Ever since I was a little kid I've been crazy about my pets! We had 5 dogs and at least that many cats, and each and every one of them was a valued family member! I always made and decorated birthday cakes (pet friendly of course) for each of them, if we weren't sure of their exact birth date we estimated the best we could and celebrated their special day just the same as we would for any other member of the family (looking back now, we probably made more of a fuss over their birthdays than anyone else in the family).
They were showered with love, gifts of new toys and treats, and sat at the table with the rest of us for their birthday dinner and cake! Photos were always taken, in spite of the high cost of film and developing in those days!
Mom was equally a pet nut, and still has her 2 toy pomeranians, one of my gorgeous Balinese girls and a well loved brown tabby. Did I mention that mom celebrated her 90th birthday earlier this year and still lives alone with her fur kids in her own home?
I could never imagine a life not surrounded by all of my furry friends! When I met my husband, he had never owned a pet. He grew up in downtown Toronto in a family with 6 kids, more than enough mouths to feed without adding pets! I don't think he really understood what he was getting himself into back then and probably would have hightailed it back to TO if he'd known then where it would lead!
I saw my first siamese cat when I was about 9 years old, and immediately fell in love! I had never seen a more exotic looking cat with his bright, expressive blue eyes, and when I heard him walking around talking as if everyone understood what he was saying, like siamese do, I was hooked for life! And personality! So totally different than any other cat I had ever met, and I had met plenty. Back in those days siamese cats were fairly uncommon, at least in the sleepy little town I grew up in.
I was so taken with this absolutely stunning fellow, I made every excuse possible to visit the neighbours where he lived. I'm sure they probably got tired of having me around, but were kind enough to indulge me without complaint. Imagine how devastated I was when I discovered that they were going to sell this exotic beauty, because they were expecting their first child, and back then, the common belief was that a siamese cat would 'steal the baby's breath' and cause the death of the infant.
I totally wanted to buy him, but there was no way my parents were going to pay $25 for a cat, when everyone gave kittens away. Regardless of all my begging and pleading my parents held firm, that was a lot of money back then, way more than a day's pay! No way I would be able to come up with that kind of money either, we lived in a small town and a rural neighbourhood with no opportunities for a kid to do odd jobs or deliver newspapers to earn a few bucks!
After a few weeks I was invited to the neighbour's house after school one day. Expecting the worst, I headed over there, thinking they were going to tell me they had sold my beloved Chu-Chi. Instead I was told that if my parents would allow me to have the cat, that they would give him to me!!! I was one happy kid! of course my soft-hearted mom couldn't say no, so the very next weekend Chu-Chi came to live with us.
Fast forward a dozen years or so, I left home, but my beloved Chu-Chi stayed... by then he was a family pet, bonded with our basset hound and our samoyed and I just couldn't uproot him and take him away from where he was happy. I knew he would be there for me to visit when I came home. By then he was well into his senior years and it just wouldn't have been fair to move him.
When Chu-Chi passed, my mom was given another siamese, this one a cross-eyed seal point male named Holly. Holly didn't really suit him, so his name was soon changed to Harold. My young son just loved Harold, and Harold would allow him to do pretty much anything to him without complaint. I tried to talk my mom into letting us take Harold home with us, but she wasn't giving in.
I realized how much I missed having a cat, so when I saw an ad in the local paper offering a 3/4 grown siamese kitten, FREE, you can bet I was on the phone in a heartbeat. Only catch was, I didn't have a car, so no way to go and pick him up. No problem they said, they were quite willing to deliver him to me, they were in a house where they weren't supposed to have pets and the landlord caught on, so they had to find him a home PDQ.
He was a gorgeous seal point male, already neutered, with the most intense blue eyes and a personality that was more dog than cat!
They were showered with love, gifts of new toys and treats, and sat at the table with the rest of us for their birthday dinner and cake! Photos were always taken, in spite of the high cost of film and developing in those days!
Mom was equally a pet nut, and still has her 2 toy pomeranians, one of my gorgeous Balinese girls and a well loved brown tabby. Did I mention that mom celebrated her 90th birthday earlier this year and still lives alone with her fur kids in her own home?
I could never imagine a life not surrounded by all of my furry friends! When I met my husband, he had never owned a pet. He grew up in downtown Toronto in a family with 6 kids, more than enough mouths to feed without adding pets! I don't think he really understood what he was getting himself into back then and probably would have hightailed it back to TO if he'd known then where it would lead!
I saw my first siamese cat when I was about 9 years old, and immediately fell in love! I had never seen a more exotic looking cat with his bright, expressive blue eyes, and when I heard him walking around talking as if everyone understood what he was saying, like siamese do, I was hooked for life! And personality! So totally different than any other cat I had ever met, and I had met plenty. Back in those days siamese cats were fairly uncommon, at least in the sleepy little town I grew up in.
I was so taken with this absolutely stunning fellow, I made every excuse possible to visit the neighbours where he lived. I'm sure they probably got tired of having me around, but were kind enough to indulge me without complaint. Imagine how devastated I was when I discovered that they were going to sell this exotic beauty, because they were expecting their first child, and back then, the common belief was that a siamese cat would 'steal the baby's breath' and cause the death of the infant.
I totally wanted to buy him, but there was no way my parents were going to pay $25 for a cat, when everyone gave kittens away. Regardless of all my begging and pleading my parents held firm, that was a lot of money back then, way more than a day's pay! No way I would be able to come up with that kind of money either, we lived in a small town and a rural neighbourhood with no opportunities for a kid to do odd jobs or deliver newspapers to earn a few bucks!
After a few weeks I was invited to the neighbour's house after school one day. Expecting the worst, I headed over there, thinking they were going to tell me they had sold my beloved Chu-Chi. Instead I was told that if my parents would allow me to have the cat, that they would give him to me!!! I was one happy kid! of course my soft-hearted mom couldn't say no, so the very next weekend Chu-Chi came to live with us.
Fast forward a dozen years or so, I left home, but my beloved Chu-Chi stayed... by then he was a family pet, bonded with our basset hound and our samoyed and I just couldn't uproot him and take him away from where he was happy. I knew he would be there for me to visit when I came home. By then he was well into his senior years and it just wouldn't have been fair to move him.
When Chu-Chi passed, my mom was given another siamese, this one a cross-eyed seal point male named Holly. Holly didn't really suit him, so his name was soon changed to Harold. My young son just loved Harold, and Harold would allow him to do pretty much anything to him without complaint. I tried to talk my mom into letting us take Harold home with us, but she wasn't giving in.
I realized how much I missed having a cat, so when I saw an ad in the local paper offering a 3/4 grown siamese kitten, FREE, you can bet I was on the phone in a heartbeat. Only catch was, I didn't have a car, so no way to go and pick him up. No problem they said, they were quite willing to deliver him to me, they were in a house where they weren't supposed to have pets and the landlord caught on, so they had to find him a home PDQ.
He was a gorgeous seal point male, already neutered, with the most intense blue eyes and a personality that was more dog than cat!