The Important Role Pets Play in Our Family

Max thought he had died and gone to heaven during his visit to the dog beach!

As long as I can remember my family has always, and I mean always had pets!  At one point in high school our family had this adorable (yet funky-looking black goldfish with big round eyes).

 

And about eleven cats and dogs combined.  That was a little extreme I know, but my parents had breed our white Standard Poodle with an Apricot Poodle and they had the cutest puppies!  It was not tough finding them homes that is for sure.

Fast forward to my college years and my roommate had a boyfriend who had the sweetest Huskey whom he called “Bear”.  I thought that was the best name for a dog and vowed to name my future dog Bear.  I really couldn’t wait to have my own cat and dog but after college I moved abroad to Japan and taught English as a Second Language (ESL) to college students.  This was such a fun time in my life and the memories and adventures I had living abroad are some of my most treasured.  It was a busy time with lots of late nights with pals at the local hangouts. I was not thinking of getting a pet.  I mean, I was living in an apartment, traveling quite a bit to Thailand and even Vietnam (I’ll share those adventures in an upcoming post) and definitely wasn’t thinking my lifestyle would support having a pet.

 

 

Funny how you can never know what life has in store for you!  One night I was walking home from the bus station (love the efficient transportation system in Japan!) and I saw this adorable little white cat that a Japanese woman was feeding creamer to.  Yes, those little packets of creamer that sit on the table at coffee shops.  Hmmm.  I asked her in my broken Japanese about the cat and she said it was homeless but that she had been feeding it with these little creamers and whatever food she had for lunch that day.  I asked her if the cat belonged to anyone in the neighborhood  and she shook her head “no.”  Oh boy.  It looked like I was going to be the proud owner of a cat!  I ended up grabbing her in my arms, hailing a taxi cab and taking her to my apartment.  It was the start of a wonderful relationship with this sweet Japanese white bobtail with the multi-colored eyes (one blue and one green)  who I ended up calling “Little Kitty.”  It took her some time to get adjusted to being a domesticated cat as I think she had been on the streets for some time.  You see, she wasn’t a traditional bobtail as her tail was a bit long and crooked.  Whether she was born like that or it was broken somewhere along the way I am not sure. She probably was a mix of Khao Mane as well.  Who can really say when you find them on the streets – but she was purty!

But don’t feel bad for Little Kitty.  She had a great life and I even took her back home with me when I moved to Southern California.  She saw me through adjusting to life back in the states, new apartments and jobs, a (couple) boyfriends, getting married, a new home where she shared with a couple rescue cats and shelter dog (who I named Bear).  She was my first baby really and I adored her.  I’ll have to look for a picture of her in our storage to share with you!

 

Now that we have settled into having just one cat and one dog (and one kid) we have found a balance. I find this number works for me.  My cat, Buddy, loves everything and everybody and my dog, Max, loves his walks with the family and treats.

 

 

I like the Betsy Farms treats because they don’t have any artificial ingredients and the chicken is sourced in the USA. They are low fat, high protein snacks that he loves!  You can read more about Besty Farms and see what products below.  And having a couple pets you definitely want to be on top of the flea medication.  I was recently introduced to PetAction Plus that acts similar to Frontline (with all the same ingredients) without the high cost.  You can start them on it as young as 8 weeks on up and their doses start at S 6-22 pounds on up to XL 89-132 pounds.

 

Share a story with us about your furry family member!

 

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