Let’s honor our faithful friends who love us no matter what we look like, how old we are, or how little or much money or power we have. We are their Master and their True Love, they are bonded to us until death us part. Where can you find another living being to be this loyal?
This post will have a direct link to it on the sidebar so we can visit it any time.
Add your photos of your best friends, like cats, dogs, and birds of course, or just tell us their stories… some say “show me the books you read or the friends you have, and I know who you are…not true IMO, but tell me about your pets and I know your heart.
Add your photos to one of the photo hosting sites and then either get the embedded link code from that site or enter the photo by using this format:
You can still comment on your pets in the daily posts but add their photos to the Gallery, the story of their uniqueness, their ups and downs, and special events. I have lost track who has which pet, I’m sure others may have senior selective memory also….
You can sign up for follow-up comments to this post.
Over my many years, I’ve enjoyed the company and love given so freely by our four-legged ‘family’ members. Cats and dogs alike, some at the same time. Knowing that their time on earth is much shorter than ours, made them all the more precious.
Never one for clever names (one cat was called ‘Kitty”) still they are missed almost as much as the furless two-legged loved ones who have passed.
One of our kids and her family adopt a dog and train it for working with disabled people. They’re on their second Golden. When people ask how they can give up a dog they’ve worked with for three years, my daughter says, among other things, “It’s one way to teach our kids that Love and possession are not the same thing”. And “I have been on the other side of making the hard decisions to put down a beloved pet. It is so much easier to train a dog to give as a gift to someone who will live better because of our work, than it is to decide that it’s time for a beloved pet to go on ahead.
What a wonderful, unselfish thing for your family to do for those who need help.
I thank you on their behalf.
That is so wonderful. You should be proud…and I’m sure your daughter would give credit for her beliefs to you, Mom. Job well done!
THE HERRIOT LEGACY
WRITER WARMLY DETAILED BOND
BETWEEN PEOPLE, ANIMALS
Mary Ann Grossmann
Chicago Tribune ~ March 8, 1995
This is the closest I can come to a link.
I forgot to say, if you’ve ever lost a pet or had to put one down, this is what you need to read or to send to someone who has lost a pet. It’s the best thing I”ve ever read on the subject.
I have had so many wonderful cats, some of whom lived with me their entire lives and others who stayed a little while before getting a good home or going to the local no-kill shelter to be adopted.
There are two homeless cats in my backyard right now who are too timid and wild to tame, but I put food out for them and will catch and neuter them so they have a chance to live longer.
My photo uploading skills are quite primitive — can anyone write out how to do it? It will require directions as simple as “type this” and “type that.”
I’d love to help but my skills are limited to the off/on button.
Bless you, AnnonA. Thank you for what you do, and to all here who have pets.
Our skills are “limited’ to loving and taking care of these animals who don’t even know they need us.
What a nice idea! Certainly lots of pet lovers, here.
We picked up our little rescue guy yesterday. It is actually going very well. Fritz, our remaining dog seems really pleased to have a buddy again.
Jakob, our new friend, is so hopefulworriedhappyscared, all crammed together in this little emaciated body. But overall, a lovely, gentle temperament.
I didn’t care for the blend of doggie chow the shelter was using for him(cost issues, no doubt), so will be mixing in some higher quality kibble(Innova puppy) with some homemade chicken/rice over the next few weeks. Slowly, of course.
He’s already calming down a bit about food, which is good to see. First time I fed him, he about knocked me over with anxiety over getting his chow. I have divided his meals up to four small a day, and that has seemed to ease some of his food fears.
Gorgeous dog, beyond the emaciation. Still can hardly believe someone treated this animal in such a fashion. I hope by Xmas to have him looking like a new boy, sleek and muscled.
Bless you. Bless you all for your love and caring of animals.
When I hear about a poor animal being abused, it breaks my heart. I just can’t understand how anyone could harm an innocent being. I wish the criminal sentences were much, much harsher and enforced.
Your post reminds me of a dear friend, who has a very stress-filled life.
Every week, she cooks a large roast beef, and a couple of chickens to feed her 2 dogs.
She is a marvelous cook.
Nearly every day she stops to visit her Dad in a nursing home after work.
After that, she grabs fast food to eat in the car, while she speeds home to feed the dogs their lovely meal.
She is overweight, by her own admission, but her dogs are in perfect shape..
DH & I foster stray/abused cats for a rescue. We now have 9 of our own. (We are childless, so we have room!). Every cat we have was either abused, and/or abandoned. They have brought so much joy (and cat hair!) into our lives.
In February, we got a call from policeman friend, who found a nearly dead cat on a farm they were investigating. The farmers in our area often kill unwanted cats by shoving their faces into a pile of cow manure, and leaving them to die. This what happened to Gandalf. His eyes & mouth were crusted shut with manure, & he was dehydrated. I sponge-bathed him, & used an eye-dropped to hydrate him every 2 hours overnight. I took the next day off work to tend to him; he seemed to greatly improve; so much that I went to work the next day. When I came home, he was dead. I burn with anger when I think about the farmer, who we think was a member of a pacifist religious sect (famous for their shoo-fly pies and “quaint” liefstyle). These people judge us for being modern, driving, having electricity, & would probably lecture me on wearing jewelry & not being a doormat to hubby, yet abuse their horses, run the local puupy mills, & are usually the abusers in local animal abuse cases. Not all of them do these things, of coursem, but it sickens me that a “pious” person would do this to an animal.
Rest in peace, sweet Gandalf. I only wish that the love and care we gave you had been shown to you much sooner…
The truth is that I like animals more than I do people.
My two cats are siblings from the same litter that were found on the street at age three months. The male, Lucky, was not far from death’s door from a respiratory infection. Hence, the name “Lucky.” His sister is Brianna.
They are the loves of my life (as all my animals have been), and I do everything in my power to see that their lives are as happy as can be.
I hope this picture thingy works.
[IMG]http://i51.tinypic.com/1ioigi.jpg[/IMG]
I’ll try one more time, and if it works, I’ll post the directions.
http://i51.tinypic.com/1ioigi.jpg
Your cats are adorable and the picture of health! I love orange-and-white cats and calicos. My favorite.
Thank you, Bronwyn! Your cat looks beautiful. Is that blue eyes I see?
Truth, she had the most beautiful jade-colored eyes. I lost her last summer, aged 18 1/2. Lost her “brother” (an orange-and-white handsome devil, like Lucky) last spring. He was 19.
Around the New Year, I adopted two sisters, 6 months old, from a shelter. They are orange and white. One was extremely traumatized from living in a cage for all that time. She is coming around, slowly, with love and security. The other one seemed to suffer no ill-effects from her shelter life. She is as open and friendly as any cat I’ve ever known.
Who knows what goes on in their psyches under these stressful circumstances and the fears they then have to overcome? I am just so glad we are able to help them to live long and happy lives and add so much joy to our lives.
Jakob, enjoying his new digs:
http://i53.tinypic.com/x52uxy.jpg
Our beloved Anna, now gone, never forgotten:
http://i52.tinypic.com/rm5mhw.jpg
Ooh, Elizabeth…that is one gorgeous pup! His eyes are happy, and that is the best thing anyone could want. Good job, Mom! My Annie still has “scary” moments when she thinks she’s done wrong…2 years…and still workin’ on it.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Ah, it worked. So for those that want to post a photo, go to http://tinypic.com/ which is an image hosting site. You will need photos in your computer to do it.
Where it says “browse,” click on that and choose your photo area. Once you are in your photo area, click on the one you want to post. Then click on the green “upload now” button, and it will upload. When it does, copy the link that says “IMG code for forums & message boards.” And then paste it here, but remove the “[IMG] from the beginning and the end.
Truth– My boys, Bert and Ernie, also littermates were adopted about 12 years ago. Ernie, on the right, had a severely damaged leg that we had to take. Didn’t slow him down one bit…the only thing he couldn’t do was run in a straight line.
Sadly, I had to say good bye about 6 months ago. Bert missed him alot at first, but now hangs out with his Annie. Let’s see if I can follow instructions…
http://i51.tinypic.com/kdpcie.jpg
Jakob and Fritz:
http://i52.tinypic.com/15eb8nt.jpg
I wish the jerks who think animals have no feelings could meet my Bichon and whatever, mutt. Last night I realized it was time for her heartworm pill, which she hates with a passion.. She was asleep in the den. As per usual, I had to sneak noiselessly into the kitchen to get the pills. By the time {maybe 15 seconds} I returned to the den, she was hiding under my bed..I swear she can read my mind. I coaxed her out hours later, with pot roast. We got the pill down.
It is now 11:30 am and I just forced her out from under the bed, by running the vacuum cleaner next to it. She was that upset with me, she held her ‘tinkle’ for almost 12 hours.
She is now ensconced on her favorite sofa, but trust me, it will be the same scenario next month. I swear if she could talk, she would let me know that she is not only phsycic, but way smarter than me as well.
p.s. we have tried every pill on the market, same response.
oops “psychic” ..
I give up ;;phsychic, or whatever, I need spellcheck.
Sophie, I can relate. My cats are 12 and 11. One is on medication for renal problems and bowel disease (the female), while the male is on meds for bowel disease. The male is also blind in one eye from some horrific abuse he endured as a young cat. Both of them can tell, somehow, when it’s time for their meds, and they go to ground. I’ve gotten pretty adept at finding their hiding places. I really love my two furry babies!