Years ago I had this amazing cat in college. During winter break I had a fulltime job and stayed in town while my 7 other roommates went home. So my cat and I had the whole house to ourselves. One night I took off running downstairs into the basement to see if she would follow me. I hid in a room and I slowly heard her come down the stairs and when she came into the room and saw me hiding, she jumped in the air and took off. And she went to hide and waited for me to come find her. When I found her then I took off running and hid again and so on. We did this several times. It really felt like she knew we were playing hide and seek. I think we only did it that one time. It was unbelievable.
Kids were begging for a dog. So we decided on breed and went to get one from a farmer. The farmer told us that all he had left were males. Kids picked one and went to show off the new dog. Embarrassingly for us, their Grandpa told us our new dog wasn’t a male. Hey, I don’t go around focusing on …
Had a mackerel colored tabby cat for a long time as a kid & teenager. In his later years, he enjoyed taking long naps on the back of the couch.
My Mom has recently acquired some ferrets who thought it was great fun to jump onto the couch and then jump again at the cat poking him with their little noses while he was trying to sleep. I watched as this old cat opened one eye just enough to see where the ferrets were at.When the next one jumped at him, the sly tom sprang to his feet and slapped the ferret clean off the couch.
This was over 20 years ago, and to this day I’ll never forget the sight of a furry tube of ferret flying end over end, crashing down on the floor, then looking back up at the onry old cat who was settling back down to his nap. The ferrets never messed with that boy again.
I believe I’ve (already) told the story of discovering my border collie pal had stolen my Dagwood sandwich off of the coffee table in my den and finding Her asleep under same…the sad part is that I had to miss years of her life due to being sent to federal prison for a pot trafficking conspiracy…I could feel her missing me and wondering where and why I had gone…I had to have my loving friend put down, due to heart failure, one week after my release from prison.
If this were written on paper it would be soaked with tears…that still burn.
When I was a kid living out west, a cockatiel literally walked up to our front door. For some reason my mom listened to me and allowed us to keep it. I insisted on taking care of it, and it was probably ill. I ended up getting a nasty case of salmonella and our doc was pretty sure it was from the bird. I don’t remember if the bird died or if my folks got rid of it. Lesson learned: don’t take in random stray birds.
My little gray tuxedo cat, Luigi, was 19 and had taken to curling up on my lap in the evenings. One night, coming home from the hospital where a family member was staying, I had a lot of anxiety so made myself a mug of catnip tea to take the edge off. That old cat got super excited trying to stick his head in the mug. We compromised using a saucer and the tea became part of our evening ritual until he passed.
- thisjustinagain - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 3:41 pm:
As a small child my father decided a Great Dane would be an excellent dog for our family. I’m told “Stormy” took to me like a pork chop; he’d pin me up against walls, furniture, and the picture window licking me silly while I laughed and laughed. I don’t actually remember him (being too young), but never minded friendly dogs licking me since, especially big dogs. (Oscar remains a stout yeoman and fine fellow of CFB as well.)
Had a Doberman named Diablo when I was a kid. We lived in the country and the dog lived outside most of the time. After dinner the scraps were tossed out the back door. He was always front and center and rarely if ever stopped to investigate before he scarfed down whatever was tossed. That particular behavior came to an abrupt halt the night I tossed a batch of shrimp that might have been in the fridge a couple of days too long. I tossed them, he gobbled them up, and for the first and only time in my life, I heard a dog gag. I’ll never forget the look he gave me.
a couple of friends came from out of town to help out on election day. I put together beds for them and tried to make them comfortable. Our dog, Ruby, “buried” 2 full size Hershey bars under the pillows in each of the beds. They were wrapped and not chewed up. Talk about “turn down service” - I mean who doesn’t like a nice little piece of chocolate on their pillow!
- Don't Bloc Me In - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 4:05 pm:
Years ago we needed another barn cat, and I received the ‘gift’ of a mean, wild, scrappy black kitten with claws of steel that strayed into a nearby town. Once he connected humans and food, the claws were retracted and Evil became our constant companion around the barn.
Evil like to ride on our shoulders, and often stood with his back feet on my shoulder and front paws on my head as I walked around the farm. To save time he would jump onto one of us from a high perch when we entered the barn.
Once when we left home for a few days I had the neighbor do the evening chores. Unfortunately, I forgot to tell him about Evil’s habits. You can guess what happened as the neighbor entered the barn, fumbled in the dark for the light switch, and thought he was being attacked by some rabid animal.
In the last year, we’ve learned an important lesson about cats: Three is too many, two is too few.
Paradoxical little buggers.
– MrJM
- FormerParatrooper - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 5:38 pm:
I was at work out of State and the dog needed to go to the vet. She refused to leave the car and go in. My wife called and I spoke to the dog on facetime and told she needed to go in. She jumped out the car and went in. The vet witnessed this and she was definitely a daddy’s girl. Best animal I ever had the privilege of having.
One morning my wife totally forgot to feed our Brittany Spaniel his breakfast. Now, I’ve had numerous dogs over the years and if one of them missed breakfast they would let us know it. But our dog didn’t do anything. After my wife realized she forgot to feed him, we gave him a little kibble as it was now noon.
I then went over to my Dad’s to watch a football game with him. About the end of the first quarter, my wife called and was hysterical as the dog had pushed out part of the fence and was gone.
We started to look for him, but soon got a call from our local grocery store, a block from our house. Our dog had walked down there, walked right into the store. I guess he figured if we weren’t going to feed him a full breakfast, he had to go buy one himself. Fortunately, he was recognized and we were contacted and he is back home safe and sound.
My last dog was a Boston Terrier. On the morning of the Groundhog Day blizzard he followed me downstairs to the door to go outside. When I opened up the door to find the snow had drifted up to the height of my chest, he took one look at that with a wide eyed look and turned around and ran back upstairs.
- Langhorne - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 2:32 pm:
If my dog decides I have overslept, she grabs a sock and tries to shove it into my ear.
- Michelle Flaherty - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 2:43 pm:
the one about how Pat Quinn flushed Squeezy the python down the toilet after losing re-election.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 2:46 pm:
I had a cat many years ago who disappeared from the house. Looked all over for him to no avail.
Then five years later I looked across the street, and there he was looking at me. He ended up staying for the rest of his life.
I still would like to know where he went. I’m assuming it was to stay with someone that offered better food than I did.
- Baloneymous - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 2:48 pm:
Years ago I had this amazing cat in college. During winter break I had a fulltime job and stayed in town while my 7 other roommates went home. So my cat and I had the whole house to ourselves. One night I took off running downstairs into the basement to see if she would follow me. I hid in a room and I slowly heard her come down the stairs and when she came into the room and saw me hiding, she jumped in the air and took off. And she went to hide and waited for me to come find her. When I found her then I took off running and hid again and so on. We did this several times. It really felt like she knew we were playing hide and seek. I think we only did it that one time. It was unbelievable.
- Day Late - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 2:49 pm:
What a cutie!
- Gruntled University Employee - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 2:57 pm:
My old barn cat Bunny, she’ll turn 22 in March.
- Norseman - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 3:00 pm:
Kids were begging for a dog. So we decided on breed and went to get one from a farmer. The farmer told us that all he had left were males. Kids picked one and went to show off the new dog. Embarrassingly for us, their Grandpa told us our new dog wasn’t a male. Hey, I don’t go around focusing on …
- SKI - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 3:15 pm:
Had a mackerel colored tabby cat for a long time as a kid & teenager. In his later years, he enjoyed taking long naps on the back of the couch.
My Mom has recently acquired some ferrets who thought it was great fun to jump onto the couch and then jump again at the cat poking him with their little noses while he was trying to sleep. I watched as this old cat opened one eye just enough to see where the ferrets were at.When the next one jumped at him, the sly tom sprang to his feet and slapped the ferret clean off the couch.
This was over 20 years ago, and to this day I’ll never forget the sight of a furry tube of ferret flying end over end, crashing down on the floor, then looking back up at the onry old cat who was settling back down to his nap. The ferrets never messed with that boy again.
- Dotnonymous - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 3:18 pm:
I believe I’ve (already) told the story of discovering my border collie pal had stolen my Dagwood sandwich off of the coffee table in my den and finding Her asleep under same…the sad part is that I had to miss years of her life due to being sent to federal prison for a pot trafficking conspiracy…I could feel her missing me and wondering where and why I had gone…I had to have my loving friend put down, due to heart failure, one week after my release from prison.
If this were written on paper it would be soaked with tears…that still burn.
- Tony DeKalb - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 3:20 pm:
When I was a kid living out west, a cockatiel literally walked up to our front door. For some reason my mom listened to me and allowed us to keep it. I insisted on taking care of it, and it was probably ill. I ended up getting a nasty case of salmonella and our doc was pretty sure it was from the bird. I don’t remember if the bird died or if my folks got rid of it. Lesson learned: don’t take in random stray birds.
- yinn - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 3:41 pm:
My little gray tuxedo cat, Luigi, was 19 and had taken to curling up on my lap in the evenings. One night, coming home from the hospital where a family member was staying, I had a lot of anxiety so made myself a mug of catnip tea to take the edge off. That old cat got super excited trying to stick his head in the mug. We compromised using a saucer and the tea became part of our evening ritual until he passed.
- thisjustinagain - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 3:41 pm:
As a small child my father decided a Great Dane would be an excellent dog for our family. I’m told “Stormy” took to me like a pork chop; he’d pin me up against walls, furniture, and the picture window licking me silly while I laughed and laughed. I don’t actually remember him (being too young), but never minded friendly dogs licking me since, especially big dogs. (Oscar remains a stout yeoman and fine fellow of CFB as well.)
- Papa2008 - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 3:42 pm:
Had a Doberman named Diablo when I was a kid. We lived in the country and the dog lived outside most of the time. After dinner the scraps were tossed out the back door. He was always front and center and rarely if ever stopped to investigate before he scarfed down whatever was tossed. That particular behavior came to an abrupt halt the night I tossed a batch of shrimp that might have been in the fridge a couple of days too long. I tossed them, he gobbled them up, and for the first and only time in my life, I heard a dog gag. I’ll never forget the look he gave me.
- momofboys - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 4:01 pm:
a couple of friends came from out of town to help out on election day. I put together beds for them and tried to make them comfortable. Our dog, Ruby, “buried” 2 full size Hershey bars under the pillows in each of the beds. They were wrapped and not chewed up. Talk about “turn down service” - I mean who doesn’t like a nice little piece of chocolate on their pillow!
- Don't Bloc Me In - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 4:05 pm:
Years ago we needed another barn cat, and I received the ‘gift’ of a mean, wild, scrappy black kitten with claws of steel that strayed into a nearby town. Once he connected humans and food, the claws were retracted and Evil became our constant companion around the barn.
Evil like to ride on our shoulders, and often stood with his back feet on my shoulder and front paws on my head as I walked around the farm. To save time he would jump onto one of us from a high perch when we entered the barn.
Once when we left home for a few days I had the neighbor do the evening chores. Unfortunately, I forgot to tell him about Evil’s habits. You can guess what happened as the neighbor entered the barn, fumbled in the dark for the light switch, and thought he was being attacked by some rabid animal.
- MisterJayEm - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 4:36 pm:
In the last year, we’ve learned an important lesson about cats: Three is too many, two is too few.
Paradoxical little buggers.
– MrJM
- FormerParatrooper - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 5:38 pm:
I was at work out of State and the dog needed to go to the vet. She refused to leave the car and go in. My wife called and I spoke to the dog on facetime and told she needed to go in. She jumped out the car and went in. The vet witnessed this and she was definitely a daddy’s girl. Best animal I ever had the privilege of having.
- flea - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 7:46 pm:
My almost 3 yr old grandaughter helped tame a kitty who showed up in one of the barns. She named her Walter. the joy of life is pretty neat.
- G'Kar - Wednesday, Nov 16, 22 @ 10:16 pm:
One morning my wife totally forgot to feed our Brittany Spaniel his breakfast. Now, I’ve had numerous dogs over the years and if one of them missed breakfast they would let us know it. But our dog didn’t do anything. After my wife realized she forgot to feed him, we gave him a little kibble as it was now noon.
I then went over to my Dad’s to watch a football game with him. About the end of the first quarter, my wife called and was hysterical as the dog had pushed out part of the fence and was gone.
We started to look for him, but soon got a call from our local grocery store, a block from our house. Our dog had walked down there, walked right into the store. I guess he figured if we weren’t going to feed him a full breakfast, he had to go buy one himself. Fortunately, he was recognized and we were contacted and he is back home safe and sound.
- Jaguar - Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 7:27 am:
My last dog was a Boston Terrier. On the morning of the Groundhog Day blizzard he followed me downstairs to the door to go outside. When I opened up the door to find the snow had drifted up to the height of my chest, he took one look at that with a wide eyed look and turned around and ran back upstairs.