My furfamily, Sir

Sir, wow, what can I say about Sir. He was majestic. He was a light in our lives.

I went to PetsMart one weekend... for cat food... and walked in to see this wonderfully beautiful Fawn Great Dane up for adoption. I walked up to him and he leaned on me. That was it, I was already in love. I called Ian right then and there, "hon? can we have a dog? He's a big dog" "how big" asked Ian, "well, big... he's a Great Dane".

I learned later, that’s a common Great Dane trait, the leaning, but that was love at first sight, for me anyway.

He was 5, his family lost their home and couldn’t take him to the parents home, that was the story anyway. I wonder now, because he had old stress licking scars on his legs and the foster mom told me he was a house dog. When we got him home, I’m sure he hadn’t been a house dog. He was a VERY good boy. He slept in our bedroom that first night and in the morning he had to go potty, he got up and went to the slider, we weren’t fast enough though, he peed there on the carpet. Ugh. But that was the one and only time there was an accident like that. He’d wait for hours, he stayed in the house while we were at work all

day.

One day he spotted the clock up hanging high on the wall and heard it ticking I suppose, and he
went nuts,barking crazy. We took it off the wall and showed him, he eventually decided the clock could stay.

No, I’m sure he wasn’t a house dog.

He quickly became a happy house dog though. The first Christmas, we brought the tree in, and well, what dogs do with trees? He couldn’t figure out why on earth we’d bring a tree in the house, but… ok. So he peed on it. Again, a one time deal, never did he do it again. He was a smart boy.

I’d never seen a dog nest. Sir liked to nest. He’d fluff and root his bed to make it all cozy, but being so big and having such big claws, he’d nest his bed to shreds, regularly. We’d buy him big pillows and they’d last a while, but eventually they’d shred.

The first winter we had him, we took him to the snow. Ian says “all dogs love snow”, hmmmm.

So, we loaded the girls in the backseat of the Honda Accord, lay Sir on top of the girls and off we went.

We got to the snow, walked a way in and he took off. Now, he was still new to us, so I didn’t know where he’d go. I was so worried he'd run off and we'd never find him... I was yelling at people to grab his leash, no one would grab the leash of a fleeing 150 lb Great Dane. Go figure.

The snow was soft and puffy, so with each step I took I sunk to my knee, hindering my chase. When I finally got free of the snow I found him waiting at the Honda's back door. “take me home, take me home now” No snow for Sir.

We soon bought the minivan so Sir could have his own seat rather than having to ride on the lumpy girls. He loved that.

There was one incident that I happened to hit the brakes suddenly though, poor Sir. sigh... Ally had just said “don’t throw Sir off the... seat” and down he went, between the 2 seats and couldn’t

get back up easily.

He rode everywhere with us, he was happiest waiting in the van. Even when we’d go to my mother’s place or Ian’s folks house, he’d prefer to wait in the van. I guess he knew that was always going home.

He wasn’t supposed to lay on the sofa or the beds, but when we’d come home from work we’d hear the shift of the sofa or the squeak of Allyssa’s bed as he got down to pretend he’d been on his bed all day.

The first day we left him all day, I was first home and came in through the garage to the kitchen door and he greeted me by standing up on his hind legs and wrapping his front paws on my shoulders. He stood several inches taller than me and it scared me to bits. He was just really happy to see me. That too, was a one time thing.

I remember him up on his hind legs springing up and down so he could see over the privacy fence in the back yard. Funny funny sight.

Sir would regularly RUN around the back yard, several laps, and when he was done he’d run full speed in to the house through the slider. Well, one day the slider wasn’t opened and WHAM. Poor guy! He was very careful after than to check to see if the door was open.

Sir loved his stuffed rabbit. It was his friend. Once he got a little too rambunctious with it and tore its head off. Later that evening I was lying on the bed crocheting or reading… and he sadly, mournfully, brought me the stuffed rabbit body, sulked back out of the room, then again, mournfully brought me the head. I’m sure he wanted me to fix it. I did. He was a happy guy

again.

Much later, months probably, after many repairs, arms, feet, head again too I’m sure… it was unrepairable and the one and only time I ever saw Sir dig… he was in the garden digging a hole with the bits of his bunny next to the hole. I’m sure he was going to bury his passed friend.

Now, tell me animals don't have souls or are just "dumb animals". Sure they are.

Sir was the love of our lives. He went on a long camper trip with us and traveled very well. He was such a good boy.

Sir would go for a walk around the neighborhood with Ian every day, very early in the mornings. One day he was out front while Ian was washing a car and off he went, I think he was going to take his walk. He knew the route by heart after all.

Sir didn’t care for dirty, no mud,rain, weather, water… while he would drink from the pool… and did fall in once, he really didn’t like water.

Sir HATED bath time. I can't stress enough, he was a good boy and would very reluctantly let us take him in the shower for a warm bath once in a GREAT while.

When Sir fell in the pool, that’s when we learned that Great Danes don’t swim, they sink. He didn’t even try to swim. Luckily Ian happened to be out there when it happened and led him to the steps and got him out.

He was our giant ball of love.

We lost our dear Sir to Bloat when he was 12. He was quite old, by then his hind legs wouldn’t hold him up for long, he’d sag. 12 is quite old for a Great Dane.

Sir is the reason we adopted Pongo and Purdy. In his honor, we saved 2 more like him.

My furfamily, Ginger

Ginger is the only girl of the three puuds. We had Maggie and Ginger, but now she’s the only girl of the remaining 6 kitties.

Ginger is a cuddler. She’ll sleep with us almost nightly, well, in the winter. She and Jeevies won’t stay in come spring and summer and mostly even fall. There are too many nighttime bugs out back to be chased and played with to be wasting that time with mom and dad.

Ginger is a solid gray, soft as rabbit fur like Jeevies. She’s soft and squishy, I love to pet and squeeze her. She usually doesn’t mind. She’ll come lay across me sometimes and purr. I love that.

We’re hoping that she too will learn to be an “on you “ kitty. She’s quite the mighty huntress. She was the brave one of the three pudds. She’s the one that got my attention when they were wee tiny babes in the parking lot and the one least likely to run from me, even then. She loves her wet hands rubdown. She’ll wait in the bathroom while I shower and splay herself out on the floor towel so I’ll wet my hands and rub her til my hands are dry, pulling loose fur out, and I’ll have to do this 3 or 4 times with freshly wet hands until she’s happy. She does it outside too, she has a spot in the grass, she’ll run and crouch and wait for Ian to wet his hands in the pool water and rub her down.

I love it when she’s content she’ll curl her paws, all four feets with the toes curled.

My furfamily, Ashes

Ashes: a fantastically beautiful chocolate point crossed blue eyed Ragdoll. He’s a big boy, 21 lbs when he’s on his diet. 25 or so if left to free feed.

He’s SMART. HE opens cabinet doors, he can open lever handle doorknobs, like Tony could.

Ashes was one of two lovely kitties we’d meet every day on our walks around the neighborhood. He and Sammy would come greet us, we’d often sit on the sidewalk and pet them, they’d love us, sit in our laps.

They lived just 3 or 4 houses up the street and would often come visit us in our driveway. Loving, Ashes would cuddle, rub and PURR for us.

One day, our idiot neighbor’s daughter came to our house and said they were moving and their dad didn’t want to take Ashes and Sammy so he was going to have them put to sleep.

Ashes was all of 1 year old and Sammy 2. Both healthy happy kitties.

Our friends who later moved to the east coast took Sammy. He’s been their only cat, only child now for years and all are VERY happy together.

Ashes is my baby blue eyed boy, Siamese in markings but all Ragdoll. He’s such a lover. 21 lbs of cuddle and purr machine.

I often get up to find all the kitchen cabinet doors open. Sometimes contents pulled out on the floor.

He’s saldy been banned from the bedroom as he took it in his head that the way to get my attention was to pee on the bed.

Ashes is usually a very relaxed kitty. Sprawled out in "here's my belly" position is often his favorite.

Almost every night, after we go to bed, we have a gate that closes off the hallway so Ashes can’t get in, he grabs one of his toys, usually his foil ball toy and “MROW” MROW” very loudly. He’ll normally bring it to us, I’ll find it in the morning either just outside the hallway gate or just outside our bedroom slider.

Ashes likes shiny things. Jewelry included. He’ll steel my earrings, necklaces, rings, right off of my vanity or the counter or wherever I’d left them. One day he’d stolen an earring and I asked him “Ashes, would you please bring me back my earring?” as I’d not found it yet and he was acting all innocent cat… hours later I found the earring on the floor at my bedroom door.

He has a thing for my lip balm. I make my own so sometimes it’s in a regular lipstick type container or sometimes in a small tub. He’ll knock it off of wherever I have it to get my attention. He does it while meeting my eyes. He wants me to know it’s him doing it. He does it with a bit of cattitide even.

He’s a smart, sweet, full of personality guy and I wouldn’t trade a minute he’s spent with us. Ashes cuddles me every night on my recliner arm. I LOVE it when he decides to make himself fit in my lap. There’s not a better feeling in the world that the relaxed weight of a kitty on you purring, make that a 21 pound purring kitty and I’m a HAPPY mom!

My furfamily, Jasper

Jasper is the shyest of the three gray puuds.

In the beginning you wouldn’t find the three of them separated. Always together, playing, sleeping in a big gray fur pile. They quickly made friends with everyone.

Uncle Boo and Uncle Oscar were commonly seen cuddling with one or all of them.

Jasper used to sleep on our bed with his brother and sister, but Maggie being the love of his life, he soon chose to stay in the living room with her as she wouldn’t come to bed with us.

He was Ian’s baby, for the first 6 years of his life he wouldn’t sit on my lap, wouldn’t let me hold him, he was only Ian’s kitty.

Here’s a kicker, that little stinker, who wouldn’t let me pick him up or cuddle him… one day my mother was here and she comes walking around the corner with Jasper in her arms!

I don’ t know why, for so long he was afraid of me. Finally, one afternoon, Ian wasn’t home and I was sitting in my recliner watching TV and Jasper must have wanted a cuddle because he came and lay on my lap, from then on he's been my boy too.

I think it has to do with kitty language. They say the slow blink means “I love you” in kitty, so I started slow blinking at him. He’d always done it to me, really, I suspect that’s when he decided I was ok. Now, I'm no sooner in my recliner chair and he's on my lap. He’ll cuddle me, sit on my lap, let me hold him, rub his belly.

When we put a tall child gate in the hallway to make a “crate” for Pongo and Purdy, Jasper was the first to learn to jump it. After we lost our sweet Maggie and sweet Boo, Jasper began to jump the gate in the night and sleep with me. He won't stay past my discovery of him there, but I feel him come in to cuddle where Boo used to and he’ll stay for hours.

Jasper has a funny habit, he picks his toenails, the only cat I’ve had that does that. Ian does it too, I wonder if they’re linked somehow and Ian taught him to pick his toenails.

Jasper, like Maggie Mae, LOVES the fire. Nothing better than a pillow in front of a warm fire.

My furfamily, Jeevies

Jeevies is the most like Smokey Bear. He’s a big lovebug, with a GIANT purr and he is soft like rabbit fur. That's Bear on the right and Jeevies on the left. See? Just like Grandpa Bear.

He likes to lay next to you all stretched out and have you put your arm along his belly so he can wrap himself around your arm. We call him our Jeeves sleeve.

He’s recently made himself a 14 lb boy. I keep telling him, Ashes is supposed to be 20 lbs, but Jeevies, not so much. He does like to eat.

He had some nasty bladder crystals when he was around 4 or 5. It was bad, he had to be at the vet for days. They weren’t sure he would be able to pee on his own again; thankfully he made a full recovery. We’re hoping this new grain free food will help all of them to not get bladder crystals too.

Jeeves, he's a mooch. He loves to be loved. He comes up to all the kitties and head bonks them and waits for them to bathe him. He revels in it. Grandpa Bear always, always took good care of his Jeevies and now Mr. Jeeves expects all the other kitties to bathe him. Sometimes they do, sometimes they try to pierce his ears with their teeth.

Jeevies and Boo.

Jeevies is quite the hunter. I discourage hunting, even though I know it’s their nature. One day he got himself 2 full grown blue jays at once. He was headed for the kitty door at full speed with one in his mouth while being bombed by the other birds. I, of course ran out like a madwoman trying to get him to drop the poor bird before hitting the kitty door at full speed. Sigh.

He brought in the house a live hummingbird one day too. Oh my goodness, he came in with it in his mouth, we yelled, of course, he let go, the bird flew all over the house trying to get out. We were trying to catch the hummingbird... in the house...

Jeeves managed to get to the mantle above the fireplace and launched off of it and caught the bird a second time mid-air. We chased him, he ran out the kitty doors and outside and let go and the bird flew away. We were quite relieved the bird lived and laughed so much at 3 of us trying to catch a hummingbird in the house.

Jeevies, he's my big baby boy. I love his cuddles each and every night... well, until spring comes and bugs come out, then he'd prefer chasing bugs to cuddling.

Oscar & Jeevies - see, he's a mooch and a snuggler.

My furfamily, The 3 gray puuds

One day at work, I think I was at lunch, I saw this tiny gray face, and I do mean TINY and hungry... run in to the bushes in the parking lot. I went to investigate and found 3 itty bitty gray kitty faces watching me ever so carefully. Oh my goodness, I ran upstairs to get my coworkers and asked them to help me catch them. After about 15 minutes, my boss announced they are ferals and I'll never catch them. I tried again after work and each morning, noon and evening thereafter to no avail.

I had spotted Ginger first, the girl, the brave one. I started feeding them, bringing them a can of food each day. They were HUNGRY. They would run from me, but come rightback for the can of food, only once I'd stepped out of grabbing distance though.

One weekend Ian and I went down to try, Ian caught Jasper first because Ian had already figured out that Jasper was SO skiddish he had better be first or he wouldn't get another chance.

I stuffed Jasper the van, then Ian caught Ginger and Jeevies. Turns out there was a 4th far more afraid than even Jasper was. Little AWOL we called him, was the MOST skiddish and there would be no catching him.

I tried for days, he’d run up inside of parked cars engines where I couldn’t get him. Ian and I went back even with a humane trapping cage, we waited and waited.... no go.

I saw him for days after then no more. He must have wandered off. I hope he found a good colony to join.

My furfamily, Felix

Felix, he’s the quietest of the pair, usually. He can be quite vocal as well. I love his trilling.

He looks more like Tony did, more white. He’s a SUPER love. Giant purrs, headbonks. He’ll snuggle on our pillow or near it at night. He's often a hat for Ian in the night. Not too often for me, but he does like to sit atop my recliner and bonk me in the back of the head while PURRING.

He likes to have his way with blankets. Odd duck, him. He plays "piano" with all four feet, simultaneously, round and round in circles he goes, but I suspect we could name him Chester the Molester. He’s fixed, I don’t know where he gets the urge to molest blankets, but there it is.

He’s becoming more aggressive, not mean so much but more forceful and sometimes goes on the attack on Ginger or Ashes. They do go ‘round every so often. Both Ginger and Ashes give it right back though. He's becoming possessive of the bed too, he doesn't want to share. For such a little guy he can be a bully.

Felix likes to be snuggled in real tight. He wants to be grabbed and stuffed under the covers with you and held tight and he’s happy as can be. He’s usually found on our bed or on a heating pad in the winter when I put them out.

Felix is a cuddler, he’ll come up in the night with a GIANT purr and a wet cold nose and poke, usually Ian, sometimes me, in the eyeball or mouth with his wet nose. He wants to be squished. You have to grab him, stuff him under the covers with you and squeeze him tight, he LOVES it. He’ll stay for an hour or so, probably until he gets too warm, then off he goes, probably to molest a blanket.

His markings are cute, he has a “Hitler” mustache and one butt cheek is white and the other black, so when he runs away we say “black white black white black white” . Sorry, I don't have a picture of the running away cheeks.