~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~We have five dogs, eight cats, and a Chameleon named Napoleon. This wasn’t planned. We never intended to become crazy animal people. When one pet left our lives, we always sought out another to fill the void. It was a natural process. My husband and I purchased our first dog, a Scottish Terrier named Chivas Regal, before we married. My dog Lady had died while I was away at college and when I came home for summer break I couldn't live in a house without a dog. Chivas lived with my parents while I completed my last year of college and attended graduate school. Chivas died two weeks before he was going to come live with me and my husband. We subsequently adopted Piper who was also a Scottie.
Piper was the child we didn’t have. He played hide and seek with us, wore costumes on Halloween, and went with us on outings. At that time we lived on a farm and Piper shared our home with Katerina, a stray cat my cousin Janet was seeking to rehome, and Charlie Chaplin, an offspring of a barn cat. As a kitten C.C. was mauled by our neighbor’s dogs and injured her back legs. Seeking a safe place she crawled into the space between our front door and screen door and into our hearts and home.
When my husband decided to continue his education, we were forced to move to another state. During those days of transition, Piper disappeared. (Years later we learned he was another victim of the neighbors’ dogs). I searched for him for six weeks and when my search proved unsuccessful, we adopted a stray Benji-type dog that was going to be taken to a local kill shelter. Heyu moved with us to Kentucky. We left Katerina in the care of my sister and C.C. with my parents.
Heyu was our only dog for 17 years. When our second child was four months old, we adopted a gray kitten that had been abandoned at my parents’ farm and was destined to be a barn cat. We named her Panther. Heyu and Panther accepted each other without hesitation. After Heyu died, my husband and children gave me Cutty Sark, a three month old Scottish Terrier, as a combined birthday/Mother’s Day gift. Cutty was the best gift I had ever received. When my cousin Janet was unable to keep Windsor, her West Highland White Terrier, she shipped him to us. Windsor quickly adjusted to his change in circumstances and his new fur siblings.
Panther died at age 10 while my children and I were in New York visiting my parents. We searched in the barn for a new cat to adopt. Phantom, a pregnant cat with respiratory problems, had been dumped on the farm. She was an outcast. We adopted Phantom and she delivered her kittens under my son A’s bed. Phantom's offspring Paws and Goliath stayed with us and Kabuki was adopted by my husband’s brother’s family.
Our home was a peaceable kingdom where our cats and dogs ate, slept, and played together. Other animals were also part of our family: goldfish, hermit crabs, Siamese fighting fish, hamsters, guinea pigs, and an Iguana we named Juan. The years passed and our children, cats, and dogs grew older. As with most things in life, we weren’t prepared for what was to come.
Not the least hard thing to bear when they go from us, these quiet friends, is that they carry away with them so many years of our own lives. ~John Galsworthy
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