Our Furry Friends

When I come home, the first greetings I get are from my two dogs, Duchess and Dexter. Their butts and tails wag a mile a minute. The rest of my family greets me later with an “Oh, hey you’re home and what are you cooking for dinner?” My dogs are still greeting me. If they had a human voice, it would come out as, “Dad, Dad, Dad. I love Dad. Dad, Dad, Dad, your home.” My cats purr and rub against me, all three of them. Cats always seem like renters that don’t pay and still would like me to feed them. In lieu of rent they cuddle up on my lap and repay me with one of the most pleasant sounds in the world, a steady and loud purr. My wife seems to take great joy in the mischief that our pets cause. My cat Oh No loves to knock things off countertops or anything that provides enough height to make a dramatic noise upon impact. My wife will say, “Oh No, that was bad.” Yet she has grin on her face. I think that’s an enabler.

As far as interspecies friendships, my cats and dogs love each other. They think they are all the same species, "human". My dog Dexter gets what I like to call a spa day. He will jump on the bed between the cats and let the cats groom him. I have actually seen him fall asleep while getting his tongue bath, sheer doggy bliss.

Over the last few years my wife and I have taken care of our dear friends Karen and Mark’s cats when they are out of town. You know where your friendship is with a person when they ask you to take care of their pets. I think that should be one of the questions on a government security clearance check: Have ever been asked to take care of a friend’s pets? Answer: Yes. Great, welcome to the CIA. Here's the key to the file room and you get the corner office with a view.

Our pets are very important to us. I write this blog today because I am sad for my friends Karen and Mark. They lost their kitty Trigger yesterday. Trigger was a great cat. Every time we watched him, he would greet us at the door with, “Hi Pat and Darla.” I think that’s what he would have been saying if he could talk. Trigger would rub and purr all over you and always have a different toy waiting for you at the door. It was as if he knew we were coming over and he was offering a door prize for the nice people who fed him when his mom and dad were gone. Trigger was sweet.
Our pets are family. They give us unconditional love and for those of us facing some adversity in our lives they give us a special comfort. We love our furry friends and for those who have lost their pets, I take the Buddhist outlook that all living things have a soul and when it’s our time, they will be waiting for us with a wagging tail, a bark or a purr.