Our Four-Legged Family Members
Cloe. That’s the name of the lone cat in a house full of dogs. They are all rescue animals. Here is the story of how our family came to be.
We started with one Welsh Terrier. Her new owners were not ready for her when she was ready for them so she needed a home. Kerri became the first four-legged member of our family.
After a few years we came to realize that she needed a playmate. After a visit to the local shelter we added our first American Eskimo. He was
three years old and abandoned by his owner. I will not tell you what I think of that owner. Anyway, he was just what our household needed. Zeus and Kerri became best friends.
We then moved to a house where we discovered we had a mouse problem. Neither my husband or myself could deal with poisoning an animal, no matter how nasty it is. However, I was not against the natural order of things. Time to go cat shopping at the local shelter. Cloe looked at me as soon as I walked in and she never took her eyes off of me. She knew she had found herself a home. And Cloe makes three four-legged family members.
Introducing Cloe to Kerri & Zeus was an interesting experience. Welsh Terriers are bred as fox hunters. It’s in their nature. Keeping Kerri from trying to eat Cloe was priority one in the beginning. That did not last long as we soon realized that Cloe was quite capable of taking care of herself – she most definitely knew how to use her claws. I was then more worried about Kerri’s eyes than Cloe being eaten. They both seemed to be smart enough to adjust to the situation so no intervention was necessary. Whew…
Believe it or not all three of them became great friends. There have been many hours of laughter watching them play fight together.
As the years passed by and Kerri began to show her age, we realized that Zeus will be horribly lost when Kerri leaves this world. In an effort to minimize the trauma that this event will cause we again visited the local shelter. We found another American Eskimo. This time it was a puppy. We fell in love and Fritz became our newest family member.
Fritz and Cloe are best friends. They are the two with the most energy so there is a lot of play fighting that takes place on a daily basis.
So now we are all one BIG happy family. And now you know the story of how our family has more four-legged members than two-legged members. We like it that way. 🙂 I hope this story also encourages anyone considering getting a pet to adopt from their local shelter. We have never had a bad experience. If more of us adopt from the shelter, not only will wonderful pets who need homes find them but the puppy mills will have less money to fund them.
Do you have pets? Did you adopt them?
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I can't imagine ever getting a pet from anywhere other than a shelter! We lucked out on our first dog and she was perfect. Yes perfect. At 1.5 years old we found a highly-trained Australian Shepherd that gave us her everything for nine years. Now we're on rescue dog #2… a cattle dog/whippet mix with some socializing issues, but still a great dog that deserved a good home. We've also adopted 3 cats. My cousin has fostered over 30 Chessies. Many shelter pets might require more patience since they're a little rough about the edges at times, but the devotion on both ends always pays off.
I am so thrilled to hear this! Yes. Sometimes these pets need a little extra TLC, but they are so worth it. Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
My daughter would love all your animals. Too bad she lives with the rest of us who aren't as animal "excited." We just have our one guinea pig. Since most of the care is by me, one is more than enough.
We have a rescue cat like you. He was a tiny kitten. Taken for his way to soon. He was 1lb 3 ozs at the time we got him he was really tiny. The vet said "she" would be a smallish cat. Well, it turned out he was a Maine Coon, one of the largest breads of cats. She was a he and he is our heart. 🙂
I love that you rescued all your pets!!!! Me too! I have four dogs. I also love that you got a dog to be a friend to Kerri and that you got another to lighten the burden for Zeus when Kerri goes on to dog heaven. And, I am with you on the natural order of things too–i.e. reason for Chloe. 🙂
Your dogs are all so cute!
Like I said, I have four. Two of them are purebred coonhounds that were used for their purebred-edness, if you know what I mean (they are girls). Another is my three-legged Belle, a mostly black border collie mix. And there is sweet Roby (pronounced Robbie), she was my first and also the first to steal my heart. There have been issues but darned if I would give up on them and now the house pretty well is arranged to cater to my dogs. Ha! But all is well now. Thanks for being a voice for pet ADOPTION. It's a wonderful cause.
Love the photos of the pets me I have only one dog now who is sleeping at me feet, hubby is not a cat person he hates cats with a capital H………………me I can take or leave them………….but have always had dogs………….
Great way of getting pets, Cheryl! There are far too many animals abandoned by their owners. Adopted a stray dog in Spain and loved him dearly. When I moved a Saudi family adopted him and I'm sure he got better food there:-)
Thanks Catarina. Sounds like your stray dog ended up with 2 great homes! 🙂
I admire your efforts with rescue animals. We adopted our dog Spike from a shelter about 18 years ago and he became a much-loved member of our family.
Happy Ending stories make my day : ) Not just cats and Dogs need forever homes, so do farm animals.
Today we celebrate Bloggers Unite For Dog Rescue! Rescues make great pets. Tomorrow is another day to share the message animals great and small ~ adopt before you shop : )
I never gave much thought to farm animals. Of course I would also not be in a position to adopt one either. Love the moto 'adopt before you shop'. Let's have lots more happy endings! 🙂
Wait…so you still have Kerri, right? I don't know if I should smile or cry. They are adorable.
Yes. We still have Kerri. She has some age related issues now. Smiling is always good. 🙂
Our dog Rocky is a shelter mutt. Wouldn't trade him for the world. There were so many beautiful animals in the shelter, it took us three visits to decide. Nothing against pet shops or breeders, but for our family, the shelter was the only option we'd ever consider.