The Queen B tagged me for a meme. I KNOW, this must be my lucky week! First an award, now a meme.
I am feeling special, special.
My friend, The Peanuts Champ, asked what a meme was. Since I don’t know what the actual definition is, I will just share what my best interpretation is. You answer questions about your life.
This meme is pet themed. It should be a snap, cause we love our pets.
1. What is the first pet you remember?
When I was maybe 5 or 6, I found a stray kitten somewhere. I begged to keep it, because I have always been a cat-ish sort of girl. My parents were in the process of divorcing, but my Dad still lived there. On the couch. And evidently he was not a cat-ish sort of guy. So my Mother’s compromise was to let me keep it, but outside. We fed it in the garage, which she left open a tiny bit at the bottom. I named her Pebbles. I loved her, and petted her and dressed her in baby doll clothes for maybe a month or two. Then winter came and Pebbles was gone. Maybe she went to live at another home. INDOORS. Or maybe, we lived 1 street away from a busy 4 lane highway. Anyway you look at it, I was brokenhearted.
2. How many different kinds of pets have you owned?
Only 3. The usual, fish, cats and dog. In order:
1. Pebbles, the unfortunate kitten.
2. Fish. Guppies to be exact, with 2 angel fish. That my 2 year old brother killed. Scared one to death by dropping a toothbrush in the tank, then offed the other with a pony tail thingy. Fish, the Flushable pet.
3. Muff, the oldest cat I’ve ever known. My parents put her to sleep when she was 19. She was deaf, blind and going bald. Her full name was Muffietta King Kong George Elizabeth Grenada Halstead Hoover. My kids still ask me to say her name. She was a good kitty and had a beautimous fluffy tail.
I still think the reason that our Mom let my brother and I keep this stray kitten was in some way a payback for the sad debacle of Pebbles. We loved Muff for many, many, many, many years.
4. Isabeau, aka Izzie-kitty. Our first child. I cried for days when she died.
5. Her poor terrified, retarded, sister, Navarre. See question #3.
6. Mocha, the best cat we have ever owned. A moment of silence for The Bajoka.
7. Indiana Jones, aka Indi. The most unadventurous pet we have ever owned. Probably the prettiest, absolutely the quirkiest. Not a good kind of quirk.
8. Katie, Abby’s Yorkie. She will be my first and last dog. She is precious, but she is, you know, a dog. And she stinks. Even immediately after bathing. But she is SO cute, it is her saving grace. She also has the small dog Napoleon complex. She so badly wants to be the boss of someone.
9. We adopted The Family that I wrote about here.
That’s Halle Berry up front. Mama Mia is the one who always has devil eyes. She is adorable, she is just not photogenic. And Lucy is beside her.
And that is the whole bunch of them.
3. What was your strangest pet?
Our strangest pet was one of a pair of sisters that we smuggled into Canada when Honey and I were first married. We named them Isabeau and Navarre, after the lovers in “Ladyhawke”. And I’m sure I don’t know why now, but it seemed ever so appropriate then.
Isabeau, was one of my all time favorite cats. Her sister, Navarre? Not so much. Maybe she didn’t like the fact she was named after a man. Or she was severely mentally disabled. She was not a normal cat. She never wanted to be touched, or looked at , and acted like she had been beaten by people. All people. She was all hissy and skitterish. She also had an aversion to the litter box. Maybe she didn’t like to get her paws dirty. So she always had to be in a room with hard floors. She also had these weird mouth sores that NO vet could ever figure out.
We put up with her for about three years, until I was 9 months pregnant with the Ab-Cat and we were moving to a new house that was entirely carpeted. It was time. It almost killed us, but we took her in. Izzie didn’t even seem to notice she was gone. Navarre hadn’t liked her either.
4. What is your dream pet?
Unfortunately, our dream pet went to cat heaven about 12 years ago. His name was Mocha.
5. What is your nightmare pet?
That would be Navarre. No redeeming quality.
6. Your best/ funniest pet story…
It’s our best, but it’s not funny.
Well, once Honey had to save a muskrat from our 6 pound Yorkie, Katie.
Abby had let her out for her last evening tinkle and she said she heard some rustling in the rocks, then Katie was chasing a muskrat up to the front door!! So she slammed it shut!! And YELLED for Honey!
Honey had to run to the back yard with a flashlight, following the horrible noises. He picked Katie up, but she and the muskrat were one. She wouldn’t let it go! He finally clunked her on something and she let go. When he brought her in the house, she was covered in blood and some kind of foul stench. We washed her up and took her over to the All Night Weekend Emergency Room for some emergency surgery. That muskrat had gone for her eyes and did some serious damage. She had all around both eyes sewn up, as well as a spot on her head and a gouge on her back. She looked pitiful and had to wear a cone forever. She is an expensive pooch. But she didn’t loose her eyes. I have some pictures, but I decided they are too disgusting All in all, not Honey’s favorite night either. But he loves his sissy-dog.
7. Tell your worst/ saddest pet story…
That would be when Mocha died.
He was a big old Tabby cat that we got after Izzie died. Since The Ab-Cat and The Boy were then 3 years old and 9 months, we weren’t excited about getting a spastic kitten for claw type reasons. He was 3 years old already and had been raised by a man who did not have a lot of rules in his house.
He turned out to be a wonderful family pet, who never raised a paw to anyone, despite the man handling he endured by our two, then three children. He also never met a stranger, and no lap was off limits. When we had Caregroup at our house, he was an equal opportunity lap cat.
There were only three small things about him that were a problem.
1. He liked heights and he would jump on the counter to get on the fridge. I don’t like cats on my counter.
2. He was a major hunter. He was forever bringing me “presents’. Once he brought me a mole, that was still alive. And let it loose INSIDE the house! He was a great bird dog as well. So much so , that our neighbor asked us to keep him indoors because he was killing all the birds that our neighbor was feeding. He felt like he was an accessory to murder.
3. Because of the indoors policy, he would knock you over trying to get out the door. A regular Houdini Cat.
Unfortunately, after getting out one night, he came home and laid on the couch. He was never really right after that. I took him to the vet and told him I thought he was dying. I was right. We never did find out what happened. The vet said it could have been a bad animal he ate, or anti-freeze. Something. We were all heartbroken.
He was the smartest, most patient, and intuitive cat I have ever known. And no, our neighbor didn’t poison him. He was a lovely, gentle, man who had already passed away by this time.
8. Did you ever have a scary animal experience?
Nothing is coming to mind. Honey would possibly say it was separating the dog and the muskrat.
9. What was your favorite pet?
I’m going to go with Mocha.
10. What did you really want to tell us about pets that didn’t fit into the other questions?
This story was a God Thing. After our car accident thirteen years ago, every member of our family slept in a different place. For quite some time.
Mousey went home to be a Hostler for a while, with visits to my step-brother and his wife’s house, and other friends graciously kept her as well. After The Boy was released from the hospital, he ping ponged all over the place. Abby remained in the hospital for the next 7 weeks, with either Honey and I spending the nights with her.
But right after the accident, I was home, with a chest tube, keeping my partially collapsed lung from collapsing. I was alone. And it was awful. Our house was so quiet. Unnaturally quiet.
Every time I would try to close my eyes to sleep, I saw the windshield shattering. I would start to rethink that day, relive every step, think about Abby’s poor broken body. Because of the tube, I could only sleep on my back. I don’t sleep on my back. I wasn’t really sleeping anyway. Despite a small arsenal of pain medication. This went on for days.
Mocha always slept with me, but always at the foot of our bed. One night, he came up to visit, as was his habit. But instead of going back down to the end of the bed, he settled himself right in the crook of my arm. He stayed there all night. And that night I slept. It was like a kiss on the cheek from God.
He also slept in Abby’s bed during the day until she came home. He missed her too.
I still miss that Boy.
So that is way more information than you ever needed to know about all the pets I have loved. Except one, I didn’t love Navarre.
So now I have to tag others. This part doesn’t usually work for me, as my friends just ignore it. But, I AM HOPING, because this meme is pet related, they may comply. They love their pets too. So here goes.
Capri Lis over at Life on Sassy Cat Hill
Capri Deb from Life in Stitches
Your IT!
And I will never receive another award, ever, for as long as I live. The End.
