Dogs have owners, Cats have slaves

Maggie

I woke up this morning and had the same thought I have every morning. I don't want to get up. Because I know what awaits me every morning.

This.

Ling Ling

And this.

Now don't get me wrong. I love these sweet little faces. But the staring really creeps me out. First thing in the morning.

They follow me over to the coffee pot. They trip me as I fill the pot with water, scoop the coffee into the filter. And then they make their move.

A quick lunge to the left and I am doing the two step, trying to stay on my feet as my feline friends head me off at the pass.

All this just so I will open up a can of food.

Yea, just what I want to smell first thing in the morning. Tuna.

Ninky

This guy could care less about eating. All he wants is to go outside. He will patiently wait until I have fed the 'girls' and then it's his turn to dart in front of me as I head over to the door to shut off the porch light. Once again I nearly fall on my face trying to avoid squishing him into kitty rugness. So out he goes.

But it doesn't end there with him. Soon he is back. Staring through the glass door. Does he want to come in? I open the door. He stands halfway inside, halfway outside. He can't make up his mind. It's freezing out. I can't shut the door until he decides. Finally, he makes up his mind. He will stay out.

But he wants to be fed.

Outside.

More tuna smells. Yum.

Whitey

Then there's this guy. I usually get a few sips of coffee in me before I have my morning ritual of coaxing 'Mr. Happy to See Me', out the door. This guy can jump like a circus dog. For no reason other than sheer enthusiasm.

You gotta love it.

But first thing in the morning? 

So while I try to find cans of doggie food and fill my bucket of kibbles, and bird seed to bring out to the birds, he is leaping and jumping and overwhelmingly excited over the whole process, tripping me once more as we head for the door.

Where he turns around and blocks my way, because this is where I have to 'surprise' him with a dog biscuit. Even though this happens every day, he still pretends he is surprised.

Biscuit in mouth, he is happy to now prance in front of Little Bear. He loves to flaunt his biscuits.

Little Bear

This brings me to my favorite. Oooops! Did I say that? Shhhhh! We don't want the others to hear, but yes, this homely face is my very favorite. My sweet patient Little Bear. She is getting on in years now. She moves with slow dignity. Sometimes her back leg goes out on her and she will suddenly list to the side. The other day she actually fell down and she was so surprised and a little embarrassed. It broke my heart and I gently helped her up again. I treasure every morning with her. She greets me with her toothy smile (yes, she smiles). She looks for all the world like she is baring her teeth in a nasty snarl, but we know she is simply smiling.

She loves her chow, so she stamps her feet impatiently while I fill her bowl with her favorite. I fit in a couple more pats to the head and then leave her to savor every last bit.

I fill the feeders and then finally, I am free to drink my coffee and start my morning.

Ironing Hubby's clothes for work and packing his lunch. While I perform these rituals, I am accompanied by Ling Ling. She loves the laundry room. Especially the laundry baskets. Even better if there are freshly dried and folded clothes inside.

If there are no laundry baskets available, this empty water bottle box will do just fine, thank you. I heard this little crackling noise and looked down to find her carefully turning herself around inside the cardboard tray, the plastic forming a nice little cave. Ling Ling loves a good cave.

She is a true creature of comfort.

Birdy boy

Once I get Hubby out the door and depending on the weather, all the cats and dogs outside, I then turn my attention to this little guy. Birdy boy. Every morning he accompanies me while I do my household chores.

This is imperative. You do not ignore a Cockatiel when he wants to come out. If any of you have a bird, you know what I mean. For those of you who don't, let's just say the screeching is like fingernails on a chalkboard. Times 10. An unhappy cockatiel is an unhappy home.

He is trouble with a double 'T'. He loves to chew anything paper or leather, or wood, or well, anything. So I have to give him things to play with. Toothpicks and Q-tips are favorites. Little scraps of paper. Peanuts. Lettuce.

Don't ask me how I ended up with all of these little darlings.

O.k. since you asked.......

Birdy boy was a lost cockatiel. Yes, you heard me. I coaxed him over to me from the roof with wild bird seed. That was 15 years ago. We've been together ever since. He is tame and loves to ride on my shoulder and 'sing' me pretty songs.

Maggie the gray tabby was a stray kitten my daughter found. She kept her with another cat in her apt. until the other cat died and then Maggie was so lonely she cried all the time. I took her in about 9 years ago and she has been with me ever since.

Ninky
One day soon after, I was watering flowers near the blackberries and out popped this little yellow cat face. He was starved and when I found him, he threw up the contents of his tummy. Blackberries.

Ling Ling was my Mother's beloved Siamese mix. When my Father went into the nursing home with Alzheimer's, she was my Mother's loving companion. Right before my Mother died last March, she made me promise to take Ling Ling because that was 'the only thing in the house she cared about'.

Whitey, the dog, ran in front of my truck at a busy intersection the day I was coming back from my eldest daughter's wedding gown fitting 5 years ago. I followed him because I was concerned about this beautiful dog running in traffic. As soon as I stopped, he ran under my truck and refused to come out.
The neighbors started coming out and told me he was a stray, that he had a companion that the dog catcher caught, but they couldn't catch him. Naturally I had to take him home. We had just lost my beloved border collie 'Twiggy' from old age and Little Bear was heartbroken and so were we. Whitey definitely filled the void.

Little Bear getting a kiss from Twiggy

That brings me to 'my favorite', Little Bear. My youngest son brought her home from a friend's house as a roly poly puppy, saying if he didn't take her, she was going to the pound. She looked just like a little teddy bear, hence her name. I had to sleep on the couch with her for weeks so she wouldn't cry and so I could house train her. She never did get house trained, no matter how hard we tried, so we set her up in her own insulated heated dog house with 10 inches of shavings on the floor. My daughter sacrificed her play house for her. She is 13 years old now.

As you can see, all of these sweet little companions found me, not the other way around. It was meant to be. I wouldn't have it any other way.

But I still hate the smell of tuna first thing in the morning.