As The Cat's World Turns...

If you own pets, there will surely come times when life throws you a curve ball. The most pets we've had at the same time under our roof was four, two cats and two dogs. When we lost our little dog--our family's first pet--we didn't replace her. That was not the case when we lost one of our cats. Within a few weeks, we rescued a tiny kitten and brought him home.

A lot has happened since then. The tiny kitten grew...

And grew...

And grew. He's now close to twenty pounds--a force to be reconned with.

Last fall, a case of the sniffles visited our family (it's happened to a lot of people...). After we all recovered, something changed. The no-longer-small-ball-of-fur was causing problems. It seems we were more allergic to the cat than before.

We then were faced with a decision...we either move the cat downstairs or find a new home for him. The downstairs option didn't work out because of our older, more "bullying" cat who had already claimed the basement as his domain...not an option. A few weeks ago, our older cat passed away. We discussed putting our remaining cat downstairs, but we weren't sure. We still had some issues to resolve.

We thought about other option, the "finding him a new home" option. Since last fall, I posted about our cat on this blog--no takers. We put up flyers at our local grocery stores--no takers, until last Friday. I got a text asking if we still had our cat. We said we did. The text-er wanted to drop by Saturday to take him home and see if he could get along with their other cat.

When that text came in, we wondered again if we wanted him gone. Of course, we didn't, but we thought maybe it would be the best if we found him a new home.

Saturday came, the text-er did not. We decided to put the cat downstairs. Last night was his first night in the basement. We weren't sure how he'd do, but he weathered the change better than I thought he would. Today he did even better. None of us like change, including cats. We're hoping this works out. We sure like having him around...just not as close as before.

Ah...New Blinds, And What Happens To Them

It was time.

When items in your house begin to literally fall apart due to age and use, it's time to replace said items. 

My father designed and built a house for his young family. Too bad he never saw it finished. Growing up I wondered if I'd ever have the opportunity to build a house like he did. It turned out we got that chance, though my father did much more on his house than we did on ours. We contracted much of it out, but still, considering how much we did do, I was happy with the results.

One thing I wanted to have on a house was a lot of windows. We got that wish. Thing is, lots of windows means you need to have lots of ways to cover up those windows when you want others not to be able to see inside.

We chose blinds.

The cheap ones.

Cheap is good, but cheap is cheap for a reason, namely quality. The blinds we chose were good enough. Fast forward a decade or so. The blinds we beginning to literally fall apart due to sun, animals, excessive use--stuff like that. When we went to buy new blinds, we found out they no longer sold corded blinds--new technology = cordless.

We put them up. We liked the way they looked.

Then came the cat. The cat, having never even touched the old blinds in the year we had him, started chewing the new blinds. It makes no sense. Maybe we're destined to have broken down blinds.

It's a small thing, but small things can have a big impact, even blinds.

Just Hanging With The Pets...

The other day I found myself in the company of our pets. This is not unusual, but on this particular day, it was like the animals wanted their pictures taken. To be honest, I have no idea if pets ever want their pictures taken. That didn't stop me from doing it, though.

First, the poodle. He's just a joy to be around. Yes, he's also a handful, but that's what makes him so much fun. It's his personality and we are lucky to have him. He had his favorite squishy ball in his mouth and we ended up on the couch. I took out my phone and snapped a selfie. I don't take a lot of selfies and we don't take many pictures of the dog--he does tend to move around a lot.

A few hours later, I was sitting in my room when our cat came climbing up on the bed. He nestled into his favorite spot and I thought it would be a good time to snap another picture. The cat is our newest addition. He's actually my daughter and youngest son's pet, but he likes hanging around people, and since he's settled down (he no longer wants to rip us to shreds, or if he does, he refrains...), it's nice to have him close.

Last week we had four pets, two cats and two dogs. Now, we're down to three. There's a lot of joy and happy times when we welcome a new member into the family, and there's a lot of pain and tears when one leaves. I'm glad we have the ones we have. They add a lot to the craziness that is our lives. And as long as they want to hang out with us--and I have my phone--I'll probably keep taking pictures.

Separated...But Hopefully, Not For Long

We started with one pet, a dog. We then got a cat, then another cat, then another dog. We had to put down our newer cat earlier this year. So, what did we do? We got another cat.

The problem is, these pets don't play well together. In fact, we have to keep them separated. Hopefully, that's not going to be a permanent situation. We're working to make that happen, but it's taking time.

Our poodle is about a year and a half old. If you know poodles, you know they're high-strung. It was evident from when we first bought the dog home, that he and cats did not get along. The new dog also went after the older dog, so much so, we couldn't have them in the same room at the same time.

Then, something amazing happened. The big dog no longer attacked the small dog. In fact, he treated her very well. If the old dog weren't deaf, blind, grouchy, and just wanted to be left alone, I think the two dogs could have gotten to be friends. 

Because of how the puppy changed, we thought we'd next try getting the poodle used to being around the kitten, without eating him, of course. The dog is afraid of gates and we're using that to our advantage. We have the cat in our room and the dog in the hallway. So far, we can have the door open and both parties have behaved well. Or, in other words, they haven't killed each other or destroyed our house.

We hope the cat and dog can be friends. Each animal is different, of course, but we have faith. This could either end in success, or failure. Then, there's also the option that we have to live with temporary gates forever. I guess the animals will ultimately decide...

In time.