Tell the "tail"

[Jaylee53]

This is about the other friends we have...or had.  

Have you had a four footed friend that happened into your life.   One that showed up unexpected...one that was always there or just there and  you didn't know any different?

I have had a life of many furry and feathered friends in my life.   I have even had some wonderful aquariums that lasted for many years.  I still have a houseful of greenery that I work hard to maintain.

I've been very fortunate to have some in my life that loved me loving them....I was the richer for it.

[Bob Stepp]

I had always owned dogs, was not a "cat person" till  Fuzzbutt took over the place after the last of my dogs passed away. He was a rather large yellow Tabby ( I learned that years later) that for the next two-plus years owned me and taught me a little about cats.

I had seen him around the area for maybe 4 or 5 years;  there were two other houses within about two hundred yards of my place and I think he bounced around between yards avoiding the dogs we all had and staying pretty healthy by hunting rats out in the pasture and stealing scraps when the dogs were asleep.I would see him most every afternoon just before dark skirting the edge of the yard where the pasture began as he began his hunt. He would always keep his distance from the house maybe because of the dogs although I'm pretty sure he had a look of disdain on his face when he looked toward the house. He got too close one night and found himself up an oak tree in the back yard with five very pissed off dogs below him. I put them in the garage and he still wouldn't come down till I sprayed him with the garden hose two hours later. Didn't see him for a week.

About 3 months after my last dog died I was working in the yard one afternoon when all of a sudden that cat was weaving in and out between my ankles with a look on his face that clearly said, "I like it here.....I'm stayin, deal with it." While my wife was telling me how much we didn't need a cat I was fixin' him something to eat which identified me as the food source and his "Human."

I knew nothing about cats and their bathroom habits, but the first winter night I let him sleep in the garage he taught me. I figured he could hold it till morning, but instead he marked his territory on a hard plastic tool box that still stinks to this day. My sister gave me a litter box (she was a cat person) and we got along fine after that.

He thinned the bird population some and kept the rats and mice away from the house. I used to watch him sit still as a statue, not moving a muscle waiting for one of the many moles in the yard to surface after cleaning out a burrow...saw him catch four. He left many "presents" right outside the back door trying to impress me with his hunting skills. I think it hurt his feelings and maybe pissed him off some when I cleaned up the mess.

As much I loved my dogs, I learned there is something special about taking a break on a hot summer afternoon with a cat purring in your lap...although  the first time he tried to re-arrange my lap I had second thoughts about the relationship. He liked to play for short periods. He wouldn't answer to his name like a dog...it was like "leave a message" dumbass, but he was a good companion and he allowed no other cat anywhere in the yard. I enjoyed watching him and the squirrels have a word of prayer under the oak trees. He did seem glad I was around...sorta like it had been his place all along, but he let me stay as long as I behaved. He died of old age during a summer night with  no warning of bad health. I still miss the old boy. He left me with a healthy, deep respect for kitties, which by the way comes in handy at this point in my life.

 

[d's girl]

[Jaylee53]

I concur....sweet story coming from a "dog" guy.

[d's girl]

Oh, Jaylee. I'm just sitting here crying. Thank you for this. I think maybe it was no accident. My precious Coo-puppy is getting worse & worse every day w/age related dementia that is causing her tremendous separation anxiety when I leave her. I have been so frustrated w/her. She's tearing up my house. She's torn out dinner plate size drywall from my walls, she's destroyed the trim around the door, the door needs to be sanded & repainted, the fireplace needs to be sanded & repainted. Yesterday she tried to drag a table across the room & knocked a bowl off it, which I came home & found shattered in pieces. Today she got a bag of protein bars off the kitchen table that I'd bought on sale yesterday & had eaten 10 of them! (there went my deal, + I'm sure the dogs have stomach aches, b/c they can't digest nuts well). That video gave me such a reality check!! My precious little "Coo-puppy" -- I got her out of an intersection in rush hour traffic over 12 years ago, when she was just 9 months old. We've shared our lives together for so long, & she's given me so much. Thank you for this reminder of what it's REALLY all about. sigh...

she's in the chair. that other one's the shepherd-grizzly bear.

[TeeBubbaDee]

Great stories Bob and d's g. About 20 years ago, my wife was driving in a snow/sleet storm when she saw a rat run across the road. Well, a second glance and she realized it was a puppy. He ran under a guardrail and fell down in a ditch. My wife stopped, but the ditch was too deep and steep for her. But another kind soul stopped and climbed down and gave her a shivering, wet, muddy, burr infested, matted, little bundle. She brought him home and cleaned him up, and named him Barney, because she thought from the area she found him, he might have been born in a barn. The vet said he was too young to be away from his mother, and no more than 3 weeks old. Then, about 5 months later, we noticed a stray cat in the neighborhood. No one could get close to him. All you would see is a grey streak running from trashcan to trashcan on pick up day. After about a month, he crawled up on our front porch just a breath away from death due to pneumonia. Vet said he was about 6 months old, so he was just about the same age as Barney, and we named him Bubba. (yes, that’s where the Bubba in my TBD name comes from) They grew up together and were best buds. I won't go on and on about how they were the BEST, but they really were. The last couple of years were rough on Barney. He had allergies and bad hips, but benadryl and arthritis meds kept him active right up to the end. Anyway, one morning he just couldn’t stand. The hips had finally given out. I was so sick from the chemo and radiation, all I could do was roll off the couch and hold him while my wife went go get help so she could take him to the vets to be put down. 10 days later, Bubba decided it was his time to go too. At least by then I was strong enough to go to the vets and hold him as he passed away.

[Bob Stepp]

Thank you for sharing your story, kind Sir.

[d's girl]

Wow, TeeBubba. Thank you for sharing that w/us.

[funesthememorious]

'Rocky' raccoon came into my life as an abandoned helpless critter I discovered devouring a bird carcass in the woods. My friends and I caught and adopted him for the noble purpose of giving him a home in a half used chicken coop. Rocky grew at a fantastic rate from gorging on raw hamburger, rotten fruit, and Grand Union garbage. Unfortunately, we knew very little about the socialization and courting habits of raccoons so Rocky became a snarling, grossly obese, hormonal deviant.

Neighbors complained and eventually the police came to tranquilize him and re-home him to the wilderness.

[TeeBubbaDee]

Funes, when we were kids we had a neighbor that had a raccoon for a house pet. I don't remember if he was obese or not, but he certainly never snarled and as far as I could tell, wasn't hormonal either. We thought it was cool to watch him climb up on the kitchen counter, open the cupboard, and unscrew the lid on the peanut butter jar. Maybe you should have let Rocky eat peanut butter instead of raw hamburger.

[funesthememorious]

Or maybe he was rabid.

[Jaylee53]

[Bob Stepp]

I'm sure crocs make warm, fuzzy pets.