[Elana55]

Tonight after getting off the phone with my Mom I suddenly had the most overwhelming feeling of love and gratitude for my pets. They keep me sane in an otherwise insane world.

My Dad has Alzheimers and that disease is a thief. It steals a little of the person each day.. until there is not a lot left. the victim doesn't suffer as he takes steps down in life and then platforms for awhile before losing anothr step.

My sister's family is just plain dysfunctional and my brother, who is awesome, is in a marriage that just isn't worrking real happy anymore.

My job is highly Political at times and demanding with everyone wanting things done "yesterday" and even that would be late.

And yet.. I come home at night.. and there are all five cats turning inside out to be the "first one to get petted" and Atka is patiently waiting in her crate.

I go for a 4 mile walk ewith my really good dog and look at the foliage, which here in the Catskills is at peak or just past (higher up the mountains). My dog is off leash and behaves like a champ.. even when my next door neighbor stops me on my walk and asks some Real Estate Advice (settling an estate and he is the executor and I am an appraiser). I put my dog in a down stay and she KNOWS it is dinner time and behaves anyway.

Then I get home and feed all the pack of 5 cats and the dog and Oliver is eating Atka's food and she is licking his head thanking him for it..

After the eating is done Oliver tells me (you got to know this cat) that he has lost his favorite toys under the dresser and the stove so I get the flashlight and the aluminum yard stick..a nd we go toy fishing (I tell him the yard stick is for 'cat beating' and I smack him lightly with it and he purrs.. ). I get him his toys and he leaps around he is so happy and invites me to a game of retrieve which Atka watches. Naughty and Curly start a play fight (thes cats are 13 and 14) and Peanut and fireball sit and watch TV and....

... you know..

I would go insane with out these wonderful animals. All the other crap of life just melts away. I cannot imagine why anyone on this earth would not be so grateful for their pets and insure that they stay safe, are well trained, and absolutely joys to share life with.

I don't know about y'all, but I am SO DARN LUCKY. I feel like I am pretty close to being in heaven with this bunch.

You ever get that feeling? If it weren't for THEM you would just go to the bridge and jump somedays?

[BobSD]

After reading many of your post, I know you have a good, and clear head. You are not the type to panic and scream because the plane is going down! I truly respect the way you treat your animals even if they are not house pets but your livelihood. Its people like you that make this site interesting and why I hang around....God bless you and your friends!! Good Post!!!!

should have said even if "some" of your animals are not pets!

[Elana55]

Bob SD, it has not been since October 27, 1996 that my animals have been my source of a living. I have a State job now. Fact is, from 1994 thru 1996 I did both a State job and the dairy farm. I will miss that farm forever and my reitrement plans are to get a small farm again.. (stupid me!).

All 5 cats and my dog are house pets.. well, the dog I was planning to send to learn sheep herding but I got sick last spring and so I plan on it NEXT year.

But you are correct.. I had some special animals and I treated them like queens and kings b4 I took care of me.

There was Jenny, the Dairy cow who broke out of the pasture and came to the house to get us to help her calve because she had a calf with a leg back.. and Julie who recognized her calves but did not break out to get back to them and who I could allow her calves to nurse on her for weeks after calving once a day (unheard of in dairy farm) and who could forget Debbie who (finally) foundered herself because she would sneak out by swimming across the pond and get the grain chute open, gorge herelf and swim back across the pond so "you wold never know...."

There was Maple, the quarter horse who could herd cattle and then Butch who was wild who I trained to do the same job and who did it better than any horse I ever had.. and who I sold to a recovering cancer patient because he was so reliable.

I have been blessed with Fuzzledog the 20 pound long haired grey and white barn cat who decided to move into the house with me and died in my arms after an all night vigil from Feline Leukemia before there was a vaccine. There was Sheba the dog I rescued who fed her puppies (b4 I got her) on wood chucks she caught and killed.. and who seemed to KNOW I rescued her and who would have laid her life down for me.. and Kazi who was my first GSD who herded cattle and later became my Dad's "hearing" dog. There was Spencer my show cat who had to come on vacation with me or he would pine so for me that he would cease to eat and drink and get a urninary blockage... and who went into cat shows on a leash and who would look at the judges as if to say, "You have seen the rest, here is the BEST!"

I don't live on a farm anymore and I don't make my living from dairy cows anymore (mostly due to an unreliable alcholic husband who I eventually divorced and who has since passed away). Yet, every day I am not on the farm I miss it.. and I wake up every morning from a dream of being there.. some nights I have ridden my horses and others I have harvested hay or milked cows.. and then I wake up to where I am today. Sometimes I even talk to my ex husband in those dreams and we work it all out.. but then I wake up and it is another day. It ahs been suggested I suffer PTS syndrome. I think I just miss being a farmer.

Most of the time I at least have the fortitude not to weep and to hold the animals I have today even closer to my heart.
They keep me sane (tho my sanity is often doubtful I suspect) and I love them. I do require good behavior, but I work every day to be sure they are cared for and have every possible need met.. in spades!

[rosemaryninja]

Elana, I know exactly how you feel. Sometimes I am just flooded with this intense love for my dogs and I can't imagine them meaning a fraction less to me than they do now.

I think we all find love in our pets in different ways.

Today I was walking with them around the estate and as we turned the corner, lo and behold, there sat on the road a bright red shiny Nissan GTR.



The owner was getting out and as we walked by I complimented his car. We stopped to chat and I put my dogs in a sit-stay; they obliged beautifully. The pride was shining out of my ears until about ten seconds later when Honey sneezes...leaving a mist of dog drool on the paintwork.

I apologised profusely. Thankfully the guy was quite forgiving but I felt pretty bad. But as I walked off it was all I could do to keep from smiling. Atka makes your day when the training you do with her pays off; Spunky and Honey make my day when they crack me up with these little things.

They really are wondrous creatures.

[Sunshyne]

I have a state job too as a social worker. We got hit hard the other day by the massive budget cuts our Governor had to inact. My job is ok for now, but if there is another round, who knows.

I have a 10 year old daughter who is normally a really good kid, but now a days (ugh do I sound old or what? I'm only 33!) these young girls can be so mean and vicious. She is going to her first dance tonight. I feel like she is slipping away a little bit. I am her only involved parent, and she is my world, so seeing her grow up and go to her room to talk on the phone with her friends makes me sad.

Chloe, on the other hand, acts like I have been gone for a year when I come home from a 1/2 hour errand! She is all smiles and wags her tail so much her whole body moves with it! She kisses me for a good 5 minutes and then continues to follow me around until bedtime.

Of course my daughter comes first and she is what I live for, but Chloe is a different kind of love. I know exactly what you mean!