How Important Are Pets To Your Health?

[Mary Kay]

We lost Kiki when he was 9 years old from heart failure. The Dr. had treated him for other things and said Ki's heart was too big (not heart worms) My son got him from a man who's Akita pair had just had pups..so not puppy mill. Just bad luck. I told my husband of course his heart was too big, he loved everyone and every other animal..that wasn't another male dog. He taught my grandson to wallk by walking slowly around the house with G'son holding his tail.
Walrus, your Akita is beautiful!
Jen, my mom's Boston had one white side to her face, her mom was a champion dog, but the owner all but gave Doodle to mom because of the "Flaw" in a show dog. Didn't slow her down a bit..mom should have named her tigger! She and mom were together for 13 years.

[deliza]

Okay, if this works, here is my current pack. This is actually the smallest pack I've had in the last 15 years.

Bayou


Moxie


Isabella (otherwise known as Satan's Spawn )

[Cori]

My dogs keep me sane. Even when I'm at my lowest, they always manage to cheer me up.

I have a boxer that really belongs to my son, that he dropped off on me about 6 yrs ago to take care of for just a little while *chuckles, you know how that goes. Then my hubby bought me shih tzu for my birthday..she is like another child to me. She got out the fence once when she was still a pup and wandered away somehow *she was very tiny so she went under the fence. I thought my world collapsed and I cried like a baby until my hubby couldn't stand it anymore. He went out to hunt her down for the fourth time that day. Next thing I know the phone is ringing, and he asked me how much I'd give him for that dog..told him a million dollars and he brought her back home. Now I get anxiety every time I can't find her, she loves to hide under the bed.

Boxer's name is Bo and shih tzu is named Zoey.

Bo is getting old now, going on 12 yrs old. Zoey is 2... I can't imagine life without either of them.

[Mary Kay]

Deliza! I love pictures! Your dogs are so cute! How did you get them to pose like that? Sheba just turns around. The cats ignore me. I only get pictures when they are asleep. It's on my profile.
Maybe that's good, your cats eyes are scary! LOL There is a pet eye correction, it takes the devil out. (of just the eyes..sorry.)

Cori, does Zoey annoy Bo? Or are they buds?

Ann, haven't you ever heard of cat ladies..not zoo ladies? LOL That a mixed group for sure. I hope you and Jules meet..you could open a petting zoo!

[Cori]

MaryKay: Bo is jealous of Zoey but protective of her if that makes sense. She is certainly the boss and when she says back off, that food is mine, he just wimpers away. Pretty funny actually..she weighs 10lbs and he weighed in at 80lbs last time he went to the vet.

[Kamanjah]

Blue-eyed cats get that red-eye with flash....I have 3 blue-eyed boys. Plus a masked girl with green eyes and SO's 2 kitties just joined the zoo this week, an all black boy and an orange/tan & white girl who is a talker, both with yellow eyes. Plus I have Toni - a German Shepherd/Queensland Heeler Mix & Fred - an older than dirt Springer Spaniel who is deaf and only has one marble left. I'm his security blanket. Significant pecking order shifting going on, but the new kitties seem to have figured out that the dogs are actually their friends.

I'd be even more bonkers if I didn't have my critters to talk to! They seldom argue with me - and then only about food. Just sitting down and petting one (or several) critters can significantly calm me down if I'm upset. I know Fred can't hear me, but I talk to him all the time anyway, guess it just makes me feel better!

__________________

[deliza]

Its simple MaryKay, mine are all just too lazy to move

[Mary Kay]

The wonderful thing about animals is that they sense us in all of our moods and conditions. It always amazed me that Sheba and the cats who will chase each other all over the house, never play around mom. They are gentle with her, even Scotty the cat who loves to bite toes! that's a real eye opener if you happen to be asleep with a foot hanging over the bed!

[deliza]

Our pack order is all messed up..... Bayou is pretends to be alpha, only because his is slightly less high strung than Moxie, and I think they both know the cat is really the one in charge, but neither want to admit it. Our pack order used to be very well established, we had 3 male dogs and one fiesty old girl to keep them all in line, as well as 3 other cats to keep Isabella on her toes, but last year, in the six months between late spring and Labor day, we lost 5 of our group. It was the worst run of luck in the history of mankind I think, but it left me seriously shell shocked and I have been reluctant to take in any new rescues. Here is a little look at my lost ones:

Sadie: She was a greyhound sheperd mix, and had epilepsy her entire life. She was 17 when she passed, and heathy and active right up to the last hours. We had had her since she was a puppy.



Sampson: Talk about down to one marble, I think Sampson started out that way He had brain damage, so he was a little loopy, and also had severe epilepsy, but he was the sweetest dog ever. I always wondered if he was really just brilliant enough to convince everyone he had a screw loose, because he could get into more trouble than any dog I've ever had! Don't know how old he was, but we had him for 10 years, and he was estimated to be 4 or 5 when we found him. He only lived another 6 weeks after Sadie dies... it seemed he couln't live without her.



Sophie: Soph was diagnosed with autoimmune hymolitic anemia shortly after we took he in. She had 18 good months after that, until the drugs she had to take to control it cause an aortic clot. She was only a few years old, and I still cry when I think about her.



Mama Cat: Thusly named for the condition we found her in We don't know how old she was either, but we had had her for 17 years. This tough old girl had, and recovered from 3 strokes in her old age. Her kidneys finally gave out in the end.



Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Oscra, my other kitty. He was pretty feral when we took him in, and even though he got used to us, he ran from cameras (and other people, and cats, and dogs, and noises ) He was only 13, but developed lymphoma.

[deliza]

The wonderful thing about animals is that they sense us in all of our moods and conditions. It always amazed me that Sheba and the cats who will chase each other all over the house, never play around mom. They are gentle with her, even Scotty the cat who loves to bite toes! that's a real eye opener if you happen to be asleep with a foot hanging over the bed!

I have a book shelf about a foot below the cieling in my bedroom. Isabella has been known to get up there, then dive bomb ontop of you in you sleep. Talk about a rude awakening at 2:00 am.

And that sensing conditions can backfire if you put a little evil genius behind it. My mother is morbidly afraid of snakes..... so therefore when she dog sits, Moxie usually manages to scroung one up for her in the yard to drop on her feet He has never done this to anyone else