Our kitty is definitely part of the family. He likes to curl up in bad with us. We're constantly talking to him and about him.

It's sad really. We're crazy, crazy people.

Thanks everyone. Tim, I hope Fred is ok. Brenda, your Lucy is lovely. And, Beej, Bartleby is oh so handsome.

Sadly, that's not my pool. I'm very fortunate to have a friend who designed her pool to be dog-friendly. DH, Lucy, and I are headed there tomorrow morning. DH has never actually seen Lucy swim, so this will be a treat for him. She grew up on the Chesapeake Bay and loves the water. We adopted her when she was 6-1/2. Her family had 3 kids in 4 years and ran out of time for her. They're nice, though, and they still keep in touch 5 years later. That's not real common in rescue.

Sean, you're not crazy. Kitties are part of the family. And we talk about, to, and (perhaps most disturbing) for our dogs.

ETA: And I am SO not posting a pic for you guys of me in a well-fitted white dress, white stockings, and those nursey shoes. And my nursing cap. If only my graduation uniform still fit!

Too late, I'm pretty sure we saw that picture. I remember thinking there was a resemblance to JZ, actually.

Oh my, family doesn't even cover what Bartleby means to me.

Rescuing can be interesting...there were 5 applications on Bartleby (incongruously named "Spanky"...look at that face...does he look like a Spanky to you?) but I sailed right past them all. Being single woman who works at home and has a yard? Humane Society gold.

Several times a year, I run into one of the other applicants. They all seem so wistful, even though they ended up with other dogs.

For the first two years I had my boy, I was terrified his first family would try to get him back. They were fools to let him go. Bonus to me!

For the first two years I had my boy, I was terrified his first family would try to get him back.

All of the dogs we place either came from shelters or had signed owner give up forms. If those who gave them up try to get them back, too bad.

I had that fear with my first boy, Levi, though. He was a stray that we got from a friend of a friend. Instead of trying ton find him, though, his probably former owners simply dumped three of his siblings in the same neighborhood a week later. Levi was the world's greatest boy dog ever.

He likes to curl up in bad with us.

There may be laws against that, y'know.

Okay, maybe by Buffista standards I *am* a prude. That still makes me adventurous among hooples, though. Oh, I think I get it, Hec, it's like the flip-side of the sponge-bath question I used to get all the time.(isolation does occasionally have its benefits, in that I don't now, but I'm here posting this on Saturday night, so, it's probably a wash.) Things like that can be hard for me to talk about, and I stil think nurses should be able to talk about movies or dogs without confronting it, though.

All of the dogs we place either came from shelters or had signed owner give up forms. If those who gave them up try to get them back, too bad.

Bboy was found wandering...perfectly trained but with no tags. He was, it turned out, extremely ill. I suspect his first people dumped him because they could, or would, not do what it took (massive money and loads of time) to cure him. They might have said he was 'lost' after I'd fixed him up.

Good job, Beej. But possession is 9/10 of the law and you had the receipts to back up your claim.

I hate it when people dump dogs because they don't want to take care of them. We got a dog from a vet practice. He'd been hit by a car and his owners wanted him euthanized. They signed him over to the practice and the staff raised the money for his surgery and treatment. They fixed him and got him to us. Then the former owners started calling them saying they wanted him back. The staff quoted the former owners back to themselves. "He's no good for hunting anymore, so we don't want him." Jerks. The dog in question is living happily ever after far away from his former owners.

that makes me sad. I'd be lost without my dog, and I'm still sad that her "big sister" got robbed by dying at seven. Not enough, damn it.