It's a well known fact that 4 out of 5 cats pre-fur clean laundry.

~ Cliff Claven

Of the many pets we do have Tina loves to pose for company or pictures

Our crazy rescue pet Chester( cockapoo) that had so much spirit and feisty

enough to give me trouble to growl at me for not opening the door quick enough to go out and peed on the floor .That was the dame day he died at 16 but not because of that. Still miss that wild child picture of him and his buddy

No X's but love the pet pictures. This is Buddy.

This is Sadie and Ariel.Better through in a garden pic my son and I made.

"throw" I don't seem to be able to spell today.

• And of coarse I cannot forget my beautiful Corriedales! They are 5-6mths old here.

My little squirrel friend showed up today.

I just can't make friends with them because either y cats or dog would have them in a minute but she sure is a chubby momma and cute too lol

Yeah, she looks like she's gonna give birth any second now. Funny she was gone for so long. I'm outside a lot, even in the winter, and she associates me with food, so she knows I'll get her something to eat if I see her. She won't let the neighbors or any of my family get near her, she runs away. I assumed she had been killed by something. It's nice to see she's still around.

You two obviously share a bond. That picture is wonderful, Don. She trusts you.

Some of us are NOT so fond of these rodents. (tree squirrels here) They may look cute with their furry tails and white tummies, and big round eyes. But they dig up my yard with holes everywhere, especially the lawn or anything freshly planted. I have to use chicken wire or hardware cloth for at least 5 months on groundcover . But the worst part is that they dig in my hosta pots, and even knock them over. We see 5 or 6 a day running or sunning themselves on top of the wood fence. They even eat camellia blooms. I do not mourn when I see a dead one in the street about once a week. We are overrun with them here.

-Babka

That sucks. The squirrels don't disturb my yard or plants one bit. Raccoons are the destructive ones here. Those big suckers will climb over a fence and PLOP! right on a plant and crush it. They don't like firecrackers very much, though : )

Don, what a great photo. I'd feel good to have a squirrel trust me as much as she does you. One year I had five baby squirrels born in my yard. They did treat some of my newly sprouted plants like a salad bar, (not any hostas) but they're so darn cute when they play that I forgave them all.

This one looks like it's telling me it would like more peanuts, please. Taken through a window because it would run from me.

As we are way off topic, I thought you might like to see these 2 sets of twins born yesterday

Set 1

Set 2

Dave

Congratulations, Dave! They are adorable kids! That spotted one is unusual, isn't it?

Jo, they are Boer cross and normally arrive with red heads and white bodies. The spots are unusual but it helps with recognition untill I can get them tagged.

Dave

No x's here either but lots of doxies!

As they say, one doxie is never enough, kind of like chocolates

almosthooked I am very sorry about Chester and all of our pets that we have lost.

I was not going to post this originally but feel almost compelled to add my recently departed best pals. They were my constant companions and I lost both of them about a month apart this summer.

Sorry, Peren.all and Faye! : (

You are so kind and Chester has been gone for some time now and after 15 yrs he still brings smiles to our faces. My old Doxie Penny was after him and she lived to be almost 14 and we planted a bush where she is buries today . That is the way it is with pets, they give us so much and lived their lives to the fullest and gave so much. It is sad at the time but as everything it makes such great memories to hold onto.

Toy - is that a "blond" doxie in the group? I've never seen or heard of that.

A friend of mine has two, windy!

Interesting! My son and DIL have 2 miniature doxies, and we babysit them occasionally... she comes from a family where they are truly the family dog. They all get together and it's like a (noisy, funny) herd of dogs!

I got "hooked" on doxies about twenty years ago.....Had always had larger dogs (two chow mixes). My buddy had a mini and I fell in love with her. When he had pups I got two of them and the rest is history.....lol.....Those two lived to be 8 and 9 years old. The first died of cancer and the second of congestive heart failure. Long story short I then ended up with three pups shortly threreafter. Was a blessing as it helped occupy my mind so that I wasn't missing them so much. Those three grew to be four as I kept one of the pups from the last litter I was going to allow mom to have. Was just too hard for me to raise them and then have to give them away to someone else. What you see in the pic is a mix of long and short hairs that includes two silver dapples, a brown dapple, a brown and tan, a blonde dapple, two sables and yes windymess a very blonde little boy that was basically a rescue. As you may have guessed and anybody who has doxies can attest to.....This is their house.....They just let me live here.....lol.....Below is a pic of my first two.....This was taken right before the one on the left passed.....They are Emily and Patches.....

Very cute! They are funny and extremely companionable dogs!

Sadly I had to put my beautiful Kate down yesterday. She died of heart disease at only 5 years of age.

Donna my heart goes out to you. I am so very sorry. I can really empathize.

Donna , that is way too soon So sorry for your loss

So sorry!!!

So sorry Donna about your cat Kate. She was beautiful. Five years was too short time a time.

All the animals and pets on this thread are adorable, and I want one of each of them!

I have a parakeet. She was sitting on the back of my kitchen chair and thought I would take a picture. As I tried to take the picture she came closer and closer. I think she was trying to say: "You had better get my better side!"

Otherwise, she looks like this.

I am sorry to hear that, Donna. That is so hard.

Sad for you, Donna :(. It is so hard to lose our pets, isn't it? All these pictures make me long for a houseful of a menagerie !

Thanks everyone for your kind words of sympathy. Kate was a small kitty with a very loud purr. Our pets bring great joy to our lives. Poor Wills is walking around the house wailing for his pal.

The only bad thing about dogs (and cats, for that matter) is they don't live long enough. After thirty years of living in the same house, we have our own Pet Cemetery here with five dogs.

Powerfully fond memories.

tj

So true, TJ... our cat was born on my daughter's comforter, on the bed and at the tender age of 6, the exciting birth was etched into her mind. Muffin lived to a ripe age of 18.... almost like a teenager completing high school. He grew up with the girls.

The toy chihuahua, Pearl, I inherited after my oldest sister passed away lived for many years....finally took her last breath just before her 19th birthday! I used to carry her in the crook of my arm when she got tired of walking. This little pipsqueak frightened the Rottweilers on approach, LOL. That was some adoring little dog that would dance and squeal around me when I came home from a short absence - talk about love!

"Powerfully fond memories" indeed. Life is extra full with pets in it.

I forgot to show you my latest adoptees... there are now eight

Paula, you are the best! :-)

So sorry to hear that Donna, 5 years is so short of a time to have her with you but I'm sure you made them a great 5 years for her. Poor Wills, extra hugs for him.

It's heartbreaking to lose our cats, to lose our dogs. No one greets you like a dog will. And I believe all cats are special. They become such a part of our daily routines. Hugs to ALL who are missing our furry companions.

I'm enjoying seeing the animal friends and family here. It adds an extra dimension to knowing each other beyond being hosta lovers.

nhl, what a pretty blue parakeet! My Mom had a cat and a parakeet that were best friends. I think because the cat grew up with the parakeet always being there, it respected the bird's space. I have an old black and white photo of the bird sitting on top of the kitty grooming it's fur.

jo, enjoy your new adoptees. I miss having a fish tank. When you change the water don't forget to give it to some deserving hosta.

Donna, I'm very sorry to hear that.

Don, is that a fresh water aquarium? What kind of fish do you have?

Donna, I just read your sad news. I'm so sorry about your precious Kate. That's very sad.

To all you kitty lovers, I do have a word of caution. I hesitated to write about this but feel it might help someone in the future.

Last spring I received a purchased Hosta that had been cut from the mother plant instead of being grown as its own individual plant. This was a first for me. The folks who sent it had dipped or sprinkled some sort of yellow-colored substance on the cut portion ~ likely an anti-fungal or something. Anyway, when Hostas arrive I always let them soak for a day or two in a container on the counter.

At the time I had 2 Maine Coons and a rescue kitty. Despite always having fresh water available, two of my kitties sneaked up on the counter and drank the water the Hosta was soaking in. Both were sick immediately and the rescue kitty never did it again. But the one Maine Coon, Pearl, continued to do it whenever my back was turned. I finally figured it out after a few days (it had been raining for days so the plant stayed on my counter longer than usual) and took the plant outside. Pearl seemed to recover initially, but two weeks later she really began to have problems. I won't go into the details but it was awful.

After weeks of testing and months of trying to treat her we had to have her put to sleep. Pancreatic failure. She was only 6 years old.

Cats will be cats. You have house rules like staying off table tops and counters, cats live by their own rules, at least when your back is turned. Watch out for treated Hostas.

The X hostas seem to be lost to our pet but soon , so very soon we can all get into our yards and see more then tiny pips showing up. This would e the earliest that I have got out and did clean up, spray for slugs , fertilize and add mulch to hold in moisture. Yesterday got our raised veg. garden beds cleaned up and found about 8 lbs of potatoes we missed so back under they will go when we get it finished leveling out. I have never planted in April so will be a record year. Will have to go get some early planting seeds and get those it too. Crazy year and hoping it will not be too dry for the water table to recover. Yah , happy spring!

Hostatakeover, Thanks for the heads up, and I'm sorry to hear about Pearl's demise. Unfortunately Persians and Himalayans are genetically prone to Heart and kidney diseases. Wills is my last cat. I'm too old to adopt a young cat, and to incur the expense of an older cat should it get sick. If I had it to do over again, I would definitely purchase pet insurance.

I love that birdie! And beautiful large aquarium, Don.

It's time to enjoy the garden!

Love the aquariums Jo and Don. Good photos Jo! It's hard to take pictures of moving fish! My last aquarium was a 30 gallon, but I've had a few different ones in the past. I'd love to have one again in the future. Don, that is quite a large aquarium. It would take a bit more work, but you could have a lot more fish with that one!

Thanks for sharing your story about Pearl, Hostatakeover.

And about my parakeet---she was found outside in front of a large shopping mall. A girl caught her with a shopping bag, then posted a message on Facebook in order to find a home for her. My daughter saw the posting and she somehow wound up at our place! We'll never know where she came from.

resemblance. She is about one yr old in the above picture.

Her mother and her six puppies were left starving in a barn in Tennessee. A hunter, loves people especially kids, but has killed snakes, baby rabbits (one full size), a bird, a squirrel, a ground hog and heaven help any cat she might get ahold of......and she is a house dog!!! She is a big baby, spoiled rotten.

I can't get over the resemblance.

Jon

Nothing like a big slurpy doggie kiss!

Shasta only licks women's faces and kids (mostly their fingers). When she gets especially pampered or I've been out for a while, she will lick my knee or at whatever food I may spill on myself.

The picture was taken by the gal at the vets (they print it on postcard reminders that they send to Shasta) which is why she was ready to pounce. She is aggressively friendly.

Jon

Hi, Jo. I'm sorry, I didn't see your questions until just now. Yes, my tank is a freshwater, 150 gallons, and the fish I have in there are Silver Dollars, a pair of Angelfish, a few types of Rainbowfish, some Cory catfish and some Candy Cane tetras and Red-Blue Colombian Tetras.

Hi Don, now those are great shots!! Wonderful assortment of very pretty fish and that tank...and its stand, is awesome! In this case, as the saying goes, bigger is definitely better! Would love a huge one like yours. :D (I'm still amazed at the proximity that trusting pregnant squirrel allowed you! You obviously exude good karma.)

And..... Hostatakeover will be happy that you caught the questions regarding the water and types of fish. I am glad you did because it's a new world out there for me in keeping a fish tank! ;-). Thank you.