Some of Deb Linda’s Best Friends Have Been Furry

And I’m not just talking talking about my husband, either. Though, having exactly the right amount of chest hair, he is just furry enough to suit me.

But, no, I’m referring to the animal companions I’ve had in my life. They were there for me, a stalwart presence for me through thick and thin (yes, I am talking about the size(s) of my jeans), nonjudgmental and always happy to spend time with me.

(Okay, that last part might be a bit of a stretch with the cats. They could be kind of judge-y sometimes, especially if I forgot to feed them. Sheesh. Animals.)

Alas, they are all part of the Dead Pets Society now. But they will frolic forever in my memories.

 

Here’s Buster the Wonder Dog, aka “Boober Dog.” Because he was, yannoh, kind of a boob. Goofy, a bit* dumb, but fiercely loyal and soooo cute.

*Okay, a lot dumb. He once ate a whole box of crayons, and left rainbow poops all over the back yard. And he ate the plastic handles off a whole set of TG’s screwdrivers. Definitely one beer short of a six-pack, if you get my drift.

But he loved to play with the kids, and that made up for a lot:

 

Here’s Clancy, the Best Cat Who Ever Lived. He was so nice, he even made friends with the squirrel who lived on our deck:

And so laid back that he allowed us do this to him:

He looks pretty disgusted, doesn’t he? And yet he never scratched anyone. Now, that’s a good cat.

Then there was Sunny, our *cough* high-strung cat. She was sweet, and extremely attached to her possession, a string. Seriously, she carried it with her everywhere, and objected vociferously if you tried to take it away from her.

I’m not saying we’ll never have pets of our own again, but these days, TG and I like being able to take off whenever we like, without having to make pet-sitter arrangements. What’s that old saying? “Freedom is when your nest is finally empty and the last pet dies.” Might sound a trifle mean-spirited, but there’s a grain or two of truth in it.

Besides, we do still have pets in our lives—our “grandkitties” come visit regularly. Here’s Valentine, almost as laid-back as Clancy:

Her sister, Vera, looks a lot like her. They’re an entertaining pair, especially when they’re chasing the laser. (They’ll catch that red dot yet!) Or when it’s nap time, and they both decide they need to nurse on Valentine. (Yes, Valentine nurses on herself, and Vera joins in. I suspect they were weaned way too early, and developed their neurotic fixation as a comfort mechanism.) Around here, the behavior is greeted with “Oh, look, isn’t that cute? They’re doing that pervy thing again!”

 

We also have our fake pets to fill in when the grandkitties aren’t here.

The bulldog can be kind of standoffish sometimes (see above), but is usually quite welcoming (see below).

 

The stone cat…well, she’s a little aloof. You know–cold. You can’t blame her, though. She’s had a hard life. (Go ahead. Groan. You know you want to.)

 

How about you? Any special furry friends in your life, currently or in the past?

23 Replies to “Some of Deb Linda’s Best Friends Have Been Furry”

  1. Oh, Linda–I love your furry friends! As you know, I just said goodbye to my beloved Olive over the winter and I still miss her so, so much. Our furry friends are beyond BFFs. They give and give and never ask us to counsel them on bad breakups or job changes, and they ESPECIALLY never ask us if these jeans make them look fat!

    Thanks for making me smile this morning with all of yours!!

    1. It’s hard when we lose them, isn’t it? Honestly? One of the reasons we haven’t yet adopted another pet is because I haven’t been ready to set myself up for that kind of loss again. Maybe someday.

  2. Those pics are so cute!! I had a dog growing up–Andre. (He was a Bichon Frise) He was so laid back and when he was laying down with you, he always had to have a paw touching you. Really sweet.

    Sadly no new furry friends yet. Someday…

    1. Our across-the-street neighbor has a Bichon Frise — soooo cute! And, boy, does she know it. (Er, the dog, I mean.)

    2. My first dog as an adult was a Bichon that we ‘rescued’ from my brother at 9 years of age. He was very sweet, too – I believe the breed was created specifically to be calm lap dogs. Great dogs for sure.

  3. I get you on the freedom to get up and go, as whenever we go on a vacation, it’s a HUGE production between boarding the bird at one place, the dog at another and begging Deb Mom Marcia to come and feed the two cats (and Deb Mom Marcia is NOT a pet person, so this is a big deal). BUT There’s nothing quite like writing marathons with a loyal dog at your feet. Or a cat who decides when it’s time for a break and will come and poke at you when you’re in the middle of a pivotal scene.

  4. So cute! My cat has an object, too. It’s a length of unfinished knitting that kind of resembles a scarf (don’t ask). She carries it around everywhere. The thing is, it’s bigger than she is, so she has to walk all legs akimbo in order not to trip. It’s quite something to see.

  5. Love the pictues! I have quite a flock of animals here – four horses, three dogs (new puppy!) and five cats. I only claim my two cats – Princess and Spike, but they all take turns on my lap/desk/keyboards/mice/typing hands. Lucky the dog adopted us 12 years ago and we don’t know how old he was then (or what combination of breeds he is – medium sized black with terrier instincts), but he’s slowing down and getting a bit on the eldery side of things. Chip is our Boston Terrier and he’s convinced everyone ever loves him and comes over just to play with him. None of the other house animals will play his games, therefore we got him a new little sister – River the 8 week old standard poodle.
    With this many critters, getting away takes some planning! Luckily, I know several kids I met through pony club who are responsible pet and house sitters.

  6. My old kitty-buddies were so sweet. Anytime there was a lap available, they were in it. And they were unbelievably careful with their claws. They developed a perfectly calibrated system whereby they could jump onto a denim-clad leg and hook in exactly enough claw for stability without even touching the leg beneath. But the first day of hot weather always threw them. They’d go to hop up as usual, and their look of wide-eyed horror was priceless. You could just see the thought bubble: “Oh S***, shorts!” The claws would retract instantaneously, and they’d actually let themselves tumble onto the floor rather than leave a scratch on our pasty white legs.

    The last one went to the great hunting ground in the sky eight years ago, and I can’t bear to start again. We’ll keep our happy memories… and our freedom.

  7. Great post – I LOVE the photos!!

    My husband and I have had cats since we were dating – we actually adopted our first Maine Coon mix kitten together and shared “joint custody” of Wookiee until we married. That lucky cat had two homes! By the time we lost him (two years ago, at a ripe old age) we had acquired several others – all loveable and all “broken” in various and humorous ways. We even had a three-legged cat named Tumble (which earned us no end of disturbed looks from visitors, though I promise she actually had four legs when we adopted and named her – she lost one to cancer a year later, though, which led to probably the funniest naming coincidence on record).

    1. LOL! Is it horrible how amusing I find that? I mean, I’m sorry about Tumble’s leg and all, but…dang, that turned out to be so appropriate. Are you possibly prescient?

  8. We’ve had a menagerie of furry, feathered, and scaled critters around the house over the years, but now we’re down to two cats. Our “girls”. It’s almost embarrassing how much we miss them when we go away. (Unlike your stone cat, we never take our girls for granite.) LOVE your boober dog. I had one like that when I was growing up, too; poor thing was definitely mentally challenged. Pretty, but dumber than dirt.

    1. Some animals are smart. Others are here just to be loved & provide entertainment. Boober was definitely the latter. *grin*

  9. I have a cat named Bernie. Bernie used to be Bonnie and he lived with a cat named Clyde. But then we figured out Bonnie wasn’t an appropriate name for him so he became Bernie and moved here with me.
    We also have a cat named Leonard. Leonard was supposed to belong to my neighbor, Leonard, but he stays at my house.
    And a feral cat without a name hangs around and eats here, too.
    They all 3 like to spend quality time hanging out by the bird bath.

    1. Ha! My very first cat, back when I was little kid, was named Melissa…until we found out he was more of a Melvin. See, Melvin was a Persian, and I was quite certain (at first) that all Persians were girls. I mean, he LOOKED like a girl… *grin*

  10. That is SO MANY animals! As you can perhaps tell, I’m not much of a pet person myself… but I’m trying. Matt wants two bulldogs. We’ll see about that!

    1. TG totally wants a bulldog, too. What is it about men and bulldogs?

      I pretty much grew up in a zoo. My mom was the softest touch ever about pets, especially stray animals that happened our way. We always had dogs, cats, fish, parakeets, gerbils, hamsters, a rabbit … we even had ribbon snakes for a while. This is actually the first time in my whole life that I haven’t had a pet. It’s kind of weird for me, but there IS a certain freedom about it.

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