The last time I owned a pet I was about 10.
I remember my grandfather telling me of his bird dog & showing me where he was buried in our back yard. Now this dog had died years before I was even born - when my mother was a little girl in fact. As stoic as my grandfather was (he made Spock seem manic) I didn't really understand why I'd see a tear coming down his cheek as he'd tell me of how he & the dog went out for doves.
Until I was 10 that is. Then I realized how much affection you can place upon a pet. When I was 10 my cat was hit by a car. I was a tough little kid in all other respects, but I remember crying in the shower the day I found out. For a kid to cry in the shower, with no one around to notice - well that's when I understood how my grandfather felt about his dog.
I don't get too choked up thinking about my cat any more but I haven't had a pet of my own since. But every lady I've had more than a casual relationship with has had pets, usually cats as have a good number of my friends. So I started having pets through others as it were. Not like fighting for custody of said pet during a break up or anything, but I've always gotten along well with the pets of my g/f's & most pets of my pals.
Still it backfires on me sometimes. A girl I dated & lived with back in the 90's had 2 cats. I ran into her a few years after we split up & she told me that one of them had passed & I remember feeling horrible about it - to the point of dreading seeing her in another year or two to hear that the other one had passed.
But such is life. I don't have many but here are a few pics of some pets I haven't owned, but in some manner befriended all the same:
This is Pippin. He's half German Short Haired Pointer & half Australian Cattle Dog. He belongs to a pal of mine & he's (usually) well behaved (he has a thing for chasing lights & sparks) & very bright.
This is Bug, whom I wrote about in this post.
She passed in September of '04.
This is Chip, Bug's brother.
He passed in October of '05.
Here's a slightly clearer one of him (doing what he did best).
Here are a couple of Bug & Chip taken not long before Bug passed. You can see where she was shaved for easier access to drain her chest.
Good cats they were. As I mentioned in previous posts I did a good amount of typing with Bug on my lap or with Chip standing on his hind legs urging me to pet him.
There's another cat I'd have included, but for various reasons that I won't go into I won't. (So why mention it at all? In case the cat or her owner read this & feel left out - it ain't because I wasn't thinking about her).
But that's the pet blogging. Hope y'all enjoyed.
Posted by Publicola at May 18, 2007 03:39 AM | TrackBack