Here are my fur babies!
Diamond is a golden retriever/shepard mix. We got her at 10 weeks old. Our neighbor had one of her siblings, which was from a litter a co-worker's dog had. We had asked them where they got their dog, and made arrangements to go see the puppies. We found out a few weeks later that the rest of the litter all died of parvo and so we felt like we "rescued" Diamond and saved her life, because she went straight to the vet for her physical and first rounds of vaccines. She turned 10 this past November.
This was a few years ago in Daytona Beach where we were attending a National Breeders Reptile Show in the hotel room:
Diamond and her "daddy" walking on the beach, which was the only beach we found that allowed dogs:
She's definitely got retriever in her!
Happy Diamond!
On May 5th of last year, my last college kitty, Chynna had to be euthanized (she was 16 and got sick and emaciated VERY quickly)
A year earlier, I lost Tyranny, who was diabetic, and never used the kitty litter pan the whole time I had her. She truly was a cat only a mom could love, and she stayed with me until she was 12 and succumbed to diabetes and old age, even though my house smelled because of her - I knew that I owed it to her to let her live out her life with me and not give her up to be someone else's problem. It was a tough road, and she also didn't like being held, but she took her insulin shots great and purred for the scritches she'd get. But she was sometimes very hard to love when you found wet spots and bm's all around the house.
and a few years before that, my beloved Shasta. Shasta survived five years after a leg amputation - he had fibro sarcoma in his leg and the amputation allowed him to have five more years with us. I remember that he had his surgery the same week that Princess Diana died, because it seemed that the world had gone mad to me that week:
Shasta and Diamond:
A month after I said goodbye to my beloved Chynna, I was in Petsmart picking up some dog food and some rat bedding and they were having an adoption day. I had not planned to adopt another kitty so soon, but I overheard one of the volunteers say "I can't believe no one has adopted Sammy yet!". I asked "which one is Sammy" and there was this BIG tabby, that was 10 months old and his card said that he was good with dogs.
I asked to hold him and talked with the volunteer who was one of his foster moms. She said that he and his litter were from a feral mom, and they had to capture them all when the kittens were still little. The kittens were named after the Brat Pack. Sammy was the runt (yeah, he's some runt! LOL) and the last to be adopted. I also was taken by another kitty named Bean, but Sammy won me over. Off to buy a carrying case, fill out the adoption paperwork and home we went. Boy it was good to have a kitty back in the house again!
Sammy with Diamond, the second day he was here. She was thrilled to have her very own kitty again!
I love this picture!
The same day that I adopted Sammy, I went to a local mom/pop pet store to pick up some crickets for my leopard geckos, and there was this ADORABLE kitten! My first thought was "why didn't I come here first? I want her!!!" but I left without her. I couldn't get her out of my mind and I went back and got her five days later. My boyfriend was working late and he was expecting to see another cat the size of Sammy. She was curled up next to my neck asleep with me when he got home and I heard him say "you're so LITTLE!!!!"
He named her Alexis and she now is called Lexie. She is a true princess with princess "rules". "I'm a princess and princesses have NO rules! Make sure you jot that down!"
"Helping" mom prepare papers to use in the ball pythons' tubs:
Already trying to boss Sammy around:
And my three kiddos together:
I really feel that Chynna and Shasta conspired at the Rainbow Bridge to insure that Lexi and Sammy came into our lives. If I'd found Lexi first, I don't know if I would have even gone to Petsmart that day and wouldn't have found Sammy.
Oh, one other picture. To this day - Lexi suckles my boyfriend's ear. As soon as he gets in bed - she pounces on his chest and tries both ears until she finds the one she wants. Here's a picture where she decided to suckle while he was on the phone: