Life in the Country, with other people's horses (and cows)

After last weekends events, I started to think about what I had imagined this place would be, our cozy little farm house.

I never imagined that we would have vicious wild animals that would be a danger to our pets. In fact, one of the reasons we moved here from the suburbs was for our dogs to have more room to run and play. That was actually the main reason. :) I guess I'm just naive, having grown up in the suburbs myself. I'm not afraid to admit that I was very sheltered as a child.

But growing up in our house was tough. So, I've always considered myself a strong person. My mother never liked for us to cry. It was a sign of weakness. But, along with other recent happenings and the incident with Bobbi, things seem so scary to me now. I cried a lot after Bobbi died. Now I am very skittish whenever our dogs are outside without our constant supervision. I'm always running to the windows if I hear any kind of ruckus at all. To top things off, our neighbors have a Pit Bull puppy. Don't get me wrong, I love Pits. We almost adopted a very loving 6 month old girl. (She loved everyone one of us, except the Jack Russel! That was scary!) But I can see that these people don't care for their animals. Which will most surely lead to a bad outcome with that breed. Pit breeds can be the most loving dogs in the world, if properly raised and cared for. They need a human's love and attention. I can feel that the dog will be trouble and it scares me.

The people who live near us have been here for 20+ years and, well, they fit in. I never thought I would feel like an outsider here. This was going to be our lovely country home. Where we could look out our front door and see horses in the pasture (the neighbors horses, of course). I imagined the neighbors would be friendly country folk and always wave and want to chat. But they are not. They never wave or say hello and will rarely speak at all if we see them out by the fence. My vision of a cozy friendly country home has been shattered. So, what now?

An update on the Pack

Since I had been away for a while, I wanted to give you an update on our pack. As anyone who has followed this blog before knows, we have a few pets. Heehee! Actually, we practically have a petting zoo. Nothing unusual though. Just your basic dogs, cats and fish.

We now have five dogs and 3 cats. In a recent post I talked about cat #4, Bobbi, whom we recently lost to a vicious attack by a wild animal somewhere near our farm house. She was the only outside cat I have ever had or ever will have. We have decided that we just need some good mouse traps for the barn. But we didn't have any luck with that in the beginning. And although Bobbi was a great mouser and loved being outside, I would never do that to another small domesticated animal. Now I even worry about our dogs when they go outside very early in the morning and it's sometimes still dark, since the days are getting shorter.

So, here is the update I promised you. I'm posting pictures of everyone, so you can see for yourself. :) They are all just super pets!!

This is actually a before picture of Rocky. From the day he found us in October of 2007.

Here is the handsome Rocky now! We call him "The Rock Star".

Rocky says "Hi!"

Here is our oldest kitty, Lucky.
He is a big boy, with a little bit of an attitude. :)

Next, is the before photo of Jackie. This was a few days after we adopted her. She had been cleaned up here. You can read about her injuries and her story in these earlier posts.

Here are a couple of pictures of her now. She hates the flash on the camera and it is so hard to get her still enough to take a photo. I usually don't try.

She is in wonderful health now. She still has the lameness on her right side. But most of the time, you wouldn't know it! She also has some arthritis from the injuries.

Now here is a great picture!
This is our kitty Fonzi play biting Jackie. About 6 months ago, Jackie would have really bit him back! They are buddies now. I think we may have actually learned some things from all of the dog training classes! :)

Here is The Fonzi as a tiny little baby!

This pretty lady is Molly, an American Fox Hound. She is Rocky's play pal. She is wearing the underground fence collar.

She LOVES LOVES LOVES to play!!!

Oh, my handsome baby. This is Mommy's baby boy, Quincy.
He was my first puppy and will always be my favorite!
Isn't he handsome?

Quincy turned 7 this year.

Now we are to another sweet kitty. This is Lizzy.
She was rescued by the local firemen from a burning house. I just can't imagine how frightened she must have been.
She is very sweet and loving. But it did take months for her to adjust.

Now, meet The Boss.
Or at least he thinks so! LOL! This is Spike. Spike was my husband's doggy when we got married. He is the only one of our pack that wasn't a rescue or stray. And I just can't imagine life without him. He is quite a character!

Lizzy & Spike hangin' out.

Spike and Rocky playin' in the yard.
Looking at that big yellow snake.
(The garden hose:)

Well, I think I covered everyone. Lizzy, Molly, Jackie, Spike, Fonzi, Quincy, Rocky & Lucky. Yep, that is it! Wooh! So now, any questions? LOL!

Oh, I almost forgot. We have fish too! :D I will have that for another day.

Heyyyy... It's the Fonz !

I wanted to share some happy kitties news with you this time.

I just have to brag and show you my sweet baby, Fonzi. He is the sweetest cat I have EVER known. And I've know a few cats. :) He was rescued with his two siblings from inside an abandon rental house and Mommy was nowhere around to take care of them. He was only 2 weeks old and was hand raised and bottle fed along with his two brothers. He absolutely LOVES people! I can't decide if he is a cat or a teddy bear. Sometimes he even squeaks when he purrs!

He has grown so much in the past 8 months.


Isn't he beautiful? Yes, his eyes are crossed. That is part of his charm! ;)

A very sad weekend :(

I need to share a story and photos of another of my precious ones with you.

Our kitty, Bobbi, was rescued by a sweet girl from the WalMart garden department where she worked. I know it sounds strange. She said the kitty had been living there for about a year and even had a litter of kitten that did not survive. So Bobbi, named so because she didn't have (much of) a tail, came to live with us. Bobbi was fixed so we didn't have any kittens. Fattened up, cause she was fur and bones when we got her. She was such a sweet and loving kitty from the very beginning. She liked feet. I had never known a cat with a foot fetish before. :)

Well, last week Bobbi went off and didn't come around for a meal one evening. She had done this a couple of times before and was always back the next day. Probably off playing with a mouse or something. She was a great mouser! But this time Bobbi didn't come back. Three days later, on Saturday morning, my husband found her on our front porch. She was alive, but barely. She had been severely injured. Probably by a wild animal, since we live in a rural area. She was a very fast runner and could climb a tree like it was nothing. So we just don't know how it could have happened. But it was obvious by her injuries that something could run as fast or faster than she could.

The vet actually had a very positive attitude. They even said they thought she would live. She got some IV fluids and antibiotics. She even got up and walked around a very little bit in her crate after a couple of hours. And she would need surgery to repair her injuries. But it was about six hours later when the vet called to say her vital signs were dropping and she would not live much longer. That is a sad decision to make. But we definitely didn't want her to suffer any longer. We didn't really think she had much of a chance from the beginning. But that glimmer of hope was there. I think that's what made it hurt so much. Thinking, just for a little while, that she would live. We hadn't had nearly enough time with her and she was so young.

May she rest in peace, Our sweet Angel.

This was my first experience losing a pet. My doggy, Quincy, is getting older and probably only has a few good years left. I just can't imagine how hard that loss will be.

I'm very sorry to end this post with such a sad story. But I had to make a tribute to this sweet and loving girl who was such a joy in our lives, if only for a little while.

These dogs need your help now!

You can help these dogs by making a donation or by searching for your newest best friend. They have an extensive list available through the website. These dogs are in high-kill shelters and need a loving home now! It is so sad to look through the pages and see how many are euthanized every day. You can search for dogs by breed, state, zip code, and/or radius. Please help if you can.



Please be a responsible pet owner. Get your pets spayed and neutered!

Well, haven't I been MIA for quite a while?

Lots going on here in our household. We are now up to five dogs and four cats! I know! Wow! They are all wonderful pets! And, of course, all are rescues. I'll give you guys more details soon and some cute pictures of our newest furbabies. Until then, take care! :)