Gilgamesh and Pets

Just a Thursday catchup this week.  Busy with various things this week but did get to find the epic poem of Gilgamesh on line and read it.  Kind of depressing with his fear of death and spending so much time writing about it but interesting to read. Now having visited Mesopatamia we can move on to ancient Egypt in the Penguin History of the World.

I thought I would do something light and fluffy and share all my pets with you. Many book bloggers have cats and some of them also have dogs. So this is my family, not having children to brag about and we love them to pieces.

Here they are in order of pecking:

This is Wally, He is 13 years old and we bought him as an 8 week old. He was in a box of puppies from a used car dealer in a car lot.  There were 10 puppies in the box from two jack russell mothers. His father was a staffordshire terrier crossed with a dachshund.  Short legs, staffy body and jack russel head.  He is the strongest willed dog I have ever met and we have a battle of the wills daily but I always win.  Food is the only thing that matters to him.  

This is Molly-Monkey.  She is 9 years old and don't be fooled. She rules the roost amongst all her brothers.  We often get our hair done on the same day when we gave a girl's day out. She was "rescued" from a pet store when I saw her there one day while buying something for a client of mine when working at Disability Services. She was way too young to be away from her mother, she fit in my hand, was cold, no water on a cement floor. The guy swore she was a 100% jack russell but she turned into this silky type terrier. He wanted $200. for her and I said I'd give him $50 and not turn him into the RSPCA.  I bought her and turned him in anyway.  The pet shop was shut down.

This is Uncle Buck, 8 years old and named in memory of John Candy. We loved his movies. I was working as a vet nurse after retiring from my speech pathology career and a girl brought him into the surgery.  He was 3 weeks old and had his head stomped on in a domestic dispute at a local house.  His skull was fractured in 5 places and I was assigned to bring him home for the weekend and keep him comfortable. Because kittens survive amazing episodes of injury at times we gave it a go.  He not only survived, has a dodgy right eye, spun in circles the first couple of months and still does when excited, we adopted him. The girl didn't want to pay vet bills so I paid them and he lives with us.  His back legs don't work for climbing or jumping but he walks in a straight line after my rehab with him and can go outdoors because we have a big fenced yard and he can't climb out of it.  He can't change tasks easily, was hard to litter train but we got there and is very cuddly and we all love each other. He is a very happy cat even if he does forget to get in the litter once in awhile.

This is Odie, aged 3.  He came into the Dog's home with his brother and sister aged 4 weeks.  I fostered the litter in my home until they were old enough to adopt. They were traumatised from 4 weeks with the cretins who had them, anaemic from a flea infestation and the bottoms of their feet were burned from being in a box that was never cleaned and filled with urine.

We cleaned them up, got them treatment and now all of them went back to the home at age 8 weeks to be adopted. They all got homes. We kept Odie because he is just too funny and was the most frightened of the lot.  His mother was a jack russell and his father a beagle. He has a beautiful jack russell head but a beagle brain.  He loves everybody, wouldn't think to growl at anyone and is the most gentle soul you will ever meet. We love him to pieces.  He is a very funny guy and the frisbee is his big obsession in life.

This is the most recent addition to the family.  Cousin Eddie named after the character in the movie Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. My husband, brother and a friend know every line in that movie and it isn't Christmas unless you watch it every year.  Also we needed another cat in the house as a role model for Uncle Buck.  He was a rescue kitten from the RSPCA and is now 5 months old. He is well adjusted, smoochy and has a fascination for water going down drains and down the toilet. He often wonders where it goes.  He has a large "tree" in the living room he plays on (flat pack from ebay) and loves the dogs.  He has worked out you don't go near Wally or Molly at feeding time but you can crawl in Odie's dish while he eats and nothing happens to you.  

There you have it. Our family. Hope you enjoyed meeting them.