THE FURRY FAMILY
| Growing up, we almost always had a cat in the
family. Sometimes outside, sometimes inside. Unfortunately, we
lived way too close to a busy street for proper animal safety,
and lost many of our earlier pets to the road or some other
unknown peril. Eventually, we made the decision that our next
pet would be inside or leashed when outside. Buffy was with us
for many years, until she escaped from the house without the
leash and was severely injured on the road. Sadly, the vet could
not repair the damage, and Buffy had to be put down. Because the loss of our beloved Buffy was so traumatic, my parent's decided 'no more cats'. I tried gerbils as a replacement, but although they are furry, it's really hard to cuddle a small rodent, much less sleep with it. Eventually, I grew up and left home. My sister, who was living alone in my parent's house, adopted two kittens, Chester and Princess. Not to be out-done, several years later, I found an apartment where I was allowed to have two cats. Labor day weekend, 1987, Pagos and Peaches took up residence with me and promptly sole my heart. The three of us shared the apartment until 1993, when my sister and I bought a house and became a 4-kitty household. Life went on, with a few bumps along the way. First we lost Princess in 1994 to a cancerous tumor, and then Chester in 2001. At age 14, Peaches was diagnosed with a hyperactive thyroid. She fought the condition (and taking the pills that helped control it) for three years, finally succumbing in August, 2004. That left Pagos as queen of the house. At age 20, she is still healthy, a little slower, but still kicking. Spring 2007, we started feeding two feral strays on our deck. Over the summer, they each produced a litter of kittens. As soon as we saw them, we knew we had to rescue them from the risks of a feral existence. It took awhile, but we were finally able to collect the kittens. (See the Kitten Page for the full story.) We are now a house of seven cats. Queen Paggie is NOT very happy about it, but hopefully she will eventually adjust....or we will! Use the links below to view pictures and get more stories about the furry side of the family. I also listed links to several "cat" pages for additional information.
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| "Queen Paggie" | National SPCA Website |
Last
updated July 2007
© Gail Shermeyer