On a recent visit to my brother’s house, one family member I was looking forward to meeting was Orpheus the cat, commonly known as ‘Orfi’. My brother and sister-in-law got him from a shelter when they first moved into a shared apartment when they still were students. He was about a year old then and had spent all his life indoors. He was also extremely active and never settled down for a cuddle with a stranger. […]
A few months ago my husband gave me the wonderful and terrible gift of a twelve year old African Grey parrot. It belonged to a client that advised my tender-hearted honey that with a new baby in their house, the bird would have to be put down. When hubby approached me about adopting the bird, at first I was adamant – No birds in the house. No way. Never. They’re filthy. But he appealed to my pet-loving side and I finally, reluctantly, agreed to yet another animal in the house as long as it didn’t become my responsibility. It was not going to be my bird!
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Each time I stock up on food for my pretty cat Princess (yes, that’s her in the photo), I have to stop and stare at all of the fun toys I just know she’ll love. And all too often I give in and buy her the latest and greatest thing in cat toys.
Sometimes Princess will actually express a bit of interest in her new toy. But more often than not, she’ll just turn up her nose and walk away from my latest offering. Soon, I’ll relegate it to the pile of toys in her cat carrier.
I’ve never owned a pet. I wanted to when I was younger, but my mother said, “Sure, as long as you take care of it.” At which point I thought about it, and realized, no, I don’t really want to get a dog. So I tried fish, which didn’t work because the one snail we had (to eat the algae) turned into over 500 – I counted.
Then I went to New Zealand, where everyone I knew had an animal. Cats, dogs, horses, cows, sheep – okay, the latter weren’t pets (really), but in a rural farming community animals abound. And for a few months I lived in a household that had a cat named Cypher, and a dog named Dante. […]
My sweet kitty Princess has been with me for about 12 of her nearly 14 years, and until about a year ago, was very low maintenance. Each morning I would make certain her food dish was filled with dry cat food, and that her water bowl had fresh water, and she was set for the day.
Now she always liked and got lots of attention from me; petting, scratching, brushing, playing with string toys chief among them. And one must never forget the evening tour of our home with her carried high so she could sniff and look at all the things too difficult for her to normally see.
As I was reflecting this week on elements that unify us as readers, it occurred to me that many of my reading colleagues are also fellow animal lovers. I live in a house filled with rescued cats and dogs, which is by turns delightful and frustrating. Delightful because life doesn’t get much better than snuggling with a book and a kitty in my lap. Frustrating in that many of my books are now missing covers courtesy of a certain coonhound who has an affinity for ripping them off when my back is turned.
Since I am such a sucker for animals I almost always find it a bonus when a good romance features a furry companion. Especially if the author is adept at creating a unique personality to where the pet becomes an actual character in the story.
Without further ado, here are a few of my favorites:
We have a new addition to our family – a little black lab named Millie. I say she’s little, but she’s already reached 34 pounds at 3 1/2 months of age. She’s precious and smart and loves to play.
We waited a long time to add a new dog to the family. Two years ago we lost our family pet, a chocolate lab named Chloe, and I couldn’t stand the idea of replacing her for a long time. I’d had her since college when my husband, then boyfriend, gave her to me as a gift. We had to put the decision off a bit longer when we decided to move and needed to wait until we were settled before adding to the family. In May, we were finally ready. […]