A totally maudlin appreciation thread for our critter buddies.

[nolabear]

Who knew the real purpose of the intertubes would be to connect over the many and amazing life lessons we all get to learn together through our interactions with pets and other animals. Without knowing a thing about it, they are the real stars.

Here's to the goggies, kittehs, dolphins, squirrels, cavorting foals and lambs, long-lost lions, baby everything and those gone to the Rainbow Bridge. Ours and everone else's.

[MiddleFingerMom]

1. There is still an emptiness where NoName was, but with a little focus...

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...I'm able to fill it just enough with memories.
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My lease doesn't allow for a pet right now (nor my financial
situation). I think I would finally be ready again.
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I've been leaving food out for the 2 or 3 ferals I've seen
coming through our yard.
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I got some really really cheap generic dry food a coupla days
ago (it was STILL the most expensive item on my list) and they
don't seem to have touched a morsel.
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They look pretty healthy. I figure there's enough others in
this neighborhood looking out for them... OR (perhaps more
likely) they're simply opportunistic well-cared-for indoor/outdoor
cats who polished off the brand that I started with as a snack.
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:rofl:
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Every time NoName slipped out past me at the door, I spent
every moment worrying about her 'til I got her back inside
again (about 8-10 times over 8 years or so).
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This IS Arizona, where (as MiddleFingerMomMom
taught me) there is a French word for outdoor cats.
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Hors d'oeuvres.
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[nolabear]

2. Your NoName's name reminds me of a friend's father

who couldn't remember their cats' names. Originally there were three of them, Wynken, Blynken and Nod, but one went to Hors d'oeuvre Land and he just took to calling the other two Nod and Not Nod.

[MiddleFingerMom]

3. I never named my cats (except when I had two... so OTHERS knew which one I was speaking of)...

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...but friends insisted, so I named her.
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Her name had a faux Native American pronunciation -- NO-nah-m'HAY.
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[nolabear]

4. I had a friend who found a kitten under his house.

When he told me, I laughed and said "Well Eric, that's just fate." "Just Fate" he became. Lovely boy, worst drooler in a cat I've ever seen. He'd make biscuits on your chest and drool all over you.

[marzipanni]

9. I thought you were going to say 'chats frites' n/t

[grasswire]

5. missin' my ginger boy Keiko

It has been a month since he passed. We're still grieving hard.

[sarge43]

6. For Wolfgang, Gertie, Mad Max, Louie and all our other feathered friends

See you on the other side Sweeties.

[siligut]

7. I still ache for my last kitteh sometimes

And we just had to make her name part of our passwords, wouldn't ya know. I loved her and she loved me, I did the best I could for her and that is how I hold her in my heart. Still can't adopt another, hurts too much when they leave this earth. But if one crosses my path, they will have a home.

[Bake]

8. It's not as maudlin as I thought it would be.

I was all set for a good cry, too!

Seriously, I miss every dog and cat I've ever been privileged to serve, starting with Sissy, my collie when I was just a little guy -- my parents actually gave me the story about "she's gone to live on a farm;" to Gus, my dachshund who loved to eat ice cream cones (had to get the flat bottom cones so he could hold them up between his paws)--lost him to a car on Hollywood Drive; to BooBoo the shi-tzu who was a totally great dog--I was with him when he crossed Rainbow Bridge and he was looking into my eyes when the end came; to Riley O'Malley the rescue cat who was the best cat I ever knew--lost him to feline diabetes. We have four dogs now, two are getting old ...

I may have that good cry yet.

Bake

[zanana1]

10. The fact that you gave them all good lives...

Cry if you must, but I think the joy you brought them is something to celebrate.

[Bake]

11. They brought me so much joy and asked so little in return.

I must tell you about Riley the Cat. When he was just a little kitteh, my son and friends were playing in the basement with weight machine. We were in the kitchen and Riley came up dragging his left hind leg at a very strange angle ... apparently he got caught in the weight machine and it completely broke his leg. I took him many times to the vet, where we would sit in the waiting room, Riley up on my shoulders and kind of draped around my neck. He was in a cast for a while but he never complained. That's when he really became MY cat--my shadow.

When I took a job in MS, there were two years while the family did the dual city thing. I didn't need an alarm clock because every morning Riley woke me up doing drum rolls on my chest. "Hey! Wake up! Let's get some FOOD going!" And he'd shadow my every step. When I'd get home from work, he'd meet me at the door. I'd go straight to the bathroom to whizz, and he'd jump up on the vanity and lean out waaaaay over the toilet and watch. Then we'd go get his dinner. I'd sit down at the computer to DU for a while, and he'd get up on the stool next to me and poke his head up under my mouse hand to demand some attention. If I didn't respond quick enough, he'd jump up on the desk, looking for something to push off.

He was my buddy. Most nights he slept on my chest and wake me up the next morning. Repeat routine.

When he left us, we couldn't bury him in the hard clay of MS because we knew we weren't going to be there forever. His remains are in a rosewood box with his picture on the front, on the bookshelf. I'm looking at him now. Riley, we miss you, buddy.

THanks for reading.

Bake

[nolabear]

12. Thanks for writing. Riley sounds like the best.