our furry children

Tasha and Casey our first year in Canada

Tasha and Casey many years ago in Memphis

new, sweet Becky

Becky again

Cheyenne and Becky

sweet Cheyenne

and little Becky, again

our two babies

People who know us know that when I moved to Canada, I brought my two cats with me to join Tree Hugger and her dog. My two girls were Casey and Tasha. Tree Hugger's dog is Cheyenne.

Of course, Cheyenne quickly became our dog and Casey and Tasha became our cats. Both of us loved all three babies quite a lot.

Realistically, though, Cheyenne has always been her Mama's baby and Casey and Tasha were always my sweet babies. Tree Hugger does have a human daughter, just so you know.....

Tasha lived to be 18 before she crossed the Rainbow Bridge last year. Casey joined Tasha just this past July. She was 19. I was very saddened at the loss of my baby girls. I had no desire whatsoever to have any more. I was content to let Cheyenne be our only fur baby.

Well, in the seven years that cats were in the house, my sweet Tree Hugger got used to having a little fur one to hold and cuddle. You see, Cheyenne is not a cuddling kind of dog. She's a good dog, very sweet and fun to play with, but she's no cuddler. When Casey left us, my sweet Mrs just really, really missed having a fur baby to hold and love on.

She went one day to do some shopping with a friend at PetSmart. They went to the back of the store and both fell in love with this cat for adoption, named Becky. She came home talking about Becky. How Becky put her paw on the glass at the same time she did. "We bonded," she says. "She reached out to me!" my wife says. "This has to be a decision we both make" she says. This was less than two weeks after Casey died. "No, no, no." I say. "I don't want another cat!" I say.

Well......as you can see, we did indeed adopt Becky. I really didn't want to, but I just couldn't stand the thought of 1): a sweet cat just languishing in a cage and 2): my wife wanting something that badly that I could get for her. So just two weeks and two days after my sweet Casey left us, we went and got Becky out of that cage and brought her home.

Now, when my girls came to Canada, they had lived with a dog once before. They had seen and ignored a dog before. They basically did the same with Cheyenne. The three of them coexisted very well for six and seven years. I bet Cheyenne thought she would finally be the sole object of affection in the house once Casey was in heaven. Au contraire, sweet dog.

Becky doesn't ignore Cheyenne. She runs under the dog, she runs through the legs of the dog, she lies down next to the dog and she swats the dog in the face if she so desires! Casey and Tasha were 12 years of age when they came here. They were already settled in their ways. Becky is all of 4!! A mere infant compared to Cheyenne's almost 15 years. None of us had had a young 'un in the house for many years. She's definitely livened things up around here. She's what a young cat is supposed to be.....frisky!

I don't have the depth of feeling for Becky that I had for Casey and Tasha, but I am fond of her. Tree Hugger, on the other hand, is head over heels for our new kitty. She and Becky are very bonded already.

I thought it was about time to show off the newest member of our little family here.