Other Animals who enrich our lives!

Dapper A.K.A. "DK," "Big kitty," "Fat Cat," and "Pepsi Cat" is our big guy. He weighs nearly 20 lbs and stands up to an adults knee when on all fours! Dapper is a big scaredy cat though. Afraid of visitors, loud noises, sudden movements, and just about everything else. He is a sweet kitty though and spends most of his time sleeping on the beds or eating. Dapper was our first cat, he is a domestic shorthair, and was acquired on a 4H field trip. I saw the kids playing with him all the time we were at the farm and he was so sweet and let them do anything to him, I decided to give him a home. I wasn't sure what Dan would think but when he got home and saw Dapper sleeping on the couch he fell in love. Dapper loves catnip, unlike Cara, and gets crazy on it. He begs for it sometimes too. He knows where it is and will sit at the base of the cabinet and meow until we give him some. Dapper will cuddle with both of us on occasion but only on his terms. His birthday is April 21. He is six this year. Caramel Swirl A.K.A. "Cara" or "the kitten" is a precious little girl. As you can see she is also a domestic shorthair cat. Cara came to us from the farm we bought George from. We hadn't planned to get a second cat but when Carol's cat had kittens they were just too sweet to pass up. I let Dan choose which one to take home and boy did he pick an awesome little kitty! She is my (Val's) personal lap cat. Cara will play with anything light enough to move. She will climb into anything large enough to fit her, and since she is very small that's just about anything. She is a superb mouser but she likes to torture the mice until their will is broken before killing them, sometimes she plays with them, alive mind you, for days. She hates catnip and any toys with catnip in them. She is an expert begger cat and always appears when we make anything in the kitchen or sit down with food or drink. She loves spicy foods and milk, hates fruit and sweets. She is always going to be our little kitten even now at 5 years old. Her birthday is March 8. Buckmark A.K.A. "Buck" "BuckBuck" or "little S***" is our sweet little boy. Buck is a true love, always purring and wanting attention. He is a great kitty embassador, gaining friends and admirers whenever he meets new people. Buck is a domestic shorthair with an unusual ginger brown coat. He was part of an accidental litter at a friend's house. In his first pic above you can see him as a newborn laying on top of a pile of his brothers and sisters. We were supposed to get Buck and his sister Annabelle on June 30, 2009 but that morning I was in a terrible car accident and I was in the hospital for several weeks. Our friend held onto the two kittens until Dan could get the house kitten proofed. The kittens arrived here the weekend after I came home from the hospital. I was pretty much bed ridden and their care became mostly Dan's responsibility. When they first arrived I looked at them and realized they were sick, runny eyes and sneezing. I had Dan move them out to a cage in the garage while we got medicine to start treating their symptoms. A few days later we brought them in, keeping them separate from the other cats by isolating them in the bedroom. We put antibiotic ointment in their eyes several times a day and vaccinated them for distemper. They were tested for FeLuk/FIV/Corona and came back positive for Corona virus, they had distemper. Despite our best efforts to keep the other three cats isolated from the kittens, the corona managed to spread to Dapper and Cara, both of which were already vaccinated, but it didn't matter, their colds were much more minor but they had goopy eyes and Cara sneezed for a long time. The only cat who dodged it was Princess who we later rehomed to live with our nephew and his fiance. Despite all of this the kittens were a joy to us so soon after such a terrible accident. Buck always has a smile and a loud purr to cheer up anyone who might be down. Today in 2011 the two kittens aren't kittens anymore, they are 2 year old cats. This year Buck had a urinary blockage develop suddenly. We took him to the vet and he stayed in the hospital overnight. He is doing fine now on a special diet but his vet emergency makes him the most expensive free cat we have ever had the pleasure to own, lol. Buck and Annabelle are still furry angels in our lives! Anabelle A.K.A. "Banana" "Annabanana" or "Bananabelle" is our squinty little ninja girl. Her story is much the same as Buck's but it starts out with her not being meant for us. Annabelle was meant for a coworker of Dan's. She heard we were getting a kitten and asked if she could get one too. I contacted the friend who had the kittens and she said she had one female left so we told her we had a home for her. When the kittens arrived here sick we told the coworker we would treat and vaccinate her before sending her on so that the coworker's other cat would not be at risk. When the kittens arrived Annabelle was scared of everything including us. We called her simply "Little Sister" and she spent most of her time under the bed or under the dresser. When we had the kittens reasonably healthy and fully vaccinated we told the coworker that she was ready to go and told her what the cost of the medication and vaccination had been, a mere $25. She stated she was not going to pay that much for a free kitten and she didn't want her anymore. Frankly we were OK with that. We had grown very fond of her and were sad that she would be going. So instead of going she stayed. Today Annabelle is friendly on her own terms and no longer scared of anything. She loves her kitty and doggie friends alike. She is a tiny cat, only about 8 pounds, and is an expert at sneaking around and appearing out of nowhere so we call her our little ninja. She still squints in bright light, a souvenier of her sickness. Snoopy was our first and very special dog. He was the first dog that Dan and I have owned together. I found Snoopy on craig's list. I wasn't actually looking for a dog and I had seen lots of free dogs on craig's list but for some reason when I saw the ad something told me I had to respond. I just decided right then that I was going to give Dan a dog as his Christmas present. From the ad I only knew that Snoopy was 6 and a Beagle/Lab mix. I didn't know his name or what he looked like. When I saw his pic (the one shown top left above) I knew he was perfect because Dan has wanted a Beagle since he was a kid and even though Snoopy was a mix he looked just like a Beagle. I didn't want a pure Beagle because of some of the traits that make owning and training them so challenging but I figured that with the Lab mixed in he would be better (and he was). Next I talked to his owner on the phone and when she told me his name was Snoopy I knew that this was the dog we were meant to have. The reason Dan wanted a Beagle since he was a kid is because of Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoons. I picked Snoopy up and brought him home on November 2, 2008. He quickly became an irreplacable member of the family. Snoopy had allergies to most types of meat and animal products so he ate a special venison and rice food. He couldn't have any treats that contain meat products either. His favorite things were carrots and peanut butter. After Snoopy's first vet visit we found out that he had Lyme disease so we treated him for that. Snoopy started showing signs that he might be sick in March of 2011 with his first lump. By May he had 5 more lumps and had begun to get aggressive. We made the decision and on June 1, 2011 we had him put down by our vet. It turned out none too soon as events of that day proved he no longer had clotting factor in his blood so the lumps we could feel were the least of his troubles. The vet told us that he had a mass on his spleen that would have killed him. Finn, also known as "FinnFinn" "Finamin" and "Blockhead," came to us from a high kill shelter in NC. I heard about the shelter through another ad on Craigslist. The ad mentioned that there was transport available to New England every other week and the dogs at this shelter only had a week to live from the time they arrived at the shelter. I clicked the link in the ad and looked at the available dogs. Finn was just an 8 week old puppy. In his pic (the first above) he looked so sad and his breed was listed as English Pointer which is the type of dog I had been wanting to be a bird dog for us. I contacted the shelter right away and got an application. Finn had been moved out of the shelter to a foster home but adopting him would still save a dog in danger because once he left the foster home, they would pull another dog directly from the shelter. We werte accepted to adopt Finn and in October at 12 weeks old he arrived to us at a meeting point in CT. He was so small and his ears were so big, lol. We brought him home and the rest is history. Finn is not a purebred pointer, he is probably a pointer/terrier mix. Finn is however a great dog, about 50 pounds and extremely obedient when we are there to watch him. When we are not around he has separation anxiety and will chew up anything handy so he is crated when we are away from the house. He is a bundle of energy and a joy to have in our lives! Emily, also known as "LeeLee," is our newest addition. She is a purebred Akita girl. Her color is called "silver/fawn and white." We first met Emily and her whole litter at our friend Josh's house. We hadn't intended to get a puppy as we already had Snoopy and Finn. We knew however that Snoopy likely had cancer at that point and his aggression was getting worse. I thought having a new puupy would help Dan with the inevitable loss of Snoopy so Dan and I talked about it. I had been observing the litter and I really liked the way that Emily was with the other puppies and the other people that were there that day. She was calm, quiet, and submissive. All of those are unusual qualities in an Akita and I knew if we were going to get a puppy, that is the one we would be best off with. I asked Josh to hold her for a week while we made a final decision on the possibility of getting a new puppy. We took the whole week to talk about it and Snoopy had gotten so much worse during that time. The decision was made, the puppy would be ready to come to us in June and we decided that we would put Snoopy down before she arrived. Emily would never be a replacement for Snoopy but her being around would make it easier for us both losing Snoopy. It turned out that Emily didn't get to us until she had reached 13 weeks old on Tuesday, June 21, 2011. We took her to her first puppy playtime at Petco on that same day and nearly every Tuesday until she was 6 months old. She is well socialized now in September 2011 and getting better with her obedience all the time. She is an easy dog to have in our lives. She doesn't destroy things, her potty training is 99% done, she is quiet and calm just like when we first met her. She is excellent with the cats and Finn. She gets a little over excited when she sees the chickens running around and she will chase them around but she doesn't try to hurt them even if she gets one cornered, all she wants to do is play. PC Mozart A.K.A. "George," "Porge," or "Porgie" is our gorgeous blood bay Arabian gelding. He is just 14.2 hands but he acts big, lol. He is a total mush and has great ground manners most of the time. He is a bit of a handful to ride. Very spooky, but not because he is scared, he does it for fun. George came to us from Journey's End Arabians. I met him in September of 2004 and fell in love immediately. At the time he had rain rot and was not ridable but I really didn't care. After just a month I put down a deposit to purchase "George." Carol, his previous owner, and I cleared up his skin problem later that fall. That winter I was riding him and realized maybe he was a little too much horse for me but I was in love and still determined to buy him. Porgie stayed at Carol's farm until we bought our new house and moved him into our backyard. When we first brought him here he was kept company by a boarded horse named Miracles. Unfortunately the following spring Miracles was sold and moved. We then bought Cain and Abel, our nubian goats, to keep him company. George is 12 and his birthday is January 20. George is currently living with our good friend Josh who is taking excellent care of him. He is the person riding in the first pic of George, they are a true match! Don't see the buttons to the left?  Click here to go to our main page with navs