Love, Cuddles and my Crazy House of Pets!

Welcome to my crazy house of pets, with all the love they provide and all the cuddles too! If you are here it is likely that you love your pet as much as we do!

I am a mother to a beautiful 11 year old daughter, and am also the mom to five wonderful fur babies. It makes for a busy household but I would not change a single thing about it! Well…maybe I could use a bigger house and yard but that would lead to a high possibility of further additions to our family! And grass…I’d love to have real grass…

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I currently work full time in the Finance industry but like many have been working from my dining table for the past year. This has given me the opportunity to spend most of my waking moments with my furry crew. I have had pets my entire life, from small dogs to big dogs to all kinds of cats (and even some guinea pigs for a while!). With so many people choosing to adopt pets in the past year, and the number of questions I get when out walking my dogs from new pet parents, I thought what better a way to share my experiences and adventures than through a pet blog!

My love and passion for pets started before I can even remember. Growing up it was relatively uncommon to have cats spayed and neutered, so there always seemed to be a litter of newborn kittens underfoot. And a couple of dogs thrown into the mix for good measure! The only time in my life when there was not an animal present was my first two years of university when I lived on campus so a pet was not allowed. As soon as I moved off campus it was not long before my first kitty showed up!

One of the many things I have learned over the years is that the learning never stops. Each animal is unique and has it’s own personality. Each animal also has different needs, whether it be diet, health needs and issues, exercise requirements, emotional requirements…the list goes on and on. While being an emotional crutch for many, pets are also expensive. Just last week I had my two Bernese Mountain Dogs at the vet for a ruptured cyst and a hernia repair. And the three cats are going for shots this weekend and of course it’s time to stock up on flea and tick medication, followed shortly after by heartworm medication. The bigger the pet, the bigger the cost as much of this is dosed according to weight.

I knew what I was signing up for though for the most part. Pet care was a big part of my upbringing, right down to the time when my mom brought me a new kitten from the shelter, Carmichael. He was starving as he had been in a cage with a much larger cat and it was unlikely he was being allowed to eat as much as he needed. He was filthy. He stunk. I bathed him and got him all cleaned up. He slept in bed with me, and was so little and frail that he would wake me up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom as he was too little to could not get off the bed on his own. It was a lot of diarrhea which would get all over his backside, so I had a roll of toilet paper beside the litter box that I would wipe his little bum with.

As I mentioned above, I got my first kitten that was all mine in my third year of university when I moved into a house with a group of friends. He was so little and cute, a brown tabby and he still had blue eyes. It was January, not a popular time for kittens so it was a real search to find him. He was a very busy kitten! He would run laps around the bed and his favorite spot to sleep was nestled up into my neck. He was my constant companion. He did not really like other people much but he tolerated them. He had a penchant for making people bleed as well…my boyfriend and I moved into an apartment together for fourth year university, and Gizmo had taken to attacking him fiercely in the middle of the night, in the dark, if he got up to use the bathroom. I’m talking real attack mode here! Ears pinned, all fluffy, pupils huge and growling and hissing like a maniac! I got used to hearing the middle of the night screams when this kept happening…

Gizmo was the first cat I had that LOVED to fetch! I would spend hours throwing toys for him, he never tired of it. He also loved to play with the little orange arrows of nerf guns. My mom came to visit and slept on the pullout couch and he tormented her all night long playing with them on top of her, under her, and thundering through the room.

When I moved to Toronto I decided that I wanted another cat as a companion for him as I felt bad leaving him alone all day to work. Enter Chester! This little guy came off the streets and I found him at PetSmart at an adoption event. He was the smallest kitten, another brown tabby, very skinny with all his little bones sticking out and his head looking far too big for that little body. He had dirt encrusted in his ears and all his whiskers were broken off as were his claws. I had to have him!

Chester was a funny, funny cat. He was also quite the little weirdo! He liked water and being blow dried, so part of the morning routine was him jumping up into the bathroom sink so I could blow dry him while I did my hair. If I stopped he would yell at me! He was a fast food junkie as I believe this is what he survived on as a baby on the harsh streets of Toronto. He ended up developing quite the quirky little habit of sitting up with his front legs draped over an arm chair, his belly covering his feet from view! He was also extremely vocal, always chattering about something with some good, deep yowls thrown in here and there for fun. I would love to know what he was talking about.

Gizmo and Chester gave me my first glimpses on what it was to really own a pet and the responsibility that came with it. The first experience came when Gizmo seemed to be having some pain in his mouth. I took him to the vet, and he had front teeth that were broken off and had gotten impacted in his gums. The vet gave the area a little squeeze and a pile of oozing pus poured out of the area (sorry, gross). This likely came from trauma, and I believed it was because he would run laps through the condo and occasionally run into a glass sliding door between the bedroom and den on the times it was closed. That was also the moment that he decided he hated the vet and they needed to use the big leather gloves after that…He ended up needing surgery to have his front bottom teeth removed. Dental work on pets is NOT cheap…

Outside of the regular shots, things went well for us for many years. Then one day I noticed that Chester’s spine was ticking out and he was listless (he still had that belly though somehow…). I made him a vet appointment and sat on the floor holding him, crying, because you could tell something was seriously wrong. It turned out that his obesity had led to feline diabetes and we spent the good part of a couple weeks back and forth to test blood levels. He needed insulin shots twice a day. And a very special diet.

When the cats were a few years old I decided a dog was an absolute must! I had been thinking about a Doberman and had gone to a breeder and met the parents already. However, the female ended up getting too sick to breed so I was back to ground zero. I had been noticing all the little Pugs in the area though. I fell in love with their little pushed in faces, stocky bodies, bug eyes and curly tails! I did my research on the breed and saw they were prone to all kinds of problems and that a lot of insurers would not insure the breed due to this. I wanted one anyways. Along came Nemo!

Nemo was an extremely handsome little man, jet black with a little white patch on his chest. The breeder chose to sell him as a companion pet instead of keeping him as a show dog because of the white patch. His head was so heavy that when he ate he would tip over into the food bowl with his back legs up in the air! He had a wicked sense of humor and thought he was a big, tough guy. His first health problem came up when I noticed a problem with his eyes. He had entropion, which is when an eyelid rolls inward and the hair irritates the eye. It could cause blindness. Surgery it was. He also needed a good dental cleaning at the same time because unlike other dogs, a Pug’s teeth grow all over the mouth and are very difficult to clean. In his middle years, he ended up developing double hip dysplasia and also had some sort of nerve problem in his spine that led to his tail uncurling. He did not like to walk far as he tired easily so he ended up being carried around a lot!

When Gizmo and Chester were getting on in their years, I made the decision to get a third cat so that I was not left without an animal when the inevitable time came. My daughter was two years old at the time, and she dubbed this sweet little diluted calico Bubbles! Bubbles was CRAZY. She had a ton of energy and was always ripping around. When I moved into my downtown condo, I left Nemo and Bubbles with my ex and took Gizmo and Chester with me as I thought it was unfair for those two to be cooped up in a condo.

Those two were my constant companions during a period of big change in my life. I was on my own for the first time ever after my divorce, and my daughter was going back and forth so there were a lot of times I was completely on my own. I relied on them to get me through the day. The time came though that Gizmo stopped eating. He loved his wet food and when I put it in front of him he looked at it, looked at me and I could see how tired he was in his eyes. I knew. It was time. I made the vet appointment for the next morning. I carried him in my arms to walk to the vet as it was a beautiful sunny spring day. I cried the whole way (I am actually crying now remembering it). I took him to the vet and she said that his belly was full of lumps and cancer. He did not even have the energy to fight at the vet as he usually did. He went quietly.

I started looking for a new kitten. I found little Miesha! She was so small, a tortoiseshell with her front toe tips and the tip of her tail looking like they were just dipped in white paint. My daughter fell in love immediately when I brought her home. The vet estimated her to be only four weeks old, far too young to be separated from her mother. She suckled everything until it was sopping wet. Chester was tolerating her but not exactly enamored.

Then Bubbles entered our world again! My ex had been keeping her outside and she had gone a little wild and was urinating all over his house. He gave me the choice of taking her or taking her to the humane society…She came in hissing and spitting and ANGRY. She made me bleed, she peed on my bed. New litter with pheromones’ helped with the bedding issue and it took some time but she calmed down and came to trust me again.

While all this was going on, Chester got sick. Back to the vet. He was dehydrated and they were running tests on him so they kept him overnight. Results came back: pancreatitis. On the plus side the diabetes was well under control…It turns out that he would have needed a lot of medication and daily pills, and his quality of life still would not be great at that point. I made another hard decision and decided it was time to let him go. All this and it was only 15 days after I lost Gizmo. My heart was shattered. I brought him home for one more night, and I could tell he was in a lot of pain and he wasn’t himself. I got him McDonalds for supper as it was his favorite food (fries and chicken nuggets). I took him back the next day, and he curled up into my lap and passed over to the rainbow bridge there. This has been hard to write as it opened up that old wound again.

At this point I was left with Bubbles and Miesha. We had a few uneventful years. The cats loved me but were wary of my young daughter and would run and hide from her. She was heartbroken. I did some research and found that Ragdoll cats are great with young children. I found a breeder in Kingston and voila! Whiskers! He was a tough kitten. And a big kitten. The breeder kept him longer than usual because he refused to transition and eat dry food, only wet, and would scream like a banshee for it! I convinced her to let me bring him home finally when he was twelve weeks old. He did not do well with the change in environment. He threw up LAKES of mushy puke all over the house, projectile style. I thought I was in over my head. He finally adjusted but it took a few months. He is now a big, burly boy who is quite the character! We were now a three cat family, and the crazy cat lady jokes were coming in hard.

When I moved into my house from my downtown condo, I brought my three cats along with me. My daughter was adamant that it was time for a dog, but I had not given in as I did not think that I had the time to devote to one. That lasted all of three months and I ran into a giant Bernese Mountain dog in the local hardware store. I fell in love with the breed right there and then!

I once again did my research on the breed and found a reputable breeder. I learned that like many purebred dogs they are prone to a whole litany of health issues. I decided I was prepared to deal with it and contacted the breeder. I went to meet the parents and see the puppies to pick one out when it was time. Grace crawled up into my lap and fell fast asleep. When I tried to put her down, she crawled right back up! Then when she woke up she stuck her head in my purse and started pulling things out. She chose me!

When Grace was about three months old I noticed that she was getting quite depressed during the day when I was at work, and wasn’t responding to the dog walker I had or eating for him. I called the breeder and decided that she should have a companion.

My baby boy Benson came home two months later. Grace just wanted to jump all over him but he was so little compared to her at five months old! I had just started sleeping the night with Grace when he came home, so it was like groundhog day! Back to sleepless nights, piddles and poops and training day one! They were so different in personality. Grace is a very calm girl, independent but needy. Willful and stubborn and a nightmare to train. Benson is a little wild, but so sweet and loves to cuddle up on your lap. Obedient to a fault and so easy to train. Grace loved her crate. Benson hated it and after a week I gave up on him and put him on the bed…he slept the night! He has to this day never messed in the bed. He is thirteen months old now, Grace is 16 months old. The health issues have started already…(yes, I have insurance). Benson had a cyst that ruptured causing infection requiring antibiotics. Grace had hernia surgery after her spay. Benson is a walking hormone…I’m trying really hard to let him finish growing before neutering him as he needs the hormones to grow properly as joint issues are aplenty with big dogs.

I look back now and wonder what I was thinking to be training two puppies at once! But we have made it this far, and there is still a whole road to journey ahead of us. I am looking forward to where our adventures will take us from here, and I hope that you will join us for the ride!