. she has trouble breathing too. but i dont think she realizes she has anything wrong with her!

we did think she was going to die at one point, but my daughter had the inspiration to feed her a hard boiled egg and it was alike a miracle cure, so now she gets half a hard boiled egg every day.

oh, and it is my daughter who named her penelope! small world indeed!