This is Annie Mae (a play on anime, since her face is so vivid and stylized). She was born over an hour after her four siblings! She had a condition called cerebellar hypoplasia or "wobbly cat syndrome" that affected her balance and muscle control. This is not a dangerous condition it turns out, and over time wobbly kitties learn to compensate. These days you can barely tell she has it, but as a kitten it made walking and nursing a real struggle. I remember that she grew so frustrated, she retired into this fleece clamshell and spent most of her time there in solitude for about a week and a half. When she finally emerged, somehow she had made huge leaps in controlling her movements. She's a wonderful cat with a will of iron, and she's definitely the household administrator. (We say, "Annie makes the trains run on time.")

And this is Wally, so named because we thought at first she was a boy. (This was before we learned that Torties are never boys.) Check out that bar code on her tummy! Who knew that Heaven was so organized about its inventory? Wally is the most joyful and enthusiastic little cat I've ever known. But she's really small - much smaller than her sibs, so she tends to get picked on at times. Because of that, we designated one room in the house where she's the only kitty allowed. We call it Wally World and have a Wally World anthem that we sing to her when she's there. (You're a pet owner, you know what we're talking about.) One more thing: we have a bathmat that is just a disgrace to look at because it's so ripped up, but we can't throw it away because it's Wally's Favorite Thing in the World. Each night she must fight it to the death before she goes to sleep.

They are so adorable!

Okay so I actually live with 11 indoor dogs, 1 giant lab outside, 1 indoor cat, & an ever-revolving door of outside cats (none of which are technically mine...I just feed them). Don't worry I have no intention of inundating you all with all of them...because technically only 3 are actually mine. 

First up: My Demon Princess, Rhea. 3/4 Chihuahua 1/4 I have no clue. Rhea's mom is half Chi and half something else...I'm not sure what that something else is. Especially given the variety of puppies she throws. 

She is a 4.5lb entitled monster, whom I love to death. Rhea really does believe she is a princess (no I don't spoil her), it's just the personality that popped up. Now part of that may in part be due to a circumstance that happened when she was really little. My mom and I were for a little bit raising and selling puppies...all of that stopped when we ended up with Parvo in the house. Parvo is a dog wasting disease that more times than not kills the animal. We got lucky, I managed to save both puppies that got it...and after the second one I couldn't do it anymore. Rhea was about 1 moth and a half old when she ended up getting parvo. I spent 72 hours awake feeding her by syringe every two hours. After which I bonded with her to the point that she never left the house. Rhea is the only one of my three not afraid of thunderstorms. She loves to play, and her favorite playing partner is one of my other dogs...Patty. Patty has the same set of parents but came from the litter before hers. Most of the pictures I have of her, and Patty are when they are sleeping...mostly because that's the only time they aren't moving. Rhea hops like a flea and lands like a bloody bullet. Rhea's favorite toys are all bigger than her and she loves to climb. I have to watch her with the cat tree. 

Next up is Patty. Patty has the same set of parents as Rhea...but is a 16lb spaghetti noodle who I cannot get a picture of without the addition of sleep and one of the other dogs. He won't sit still. 

Patty was another of our puppies but unlike Rhea he actually left the house. We ended up getting him back, not because he's a bad dog but because the kid that bought him was going through medical school and so his family was taking care of the dog. I don't know what transpired I just know that the dog that was returned to me was a major mess of twitchy nerves and anxiety. I have managed to alleviate some of that...but he still isn't good with being abandoned or locked up. I have a hole in my hall from the former and he's escaped from and wrecked two crates from the latter. Patty has a couple of different nicknames each with their own little reasons. So Houdini is from the fact that he can get himself out of crates, halters, leashes...and just about every restraint I have tried. He's incredibly smart and also very long and lean. He's about 11 1/2 inches from the floor to his shoulders and I have no idea how long he is...I just know when he stands on his hind legs he comes up to my hip. He is built like an italian greyhound with giant stand up Chihuahua ears. I also call him spaghetti noodle because he does this thing where he tries to melt down from the arm of the couch...but rather than butter his way down...his back end is still stuck...like a spaghetti noodle that started to slide off the table. Just kind of dangles there until he pulls the rest of himself down. His last nickname is Wade...now this is a somewhat dated reference as it refers to the Garfield & Friends cartoon. Wade was a duck on that cartoon that had a swimming ring around his middle and was literally afraid of everything. For such a large dog...Patty is terrified of everything. He's also afraid of Ember so when he wants up into my lap and to go hide in his little covered cubby at my feet - if she's in my lap he will sit on the floor and talk to me. When Patty talks he sounds like Dory talking to the whale. It's hard not to laugh. (Ember is the one in the second pic with him). 

Lastly we come to my Baby, Ember. I love all of my dogs, but Ember is my special one. She is a Miniature Pinscher - a breed of dog that I have been in love with for over half my life. It wasn't until about 4 years ago that I actually was able to get one. She is what is called a reverse brindle in color. Beautiful black dog with beige tiger stripping accents. 

Ember is kind of my savior and does a lot to help me with my anxiety and my nightmares. Her name came about because the first time I saw her and her unique coloring...it reminded me of glowing embers. She is an incredibly smart dog and literally the best mouser in our house... I often get on Yeti's (our cat) case that he's slacking. The only problem with this is that she loves to bring them back so mom can be proud of her. In other words, I have woken up once or twice with a dead mouse in my bed. I can't be too mad at her since she's actually doing us a service. She absolutely loves playing in water - we used to have a little kiddie pool for her in the summer until the Lab outside ate it. Now I catch her occasionally sticking her paws in the water bowls littered around the house. She has an extreme level of destructiveness when it comes to toys - So Em has her own special toys. To explain this Ember can destroy those tough toys designed for large dogs in a matter of a day. Hard bones last more on a week. So, I buy her these toys called O.M.G which are specifically designed to be torn to shreds. They have toys inside of toys inside of toys. Her eyes light up and she gets all kinds of bouncy when she sees one. She's terrified of thunderstorms though and will climb over the top of my computer to get to the spot right next to me. She's also the reason our dog food is so expensive...she's allergic to chicken. Which means I have to buy food without any chicken, poultry, or by products of such. More than anything she watches out for me. So, a recent heartwarming story about her. Last weekend there was a fire that got out of control just across the way...I have severe asthma and smoke of any form just about kills me. The night they put the fire out...I stopped breathing in my sleep, Ember pawed at my chest until she managed to wake me up so that I would start breathing again. 

There you have it...my three beautiful babies. 

Love the soulful eyes.

This is a January 2014 photo of Pippi, probably just 6 months old, with some of her nine puppies, a few weeks old. Pippi's ears made me think of Pippi Longstocking's pigtails, hence the name. She was a little stray dog, only a few months old, with a broken leg when we adopted her and due to a a problem with her blood the vet wasn't able to operate so we had to let her leg heal naturally. It didn't seem to bother her too much and one day she slipped out under the front gate. We found her quite quickly and didn't think much more of it until we came home one day and found her with nine puppies - we didn't even know that she was old enough to get pregnant ! I was tasked with naming them and because they all looked like piglets to me they ended up with names such as Babe, Porky, Snowball, Piglet, and Napoleon. Most of her puppies were adopted (and renamed) by friends or friends of friends and we kept the remaining two, who I renamed Pinky and Perky (for those who don't know those name try PINKY & PERKY (youtube.com)).

P.S. the white puppy front left is actually a concrete piglet - it took me a while to spot that !

Andrew is a 14-year-old, 8-pound, miniature poodle terrier mix.  He has been a part of our family for 11 years.  Little is known about his early life.  He was adopted from the SPCA at age 1, lived with that owner for 2 years, and joined our family at age 3.  He has given us many wonderful – mostly humorous – memories.  One of my favorite stories is this: one day I walked into my bedroom and saw him laying on the bed.  The bed is next to a wall with a large window.  I said, “Aww.  Look at that cute puppy.”  Andrew immediately jumped up and excitedly looked out the window for that “cute puppy.”  Of course, that “cute puppy” was him.

All these furry friends are so adorable.

My best friend & pet we had for 12+ years who recently passed away.  A gray squirrel named "2-spot-squirrel", named for her 2 brown patches on her side. she was a huge clown. 

she lived a long happy life for a squirrel. died in her sleep I found her the next morning in her cubby She was a live in Pet.  I would leave the kitchen window open for her but she preferred to stay in the house. Though she would go out she would always be back almost as soon as she left. She had lots of  wild squirrel friends. I had a 6 foot cat condo in the corner of my bedroom she would get up in to sleep in when it get dark and store all her toys (mostly my socks) and food in . a very friendly squirrel who she thought of herself as a cat more than squirrel.  only time she would give me a bite is when i would try to put costumes on her she didn't like dress up.. she was not afraid of much, we were very lucky , I raised her since she was a baby around 4 or 5 weeks old when we got her,  some guys that were cutting trees had taken down their nest, there was 3 babies.  but she was the only one that had survived. we had to bottle feed them every 2 hours so it was a labor of love. she became very tame. and lived a  happy fun life. As I said she did not think she was a squirrel. and she was a absolute clown & acrobat. who loved people . She had a heck of a Film star personality, that thankfully i have hours and hours of video and pictures of her. We have a lot of wild gray squirrels on our property  so I am hopeful I may get an another opportunity to get other one friend some day. so no regrets,  all things must pass 12 + years plus is a long time for a gray squirrel.

So I like to share a very short video of my friend.  she made me smile everyday. I hope she brings a smile to you too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVu1Qq_xtR0

to bad we can't embed videos on rendosity

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sorry for the double post

My best friend & pet we had for 12+ years who recently passed away.  A gray squirrel named "2-spot-squirrel", named for her 2 brown patches on her side. she was a huge clown. 

she lived a long happy life for a squirrel. died in her sleep I found her the next morning in her cubby She was a live in Pet.  I would leave the kitchen window open for her but she preferred to stay in the house. Though she would go out she would always be back almost as soon as she left. She had lots of  wild squirrel friends. I had a 6 foot cat condo in the corner of my bedroom she would get up in to sleep in when it get dark and store all her toys (mostly my socks) and food in . a very friendly squirrel who she thought of herself as a cat more than squirrel.  only time she would give me a bite is when i would try to put costumes on her she didn't like dress up.. she was not afraid of much, we were very lucky , I raised her since she was a baby around 4 or 5 weeks old when we got her,  some guys that were cutting trees had taken down their nest, there was 3 babies.  but she was the only one that had survived. we had to bottle feed them every 2 hours so it was a labor of love. she became very tame. and lived a  happy fun life. As I said she did not think she was a squirrel. and she was a absolute clown & acrobat. who loved people . She had a heck of a Film star personality, that thankfully i have hours and hours of video and pictures of her. We have a lot of wild gray squirrels on our property  so I am hopeful I may get an another opportunity to get other one friend some day. so no regrets,  all things must pass 12 + years plus is a long time for a gray squirrel.

So I like to share a very short video of my friend.  she made me smile everyday. I hope she brings a smile to you too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVu1Qq_xtR0

This is Jerry and this is his story. He's twelve, he's been stray in countryside for probably three years, then he was hit by a car, had a leg broken and at the end, when he was very damaged, the kennel employees took him. He spent a year in the kennel, then I arrived and chose him. He has leishmaniasis and a lot of pain from osteoarthritis, plus food allergies. All of this makes him not an easy dog to handle: he's very traumatized and bites everyone who tries to touch him or gets too close. He doesn't like me taking photos of him: he turns his face off! :D So I need to be very quick. I am the only one who can cuddle him (carefully) and he guards me so that no one comes near me, not even my mother... Recently he doesn't like to go out for a walk, so I often need to convince him by giving him treats. He always asks for cookies and if I listened to him he would eat one per second. In my room, when he wants to make me laugh, he turns on himself and makes a big mess with the carpet.... And afterwards he asks me for a cookie as pay for the show. XD

At the end of December 2015, an aunt of a friend of ours passed away. He asked us if we could keep the cat (who was three and a half years old at the time) for about twenty days because the elderly lady's caregiver was returning to her town for a short period. However, she wanted to take the cat with her when she returned as she had become fond of him during her time working for the elderly lady. We hadn't had cats for six years (we've always had cats). We answered yes. The first day he didn't eat or pee or anything. We were a little worried, but after a day he calmed down and, as if he had sensed the convalescence of my husband, who had recently undergone prostate surgery, he approached him while he was lying down. She's had a soft spot for him ever since (but I'm not jealous). As the date of the caregiver's return approached, I asked how and where the lady would settle: our friend replied that she had found a house to rent together with another worker but that the work would make them miss home a lot. of hours. The idea of ​​the cat staying alone for so long (something he wasn't used to) made us decide to keep him permanently.

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