Animal House

I have always LOVED animals.  Growing up I had several pets.  That was one perk of living in the country.  Not only did I have pets, but I would rescue other animals around our property.  If my parents trapped a mouse on sticky paper, I would pry him off and let him go out in the woods behind the house.  I know, you are probably disgusted by that, but I seriously have a soft heart for all things with 4 legs.

Even into adulthood I have had several pets.  Recently, we have had to downsize our furry family.  It's been very hard emotionally to do this.  One of my very good friends adopted our two black cats.  I have had them since they were kittens and I love both of them dearly.  However, they are cats that demand a lot of attention and they were constantly in Cole's face when we brought him home.  They didn't understand boundaries around the baby.  And it was not because they were being mean, they just wanted to love on him.  It broke my heart to have to make the decision to give them up, but I knew deep down it was the right decision.  It was not fair for me to keep pushing them away when I was holding the baby.  They just wanted to cuddle.  I know the home they went to is soooo good for them!  They are getting the love and attention that they deserve to have.  I hope to be able to go and see them sometime soon because I really do miss them.  But it's great to be able to get updates each week from my friend!

Matt and I have also had a pet ferret, named Sid, for the last six years.  Six years is a very long time for a ferret to live. This week we had to make the hard decision to put him to sleep.  He has displayed some behavioral and physical changes over the last few months, but he wasn't dying by any means.  The other night I noticed he was struggling to breathe.  We took him to the emergency vet and they told us that he was experiencing heart failure.  They said there really wasn't anything we could do to help him and the most humane thing to do was to not let him suffer.  I really didn't expect that the end would come that fast!  Sid was a funny little guy who brought us lots of laughs over the years.  I will miss watching him and Ritz wrestle around and his friendly little personality.

We are now down to one cat and one dog in this household.  Fluffy (who is currently not so fluffy...she got a haircut last week) just got declawed this week.  I'm pretty sure she hates us because of all of the traumatic events that have unfolded for her in the last two weeks.  But she won't be scratching anything, and she looks beautiful with her new haircut!  And of course there is Ritz...  he is always such a good dog!  I truly consider Ritz one of my babies.  He's a mama's boy for sure and loves to snuggle while we sit on the couch.  He has handled Cole coming home very well.  He loves to listen to Cole when he "talks" and gives him lots of kisses.  Ritz has been very good about not playing with Cole's toys, as tempting as it is for him.  Overall, the adjustment for him has gone smoother than I thought it would.

I hope that Cole grows up to love animals as much as his daddy and I do.  So far he loves to watch Ritz and Fluffy when they get close to him.  Ritz better watch out, because Cole is getting close to being able to grab his ears!!