My Fuzzy Friends

Growing up, I cannot remember ever not having a dog. I just always had one. My first dog was named "Penny". She was a Chihuahua mix. I don't remember much about her as she was hit by a car when I was four years old. I had another dog that looked just like her not long after that and we named her "Gypsy". She never was spayed and soon I had three more dogs. This thing of always having a family dog continued until I married and moved away. We never could get a cat to stay with us. I think that it must have been the dogs or something. At this point, I really didn't like cats all that much anyway. In high school I had a Pointer mix named "Ben". Now Ben was a cool dog. All of my dogs before this had been gun shy. Every now and then, we would go rabbit hunting or quail hunting. Ben wasn't too good at the rabbit hunting thing, but neither was I. However, he was a wonderful bird dog. He would point, and then flush out the birds. If it flew, I could drop it. I was always was a good shot with a flying object. I have yet to get a rabbit. :) After Ben died, my mom got a lap dog that she had at the time I was married.

After I got married, we were able to have cats. My wife had been a cat person all of her life. She had dogs as well, but she really loved cats. One cat led to four cats, and four cats led to twelve. That's when I said, "We have to get a dog." I knew, or thought I did, that dogs would make the cats uncomfortable. Perhaps, they would even run away. I know... I'm awful. So we went to the animal shelter and got a dog, a beautiful German Shepherd. Now he wasn't too happy to be there with us and he broke loose from his chain. Well, that was the last I ever saw of him. I looked for two weeks before I finally gave up. About a year later, we get this Lab/Chow mix that looked like a Lab, but was solid gray with a black tongue. This dog loved me. Finally, everything was going to work out. Two months later, someone stole her. We lived in the city at that time and we were in kind of a rough neighborhood. A neighbor saw her get stolen. Turns out it was the neighbor that stole her. They either sold her or gave her away to someone else they knew. For some reason, I could not keep a dog. I think it must have been the cats or something. Turns out, that the cats we had carried Feline Leukemia, and I lost them one by one. This was when I learned to be a cat person as well as a dog person. I hate to see anything suffer, and watching them get put down just broke my heart.

Now after twenty three years, we have five cats. They too tested positive for Feline Leukemia, so we have to keep them away from other cats that may be around. We take care of them the best that we can. We have lost many cats recently, one by one. I have long since learned to love cats. Eventually, we will lose all of them, and because they are all spayed or neutered, they can't reproduce. They all have trouble with any virus or infection. I may try to get another dog in a few years. After all of them are gone, of course. I don't want them to feel replaced in the time they have left. Perhaps another cat. Maybe even one of each. All of my former pets come to my mind as I write this. I don't know why I love these creatures as I do, but I do. I don't know if there will be animals in heaven, but I really think it would be neat if all of my old pets were up there waiting for me. I would really love to see them again. Yeah, that would be neat.