Vet Visit

Miss Kitty has her annual Vet visit today and it got me to thinking about all the animals we'd had through the years.  Some came and went while others are still with us, at least in our memories.

The first was a cat that Mac had given me before we married, his name was Ping and he was unloved by everyone but me, and in return he hated everyone.  Before we married we found him a new home with, of all people, the head of the local Hells Angels in Oakland, California, who knew they had a soft side. 

The first time Mac was sent to Georgia in the late 60's we had a little mutt named Major, cute dog.  Don't know how we could afford to feed him we could barely afford food for ourselves, Army pay being so generous.

We briefly had a cat and dog while at Ft.Ord in California but had to give them up because we were going to Germany.  Giving up pets was a theme of Army life.

Returning to the States, Texas to be precise, we got a small black dog named Pooh who disappeared.  We then had rabbits and hamsters who lived in a chicken coop in the backyard.  The cutest thing in the world is a baby hamster, they're born "motoring".

After that we had a pair of German Shepherds named Duke and Duchess, one of them, can't remember which, use to steal Mac's underwear off the clothes line and sleep on it.

We also had a Manx cat named Tiger, named before we knew which sex she was.  She survived being bitten by a cottonmouth snake and when we sold our house the people who bought it took her too.

Our next home, after Germany again, was in Colorado and we went to the pound and got a cat we named Fang.  He stayed with us until we'd made an appointment to have him neutered and then he disappeared.  We replaced him with another pound cat we named Louis.  His name had been Dooley, but that was just too lame.  Louis was around 2 years old when we got him and stayed with us 16 more years, moving to Germany, Georgia, Turkey, back to Georgia and finally out to California.  He was quite a cat!

April had her first pony while we were in Colorado, his name was Waco, sold when we left for Germany.  I also  had a horse,  Partner, who had to be sold.

Also in Colorado we had a rabbit named PRab.  He was given to friends when we left.

In Georgia Boober joined us, he was the only cat friend Louis  ever had, not being very fond of cats himself, but when we went to Turkey we could only take one cat and that was Louis.

Returning to Georgia we had  several cats one of whom, Mudge,  was the mother of Bear one of our very special cats, loving in ways that cats usually aren't.  We also had Nisa a long haired beauty and I can't remember what happened to her, gave to our daughter or the pound I think.  Louis hated her as he hated all female cats. Bear and Louis moved to California with us.

While living in Georgia during the 80's we also had the only dog I ever claimed as mine, an English Sheepdog named Charlie.  He was only with us a year or so but became very dear to me.  I cried for a half an hour with the Vet when he died.

We also had a couple of horses, a minature Sicillian burro and a couple of goats.  We had a couple of horses who I don't remember very well.  I do remember that Mac built a barn right over the top of one of them.

In California Louis died and we got a cat to replace him, though Louis was irreplaceable.  The new cat was Oscar, a strange young man who never improved.  When we moved back to Georgia we brought him and Bear with us.  Bear died that summer and Oscar several years later.  I cried, and said I'd have no more pets, but Mac made me go to the animal shelter and pick out a new cat.  I decided I'd get a Tabby because that's what Louis had been and a Tuxedo because that's what Bear had been.  I definitely wanted male cats, they're cheaper to neuter.

Well at the Shelter a small female Tabby stuck her paw out, cried,"Take me home."  and that's what we did, her name is Miss Kitty, frequently called The Kite' and she completely stole our hearts.  We had never bought toys for a cat before and now our house is full of hers, she rules the house with a velvet paw and we couldn't imagine life without her!