J is for Just a Critter....

My Theme

 ...or two...or three.

In our family, we love our fur-babies as much as our 2 legged kids.  

(sometimes more, LOL, sorry Angela!)

We are all happily bi-petual (both dog and cat people!)

This big boy is our king, Chester.  He chose me from the Humane Society in 2002. They tried to tell me he was close to 5 years old, but I didn't believe it.  The vet had recommended me getting a female cat, since I already had a male.  But as I walked past this cage, orange paws kept reaching out at me.  I finally asked to be able to take "Kevin" into a petting room.  He sat on my lap and purred & purred.  How could I put him back in there??   His name quickly got changed when Randy offered him a Cheetoh and he chomped it down.  So Chester (as in Chester Cheetah) it was.  He's the most loveable fuzz ball ever.  Miss Angela can lug him around like a sack of potatoes and he just tolerates it.  He insists on being in her room at night, but he will come get on my bed when the alarm goes off in the morning.  He's nosy.  He insists on being in the bathroom with us when we shower.  He greets us and everyone at the door when we come home.  He's got the wimpiest meow you'd ever care to hear, but his purr is crazy loud.  He's finally just recently started showing his age, he occasionally has a hard time jumping up on our tall bed. 

Madison, aka Maddie, is our newest addition.  She also adopted us from the Humane Society, almost 2 years ago.  We had lost 2 cats within a reasonably short time and Chester was alone, so we chose to adopt again.  I was actually looking for a black cat, but Angel called me over to this cage where Miss Madison was rubbing against the bars and reaching out.  The pic below is of her in the petting room.  She never went back into that cage after this was taken.  We took her home that day.  They told me she had 'pink eye' and was on medication.  But when I took her to the vet for a new kitty check, they discovered it was a very bad ulcer and referred me to an ophthalmologist.  She wanted to do surgery, since she gave Maddie a 30% chance of healing with just drops.  We chose to give it a try and her eye healed up nicely and there's only the barest little cloudy spot in her eye.   She is very vocal and will (annoyingly) wander thru the house as soon as we turn out the lights at night and meow loudly.  And each meow will have a different tone, until we finally call her and she come to get onto her person's (Randy) chest.  But her purr is barely noticeable.  She will go places that she knows she's not supposed to be - kitchen table, counters, etc - and meow until we look for her, then will hurry and jump down.  She likes to lay on top of the fish tank.  She loves to play with my earrings.  She's not much of a lap kitty, but she will demand to be petted, mainly at night, by pawing at us.  

Luckily, they get along.  They will groom each other & it escalates into wrestling. 

We got Jack the Beagle when he was about 12 weeks old.  A coworker called me one day and told me that her neighbor had this puppy that was a chew toy for his Great Dane, did I want him?  She remembered me talking about Randy growing up with Beagles.  Of course I did!  Less than a month later, he got sick. I took him to the vet and they sent him onto the emergency room.  He had Parvo and was in isolation for 3 days before he finally beat it.  We brought him home shortly before Christmas - and he promptly got into one of the stockings and ate close to a pound of chocolate!  With him still not fully recovered from his illness, Randy did some quick research and discovered hydrogen peroxide will induce vomiting in dogs.  And it sure does!  He obviously recovered nicely and is my faithful walking buddy.  He watches close when I put on a certain pair of shoes, since it usually means walk!  He makes sure no crumb of food every survives hitting the floor. He's not the best watchdog, tho.  I've seen Angel's friends be over for a good 20 minutes before he even wakes up!  He loves him a tennis ball.  

aka Bat Dog

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These are our angel kitties.  I got Skeeter (the brown tabby) when he was a kitten in 2000.  He was my first baby & he slept with me every night.  I'd sit down and announce that I had a lap and he would appear to get into it.   He got sick in November 2011 and I wish I'd taken him to the vet sooner.  He ended up passing away there from kidney failure.  I am planning to get a tattoo of a pawprint with his name. 

Tiny Miss Maggie had been a barn cat at my sister's house and produced a good 6 huge litters of kittens before Laurie finally caught her not pregnant & got her spayed.  She was so sweet & lovable that I couldn't stand to see her spend another winter in the barn, so I brought her home.  Randy was her person from day 1.  She would lay on either his or my chest and purr so loud & when she was content, she'd open her mouth to purr louder!!  However, she had heart problems and passed a couple months after Skeeter from a Grand Mal seizure.  

They are both buried out in the back yard - Skeeter wrapped in one of my shirts, Maggie wrapped in one of Randy's.  There is a kitty angel statue sitting out between them. 

I can't imagine life without critters!