One Year With Aurora

April 17th marked one year since Aurora came to live with us, and what a year it has been. Aurora looked so sad and lonely at Petsmart, and now she rules the roost!

I love white cats, and I always wanted a white princess cat. Aurora is not only a princess, she is an absolute diva. She loves cuddling and being held, she loves to play, and she especially loves Alan. When Alan gets home from work, Aurora marks her territory by rubbing up against his laptop bag and eagerly waits for his attention. When she gets it, she stretches out her neck and looks up into the air, happy as can be.

Aurora has a feisty streak and likes to pick on Piper here and there, but every once in awhile they will be sleeping just a couple feet from each other. I'm hoping that with time they become more friendly. Rhoda, on the other hand, loves Aurora and they especially love causing trouble together!

Having a deaf cat has been a learning experience. Aurora responds to hand signals well, which makes it easier. Since she loves to be outside and tries to escape, I have to keep a close watch on the doors. She does get outside time though, and even walks well on a leash. I'm also happy to report that she hasn't had any flare-ups with her luxating patellas (floating kneecaps) since the first time it happened!

Even though getting Aurora was totally unexpected, we are in love with her, and her vibrant personality shines a little more each day.

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Feeding Time At the Zoo

It's no surprise that I am often asked this question: How do you feed all of those animals? Not meaning the cost, but meaning the method. It is not easy, but now that I'm working from home, we have a pretty good system that the dogs and cats are used to. In fact, they are so used to it that if I decide to sleep in, it just doesn't happen, because they wake me up, ready to eat.

The cats do not sleep with us. I feel bad about this, because Piper loved sleeping on my legs, and Aurora prefers to sleep on Alan's back. With Quincy sleeping with us now, and Walter's new habit of jumping into bed with us early in the morning (he prefers his orthopedic dog bed), and Reagan above the pillows, the bed is quite full. Rhoda is the reason we can't have the cats in the room. She is so affectionate and purrs constantly. Touch her, she purrs. Her favorite place to sleep is snuggled up to either one of our necks. Her purr is just too loud and she is too pushy with her snuggling to get any sleep, so now we keep the door closed. I did catch Rhoda and Piper sleeping in a ball on the chair, so I know they are okay with it.

Moving on- the morning is hectic. The earlier I get up, the better, because if it's too early the dogs won't be crazy and ready to go. Around seven-thirty or eight, they start to get antsy, hungry, and ready to go outside. Anything earlier than that they will sleep.

The dogs go outside first thing, and while they're doing their business and romping around, I keep an eye on them (we don't have a fence) and feed the cats. This is where I need some fine tuning. The cats act like they are dying of starvation in the morning, and surround me until I feed them. Aurora gets fed in the bathroom because she eats soft food (she's a diva and refuses hard food most of the time), while Piper and Rhoda eat in the kitchen or on the cat tree. While they eat, I prepare the dog bowls.

The dogs have a vitamin routine and they all eat different portions of food. I measure those out, put them in the bowls (Reagan eats out of a barrier bowl so she doesn't eat too fast), put the vitamins in the right bowls (They have three of the same, but Walter and Reagan have a couple additional vitamins for joints), and mix in a little bit of soft food for Walter, because he's as fussy as Wembley was and doesn't like eating his vitamins without something tasty. By the time all of this happens, the dogs are ready to eat and usually gathered on the back porch.

I let the hungry trio in, and they get fed. They are used to this system now, and if they stray from it they get frustrated and act crazy, as Alan usually finds out on the weekends (he gives me a feeding break).

Night feeding is WAY easier, because they usually get a treat here and there, and they're worn out from playing.

Sometimes it feels like madness, but in general it is a good system. I want to find an easier way to feed the cats. I won't just plunk a bowl of food down in the basement and have them free feeding all day, but I'm thinking a lunch portion is needed when the dogs are outside, just to alleviate their dramatic antics!

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The Chi Pack in 2010

Things sure have changed with our pack in 2010, for the good and bad.
On January 18th, 2010, our angel left us. It has been difficult for us to adjust with life without her, but more for Reagan than anyone else.


On February 18th, we rescued Walter. He was scared, abused, had an eye tumor, wasn't fully housebroken, and didn't know any tricks at all. He didn't like men. He dove onto the dog bed shelf the first time we brought him to Petsmart, because he wanted to hide. He peed everywhere out of fear. He was nearly euthanized in a dog pound, scared and alone.


Today, Walter is truly an amazing dog! He is sweet and loving, and has been my therapy dog this year. When I'm in a panic about Wembley, I look at him and know he is the silver lining. He isn't afraid of men as much as he was before. He loves children. His eye tumor has been removed, and his coat is long and beautiful. He begs for food when he shouldn't. He knows how to sit now, and he is fully housebroken. He runs and plays with the girls. He is finally just being a DOG. And most importantly, he is alive. He is happy. Above all, he is loved.

In April we adopted Aurora. It took her a day to adjust to being in a new house. She loves dogs, and likes Rhoda, but is still a little lukewarm with Piper. Piper wants to be friends, and can't seem to figure out why Aurora is such a queen. Because of her deafness, she is fearless. Alan is her favorite.

In August, we rescued Rhoda from the evil gas chamber at animal control. She is thriving in kittenhood after a little bit of a rough start due to a kitty cold and a case of fleas (luckily, they were gone before she came home and we did not have an infestation!). Rhoda is very affectionate and purrs constantly!

Reagan is healthier than ever. She's lean, strong, and hasn't had any episodes with her hip dysplasia since we found out she had it. I credit this to a regiment of glucosamine, good dog food, vitamins, and exercise. She is more of a "bad dog" now that Wembley isn't here to provide a good example, but that's part of Reagan's charm.

Piper is loving having Rhoda as a playmate. They are best friends. Piper has been an incredible mother figure to Rhoda too, teaching her the ways of the cat world. It's hard to believe Piper is only a year and half old. She's thriving and active, but still a skittish around strangers.

We're looking forward to another thriving new year, full of health, love, and lots of treats. :)

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Small Surprises

There is nothing quite like an unexpected critter. This is definitely our last one, per our critter family agreement. We visited Delina and Gary over the weekend, and Alan fell in love with their new kitten, Claire. He was a cat person before he was a dog person, and sometimes that guy comes out, especially when there's kittens involved, so another kitten was his idea. We decided to get one from Midland County Animal Control for many reasons, one being that they use the gas chamber to euthanize their animals, and the other that they kill most of the kittens that come through their doors. Alan wanted to pick out this one, so we went on the website and he found one that he liked.

I called early and asked if they had the kitten, and the woman on the phone said yes, so I told her we wanted to adopt it. She told me to come over and called the kittens "little monsters". When I got there, some lady was at the front desk bitching up a storm to the deputy about some man that apparently poisoned her dogs with antifreeze, and that she couldn't pay $1000 to save them. It was totally awkward for me to be standing there, but I didn't know what else to do. Finally, the woman came out from behind a door and lead me to the back. A white pit bull gazed at me with sad eyes. A rottweiler mix stared; dogs barked and barked hoping to be let out. She grabbed the kitten out of the cage and left me in the "quiet room" with her.

The quiet room was not quiet. Instead, it was filled with howls and cries of fear from the dogs trapped in small cages. My heart was pounding, knowing the unfortunate fate of those poor souls. I waited and waited, bonding with the kitten. She crawled all over me, purring, climbing onto my shoulders and nestling her tiny self into my hair. The kitten she gave me was not the kitten Alan wanted, but a different one, but the woman had not told me this. It was hard to tell because the photo was so dark, and they are both gray and white tabby cats. The plan was if the kitten Alan wanted wasn't there, that I had to call him.

Finally, the lady came back and said, "You know that isn't the kitten in the picture." Why would she tell me on the phone that kitten was available, give me a different one, and THEN tell me? I knew Alan wanted to know if that one wasn't available, but after bonding with this girl, how could I turn my back?

After jumping through some crazy hoops that included calling my vet and pre-paying for a spay (can't take the cat home until the spay is paid for), the little girl was ready to go home. The deputy said, "Good luck with this one. She is wild."

We named her Rhodesia (Zimbabwe's name when it was just a republic)--Rhoda for short. She is very small and purrs constantly. She loves to be held, and is of course incredibly curious. And oh my, she is just SO small it boggles my mind. Piper was only a pound when I found her at work, so I am anxious to see how much Rhoda weighs, because she seems smaller.

The other critters are reacting like they usually do to a new addition. Reagan wants to play, Quincy is nurturing and also wants to play, Walter unfortunately has a very strong prey drive and wants to eat her right now, which will change when she gets bigger. Piper follows her everywhere and occasionally bats lightly at Rhoda, and Aurora (that diva) is currently pissed off, which she will get over eventually.

Alan is in LOVE. I adore seeing him hold her and pamper her. Rhoda is a good fit.

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Aurora's Big Adventure

Sometimes animals are very similar to children in their actions. Today was one of those days for Aurora and Quincy. Apparently, Quincy can't learn "down" or "beg", but she knows how to open patio doors, which is exactly what she did. She opened the glass door and the screen door, and I found this out when I spotted her sitting in the grass. Quincy loves sitting in the yard and she usually sits out there for quite awhile, but with my supervision of course.

I closed the door and brought Quincy inside, not thinking that one of the cats might have escaped. About an hour passed, and the dogs started barking ferociously at the window. They always do this. They bark at the bus when it drops of the neighbor's son who has down syndrome- he comes home from work every day at five via the bus. They bark at UPS, they bark at people mowing the lawn, they bark at other dogs that stray into the yard. Today, their barks were a little different. They were more urgent, and they kept looking back at me. Even Walter was up and barking, and usually he just looks at Quincy and Reagan as if to say "Oh, PLEASE, I am so much better at behaving than you."

Somehow, I just knew something was going on. When I turned around, I saw Aurora, a deaf and front declawed cat, (who at the time was missing her collar and tag because it fell off somewhere in the house) across the street in the neighbor's driveway. She was starting to walk across the road, and I saw a car whir by, WAY too close to her. I bolted out the door and ran, barefoot into the road, scooped her up and held her tight. My heart was pounding and my legs were shaking at what could have happened to her, not to mention the fact that she had been outside for at least an hour. When I picked her up, she was purring and purring, and all afternoon she has been strutting around the house as though she completed a daring feat. It's situations like this one that make me upset that she is front declawed (a decision made by her previous owners).

I can't even express how relieved I am that the worst did not happen, that she didn't wander very far, and that she is now safe and sound. Lucky for her, cats have nine lives! :)

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On Cats

When I was in second grade, all I wanted was a cat to name Melody. My parents were never big on animals, so when the day came and we brought home a black cat with thumbs, I was thrilled. Instead of naming her Melody, I named her Mittens. She was all black, and of course the cat of my dreams, because I love love loved cats back then. A couple weeks went by, and my mom said the lady who gave us the cat wanted her back. I was heartbroken.

I also believed this story until I was 28 years old. It was not until last summer that my mom told me the TRUTH: she hated having a cat and gave it back to the woman. I always wondered what happened to Mittens, and what kind of life she had.

Now, we have two cats. Piper, the one-eared feral wonder, and Aurora, the deaf girl with bad knees. Piper really made me fall in love with cats all over again. My favorite part about cats is just watching them play and hunt. We don't have many bugs or flies in the house despite it being spring, and I give all of the credit to Piper. She sits at the patio door and in the window waiting for birds to show up or bugs to try and get through the screen. Aurora isn't too shabby on the hunting either. Together, they sit side by side at the patio at night and watch the moths flutter against the glass, jumping up and down as the moths fly away. It has only been about six weeks, but I'm hoping in time they grow to be the type of cat buddies who snuggle.

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Inevitable

A first post is always so daunting. Where to begin? Is an introduction? Just start randomly? Because it is first, it is truly is an introduction. Chi Pack began growing eight years ago with the most beautiful golden retriever, ever (seriously!). Now it has reached five members, all with unique personalities and challenges.

We have met some resistance and judgment from others along the way, saying we are silly and stupid to have so many "pets." Anyone who has truly loved an animal knows they are not merely pets, they are family members to be loved and taken care of . They are not disposable, they are not a nuisance, they are not solely an expense. They are the only creatures who are capable of unconditional love. They provide love, entertainment, and comfort after a bad day or a bump in the road. We simply can't imagine our lives without them.

Although you can see our pack on the right side of the page, here is a little more about them to start:

Wembley- Our girl who started it all. Sadly, we lost her to cancer in January 2010.

Reagan- Our five-year-old golden retriever who was recently mistaken for being five months old. That is how hyper she is!

Quincy - An eight-month old border collie mix. She is not the brilliant mind one might expect from a border collie mix, but she is extremely quirky and incredibly sweet.

Walter - We have no idea how old Walter is, but we are guessing somewhere between eight and eleven. Our vet guessed ten. He has been with our family since February.

Piper - I found Piper at work when she was just a little kitten. Noticing her ear was cut off and all bloody, I lured her out of a pipe with a can of tuna (and the help of some co-workers).

Aurora - She is the latest addition to our family and was recently diagnosed with two luxating patellas, which is not very common in cats. She is also deaf. Aurora is three years old and has been a fantastic addition to our home. We just love her!

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