Your Family

[Marshal Tom]

I have had 4 yellow labs in a row and have loved each and every one of them. They are our kids. I presently have a 13 1/2 year old and her son who is now 10. I love them to death and if anyone hurt them it would not be a good day for that person! Just sayin!

 

[Rustyt1953]

Ruthie...in a nutshell:

 

[Doug627]

Rusty1953: What happened to you? Why aren't you with Ruthie and the six cats?

 

[Rustyt1953]

Doug, the cats outrank me.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I tell people that pets-cats in my case-are better than "family"-girlfriends and wives, epsecially.
If they get tired of you, they just up and leave. They don't file restraining orders, file for divorce, throw you out of the house, tie up your assets, etc.

 

[mr-mom]

Yes, most definitely family members. We just put down our beloved 15 year old golden retriever this week. So sad.
Dave
SWCA #2778

 

[kraynky]

Yes, most definitely family members. We just put down our beloved 15 year old golden retriever this week. So sad.
Dave
SWCA #2778

God bless Dave, I know how hard a fresh heart wound like that can hurt. I doubt there's anything anyone can write or say to ease the pain. We waited almost a year to get another pet after losing our beloved Lucy, and I'm so glad that we made that decision.

Capt'n will never replace her, but his antics and puppy charm warmed our hearts and started the healing process almost immediately.

Of course everyone is different, and to be honest, my wife kept telling me she wasn't ready yet. But it was something, quite frankly, that we should have done earlier than we did. There just wasn't time to feel sorry for our selves once he arrived on the scene.

I sure am sorry for your loss, but hang in there, it will get easier as time goes by, and your heart will heal.

 

[soFlaNative]

She was worried he'd forget.

Christina Koch and LBD (Little Brown Dog) after the best part of a year in space.
Pure gold.


Astronaut Christina Koch reunites with dog after 328-day spaceflight

 

[kmyers]

I have been told by SWMBO that the mutts here are more family than me. She is kidding, I hope, but I happen to like that.

 

[KalamazooKid]

Dogs have always been a huge part of our family! Our current family member is an Aussiedoodle named Moose. The absolute sweetest dog I've ever known!

And with a bit of a wild side when the snow flies!

Even my Grandkids have four paws!

 

[misswired]

Shooting buddy playing stick with the Mountain Feist pups.

 

[oldbrownhat]

So many pics and stories to "like" here. I've had cats for 20 + years but am down to just one. He was a rescue in 2015. Someone had left a pregnant cat in my neighbour's driveway. She put her up in the barn where she had 4 kittens. Three were easy to adopt, but this little fella was really skittery and stayed with mum. In the beg. of September there was a big thunderstorm. Possibly both were outside but whatever happened, "Smudge", as I later named him, was left an orphan, and we found him WAY up a tree next door, mewing piteously for three days! Called the fire dept. but they couldn't reach him. All of a sudden, to our horror, HE JUMPED! Weighed about a pound and landed, unhurt, shook his head as if to say, "Well, THAT was nasty!" and made a beeline back to the barn.

Long story short, my neighbour was really a dog and horse person, so I agreed to adopt him and he's been part of, well, no actually THE family ever since.

This pic (and I have dozens) is from when he was about 7 mos., but he's pretty much the same now only bigger.

 

[oldbrownhat]

My gf has two gimungous Norwegian forest cats (23 lbs. each) They are her family.
Both have a "thing" for boxes, ideally somewhat smaller than themselves.

 

[Rudi]

Don't know what I'd do without the fur kids(cats).

 

[BC38]

Our furry family member is Charlie. He's a rescue from SCRAPS - the local pet shelter. Mostly Australian Cattle Dog, white with brown markings and about 60 pounds. We adopted him almost 6 years ago.

He is a great alarm dog - barks just enough to let us know something is going on every time someone or something approaches our property. While he is a great WATCH dog, he'd make a lousy GUARD dog - because he loves everyone.

Just based on his behavior when I start "picking at" the boys (wrestling, tickling, etc.) I have no doubt he'd seriously attack anyone who dared to try to hurt one of us, but for anyone who isn't doing one of us harm he is just a big lovable teddy bear. He even likes little kids, though if they pull his ears he'll try to steer clear and stay our of their reach.

He doesn't even consider trying to get out of the yard - he'll walk right up to an open gate and look through it but never cross the threshold. He's never chewed up or destroyed anything that belongs to anyone else, though he did rip the stuffing out of the belly pad of the very first dog bed we bought him. Never ripped up the rim "wall" - just the base pad. Other than that, he's never chewed up anything else besides his chew toys and bones. Not shoes, no electrical cords, none of the boys toys when they were younger, nothing.

He's about the perfect canine companion in my opinion, and definitely a member of the family.

 

[rubiranch]

I don't have a pet however I do (did) have 7 feral cats that I feed twice a day and give them fresh water.

Tonight coming home the patriarch, Tom Cat was in the middle of the road and was obviously hit with a car.

Of all the cats he was the only one that would let me pet him. I couldn't pick him up but I could make him purr.

He was over a mile from home. The other cats hardly touched their dinner tonight.

 

[swsig]

While we have no pets right now, we do have seven grandkids. Although, like pets, they can be messy and annoying at times, we treat them like family anyway.

On those rare occasions when we can get all seven together at the same time, I like to organize them into posing for a formal group portrait:

 

[rwsmith]

They are family.......

Russel D. Boo is an OLD Black Lab/Hound Mix. Sweet as pie, doesn't have a mean bone in his body and is aggravating as hell wanting attention all the time. If he could get on our bed he'd be right up there but he has gas that could be used to peel wallpaper, so it's just as well he's on the floor. We still wake up to an acrid, burning smell thinking the house is on fire. (Pound Puppy)

Rosie Posie is a kind of runtish Rottweiler. A sweet little baby that is spoiled rotten. She acts like a Rottweiler when 'challlenged' but is mostly a fraidy cat. Her 'Boy' moved out and she's been depressed and we haven't been able to pay as much attention as she needs. We think she needs Prozac. (She's the only pet we've ever paid for because our son wanted a Rottweiler)

Lady Pearl Gray is a foundling cat that was in horrible shape when we found her. She blossomed into a GORGEOUS kitty after she grew her hair back. She is undoubtedly the most loving cat I've ever seen.

We lost Beau Beau the Bear a ways back. He had a thyroid problem and it was hard to keep his weight down. Big Black dog with some Australian Shepherd (we think) Besides being a VERY big dog, he was overweight and HUGE! He had a brindle snout and he looked EXACTLY like a black bear, especially when I rounded off his ears. He was a great dog for our boy who was super active. Watching them wrestle was as good as the stuff on TV. He ate up every second of it. He wasn't happy after 'Boy' moved out, either. He was a pound puppie, too.

Though we have had lots of pets over the years I have to mention in Memorium:

B.A. Cat: Started out NUTS but turned into a great cat.

My wonderful Heidi, the Golden, Collie, German Shepherd mix. Beautiful, scary smart and would do anything to please and anything I asked her to.

Moe: One our dogs had 1 (one) puppy. This little fella was absolutely crazy about me (and versa visa) but the week he was to get his shots, he got Parvo.

 

[slickracer]

Our Akita is definitely part of our family.

 

[oldbrownhat]

I don't have a pet however I do (did) have 7 feral cats that I feed twice a day and give them fresh water.

Tonight coming home the patriarch, Tom Cat was in the middle of the road and was obviously hit with a car.

Of all the cats he was the only one that would let me pet him. I couldn't pick him up but I could make him purr.

He was over a mile from home. The other cats hardly touched their dinner tonight.

Despite your loss you do effectively have 6 pets. You're just in denial. If they were horses or llamas or whatever, no. But cats, yup- you got pets. They have adopted YOU, which is what happens with cats. Remember the old adage: "Dogs have owners. Cats have staff." I think "suziqz" ("My garden is protected" mega-thread) started out similarly.

Below is a typical example of "Staff required"