Pets of SJ.com

Here’s my little guy.

 

I gotta say, I think “Isosceles” is the best name so far. “Miles” is a close second, though.

 

Funny thing about the "cats vs. dogs" argument ...

Once my parents were able to buy a house, when I was in grade school, we always had dogs. My wife, on the other hand, grew up with cats.

When we were first married we lived in apartments, so we adopted a couple cats. I grew into someone who enjoyed cats, especially when I'd come home late from my newspaper shift and the cat would always find its way onto my lap as I read before going to bed.

Then we moved out west (without the cat; gave it away to a good home), and my wife and kids went to the shelter to look for a cat. They met an older border collie mix named Victoria and adopted her instead. Now my wife is a dog person all the way.

I like dogs too, but still enjoy occasional visits from cats.

 

We have had about 15 cats over the years, 8 at once for a while. I love dogs (had a Boston Terrier growing up) but cats suit us. This is Nelson and Sadie, Nelson is the last one of the bunch, he is 13. They were named after friends of my Nana.

 

Yeah, I had dogs growing up, adopted a cat in college. Needed a more independent pet. Back to dogs now, but still have a soft spot for cats.

 

This is Jack, or 12th of 12.

He's a rescue from Seneca, S.C., and probably the smartest and definitely the most spoiled of the dozen we've had. He's a Flemish Giant mix of some sort and about 13 pounds. He'll sit here on the couch with me if he wants something or just wants attention and petting. Notice he's guarding the refrigerator because he knows the kale, carrots and grapes are stored in there. He can hear a banana being peeled from 100 yards. And he follows the deer back and forth on the back porch in the evenings. He's not particularly fond of the motorhome, but he's been to 21 states whether he knows it or not.

I found the first rabbit by accident in 1990. I went to the store early on a Sunday to buy milk and she was being attacked by a tomcat in our apartment parking lot in California. She was barely past weaning -- and in retrospect, probably shouldn't have survived based on our extremely limited knowledge of lagomorphs at the time. But she grew to 15 pounds, was always terrified of cats (would stomp loudly if she heard one, even a kitten) and lived nine years, and was exactly the opposite of what we thought rabbits would be.

I was the first chapter president of the Atlanta House Rabbit Society some 25 years ago. We've had up to four at one time (by the way, girl bunnies fight). The biggest was Josephine, a 16-pound French lop who wouldn't breed, so the breeder sold her to us as a pet. She had never touched the ground until we got her home and let her free. She acted like a bucking bronco for weeks after that, doing happy dances on the living room carpet. But we also figured out she had never been in the dark (apparently the breeder's building was always lit), so we had to leave a light on for her. When she died, I let the bulb eventually burn itself out.

We always wanted purebred Giant Chinchillas and have been lucky to have four, including a brother and his two sisters, all with silky silver coats. Sadly, they all died before their fifth birthdays of various ailments. The saddest was getting the call from the exotic vet in Atlanta, telling me Pepper had a cancerous tumor that couldn't be removed. She never woke up from the surgery.

Let me see if I can remember the names in order: Jasper, Cottonball, Patches, Josie, Ricochet, Snickers, Scarlett O'Hare (she was a beautiful red Satin Rex), Pepper, Tweedle Dee/Flopsy, Sonny and Shadow. And now Jack.

Surprisingly, we've never had a dog or cat since we've been married. Rabbits are a lot of work because they chew anything and everything. I've replaced more than my share of computer cables and phone cords. But they don't bark and can be litter-box trained (although Jack needs a dirt landing spot for some reason, so he has a plastic baby pool filled with topsoil). Plus, it's different to go to a feed store and buy a 50-pound sack of Purina Rabbit Show Chow.

 

That is such an awesome photo because of the symmetry.

 

Love our cat's independence.
One of the great things about the way our cat was raised is that she's completely housebroken. If the weather is going to be bad or cold for an extended period of time I'll set up a litter box for her and she uses it, but otherwise she does her business outside 99 percent of the time.
The other 1 percent has been the last couple months or so, when she seems to have gotten lazy. The cat has somehow figured out the basic concept of indoor plumbing. When she doesn't feel like going outside, she'll do her business in the tub. It's actually not too bad. You can just wash the pee down the drain, and the poop is easy to pick up off the hard surface.
If we ever get another cat, I'm not sure we'll be able to replicate that one small but incredibly convenient character trait of hers.

 

My cat, Sandy, was amazeballs. He used his sandbox but also used the toilet. I’d come home from work a few times a week to find floaters. He never learned to flush.

 

Perfect timing and lucky shot. Of course I took a million...

 

HI SANDY