Dog Lover or Cat Lover? Do You Love Both?

Are you a dog or cat lover? Do you love both? Most people seem to be either one or the other. We have had cats and dogs throughout the years of our marriage.

Our present cat, Tiger, a Manx cat

In our early marriage years, we got our first cat when we found mice in the house. After a few failed rat traps, a smelly, smelly incident when a mouse died in the innards of the sofa, we gave in and found us a pretty kitty at the dairy barn where cats multiplied faster than the rats and kept the barn yard free of vermin.

The little tabby, long-haired with a snub nose like a Persian, reminded me of a fancy feline I had seen in a magazine. She had never been handled by human hands, but she sat quietly in my lap as we drove the short distance home. In that short time I found my arms crawling with fleas. I hate fleas! I detest fleas! And here I was bringing fleas to my house.

Barry brought the flea powder, and I dusted it over the cat’s coat, rubbing it into and under her fur. She took that treatment for only a few minutes, and then she scrambled out of my grasp. She ran a short way and stopped. She began licking her coat and soon bubbles frothed from her mouth.

“Oh, God,” I yelled to Barry. “I’ve poisoned her.”

The flea powder was meant for a dog, not a cat. I panicked. What was I to do? I filled a bucket with water from the outside hose, it was cold, and plunged the foaming cat into its depths. She screeched and all four paws extended claws that climbed my bare arms. With blood running in the water, I let her fly.

“She’s gone back to the barn,” I said, disappointed. She had been given a rude and frightening welcome to our house.
But a short time later, I saw her curled on the grass out front as the sun dried and warmed her coat. I was a big fan of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s so I named our new family member  - Cat - like the stray she had in the movie.

Cat gave us a second chance and I’m glad she did. She birthed five kittens before we were aware we needed to spay her. We kept one of her litter and the mother and daughter, Queenie, lived long lives at our house.
Are you a cat person or a dog person? Why do you prefer one over the other?

Cats and Dogs with Unusual Names

Tiger, the bob-tailed cat loves Barry's lap. She is the most loving cat we've ever owned. She takes to strangers and before they know it, she is all over them.

We once had a cat named Diesel. He was a big black tom cat who adored Barry. And well he should.

My friend Sue found him abandoned in her yard and was afraid her big cat would harm him. She brought him to us out on the farm where she knew he would have a good life. But my new puppy, Nicki, frightened the kitten, and he ran under the freezer to hide.

There he stayed until Barry came home in the evening and rescued him. I had been scared to death the kitten would get into the fan or moter of the freezer and be killed.

Anyway, from that day on, Diesel, whose purring was as loud as the engine of a Mercedes, therefore his name, came to my husband as soon as he walked in the door, slept in his lap and followed him when he went outside.

We had owned a couple of cats before Diesel came to us. The first one we rescued from the dairy barn where she and many other feral cats lived. I was a huge fan of Breakfast at Tiffanys, and I named the pretty calico after Audrey Hepburn's stray. I called her Cat.

When Cat surprised us with her first litter, she became Mama Cat.



We found homes for all of her babies except the little orange one with the snubbed nose who would not stay on the floor with the others. She somehow knew she was royalty. Most of the time she perched on a wicker stool like a queen on a throne. I named her Queenie.

Queenie never grew very large. She overcame a gunshot wound that severed one front leg. A fine veterinarian reattached the limb. We were amazed when she learned to use the litter box, her leg in a cast. Queenie lived a long life. Mama Cat also lived to a ripe old age. Both cats were spayed.

Living with us now is Tiger, the bob-tailed cat from south Georgia. She had been named before she came to us.



At the link below, I enjoyed reading the ten most popular names of Dogs and Cats and also the most unusual names. Some are FUNNY.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/28540800/?pg=7#TDY_Pets_TopNames



I wonder if any of you have had dogs or cats with unusual names. If so, we'd enjoy hearing about them. Leave a comment or e-mail me, writerlady21@yahoo.com I'd love to hear about your pets' names.