Pets. Who has them?

[Deckard Canine]

I don't have a recent photo ready yet, but I'll tell you about my family's cat (I no longer live in the same house, so whether she can still be called "my cat" is debatable). Millie is 18 1/2 years old. Going by the modern veterinary system -- 15 for the first year, 9 for the second, and 4 for each thereafter -- that makes 90 cat years. Going by the simple old system of seven times the human rate, she would be 130.

Does she show it? Millie still scampers once in a while, but her arthritic back makes her have to think hard before jumping. She also seems to have gone completely deaf, with a declining sense of smell. If no one is directly in her field of view, she is likely to whine.

[Jaydub]

Smokie our 13 year old cat under the Christmas tree.

[RHJunior]

Hey everyone who comes here, I made this topic to try and cheer people up. So I now present what I hope will be the first of many images that make people smile: My Sugar Glider, Dweebit.

Arrr, curse you and your evil cuteness, who would have thought a poster like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness, aaah the pink noses and pink toeses, I'm meeelllllllltingggggg.....

[Earl McClaw]

This is my cat, "The fluff cat".

<snip>

I dont see anything.

Then try going here:
http://ic3.deviantart.com/fs12/i/2006/3 ... pple33.jpg

Apparently DeviantArt doesn't like that kind of linking.

* * *

My family kept pets, but living on my own I realized that I can't be so cruel as to keep an animal in the kind of home I run. The ones I remember best are:

• Tinkerbill - a stray we found when we moved. (Hey, we were ages 5-9. We didn't know it was male!) Often let out at night, until he didn't come "home".
• Cleopatra - IIRC a beagle/daschaund mix. Put down gently after a severe back injury.
• Jimmy & Uncle Jennifer - Two from the same litter. Jenny was thought to be female by everyone including the vet - until he sliced her open. Jimmy lasted until in old age he couldn't fight of an infection; Jenny outlasted his brother until he became even stranger and was causing damage.
• Winifred - Winny was something like a cocker mix, with semi-long clumpy hair. I don't remember how she passed.
• Jasper - A cat a sister got after she first moved out, but passed to Mom & Dad at one point. I think he was retrieved by said sister.

When it became just my parents at the house, the pets were cared for but never replaced.

[The JAM]

Lucy Peavency, our current cat (don't ask me how many pets we've had since 1978). Sorry for the blurryness, my digital camera is rather cheap (US $40)

[Werekitty]

Presenting my felines.

Penny, the queen of the castle.


Roy, the petting addicted male.


And Coonie, the Pirate Cat! Arr.

And strangly enough I have no problem linking to Deviant Art. >.>

[Axelgear]

*Snip*

Arrr, curse you and your evil cuteness, who would have thought a poster like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness, aaah the pink noses and pink toeses, I'm meeelllllllltingggggg.....

Note to self... Speak loudly and carry a Sugar Glider...

[Daniel Meyer]

My Maine Coon cat...



That's a yard stick behind him. You should see him when he really stretches out!

Shown here doing what he does best:



He is uber proud of that tail.

[GrayTiger]

This is Miss Daisy Mae spending quality time with her daddy.

[Axelgear]

I wonder why cats sleep so constantly? Do they know something we don't? Cats are by nature solitary though, so it makes sense...

[Deckard Canine]

Maybe cats are so cool and smart that they find most of the world too boring for wakefulness.

[Earl McClaw]

They're predators. They sleep to conserve as much energy as possible for hunting.