Post Your Pet Story

We hope you enjoyed our "Comforting Creatures" article and we would love to here your own stories about your special friends, whether that's dogs, cats, turtles, pigs, lions, tigers, bears, OH MY! Lol, sorry, got a little carried away there =)

Anyway, we hope you will take a few minutes and tell us how your pet makes every day just a little bit brighter.

P.S. Hey Stretch (my orange tabby), I'll be home soon to play buddy

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When my brother was ill in the hospital, he decided to come live with me. The catch? He had two dogs, Doogie and Houser, both Schnauzer brothers. I had not lived around dogs for a long, long time. It was fine with me for my brother to come live with me, but his dogs too! My brother is 67 and I am 64 years old. I lived in a small duplex. The "boys" won me over. We shared them for many years. They taught me many lessons--especially about loyalty and forgiveness. My heart grew much larger for all of life. I learned to love them as my brother did and to enjoy their personalities. When we lost Houser, who became "mine", I wrote this poem.

Last Thoughts from Houser

I will go a-roamin,
But I will not go very far,
You'll feel my warmth and presence,
As I live among the stars.
For friends never go away,
No matter where they roam,
In your heart and in your mind,
I'll always be at home.
And you'll remember fondly,
The days my head knew your knee,
And I snuggled close beside you
"Cause that's where I chose to be,
And one fine day on an open road,
I'll come running back to you,
My heart will still be faithful,
My body will be new.

Thanks to Doogie and Houser--and my brother Jim who shared them--I am a better and happier human. I will never forget them!

I have a special angel living at my house named Daisy. She is small, black and furry but definately has angel wings. Daisy is a 4 year old Shitzu dog who came into my life during a very dark time. My husband had just died a horrible death from a brain tumor. My daughter brought me out to find a dog and I was very reluctant--I just didn't know if I could take care of anything else right away. We looked at a litter of puppies and this little black pup broke away from the litter and put her tiny paws on my legs, wagging her tail begging to be picked up. Needless to say, we left with her. She has been a special gift to me showering me with unconditional love. I give her a doggie bone as a treat once a week and as much as she loves chewing them if I say her name or pet her she leaves her bone and comes up to kiss me. I thought I would have to care for her but now I realize that it is she who takes care of me.

Our family cat of 16 years left us on January 3, 2007. She came into our lives when my wife and I were dating and living in different cities: Me, Washington, D.C. and my wife (girlfriend at the time) and Naomi, a very young and very small, solid black domestic short haired kitty, were in Charlotte, NC. Naomi was a tiny kitten and later a very lean adult cat (8 lbs.) but had very big ears that she could move in any direction and given the fact that my wife and I enjoyed seeing raptors in the wild, we nicknamed Naomi, The Hawk.

For 16 years, we'd call out to her or ask one another, "where's Hawky". She had other nicknames, as most pets do, but Hawky was said most frequently. The day she passed was an unusually warm day in Eastern North Carolina. When my wife returned from vet's office she immediately selected an area on our property for Naomi's final resting spot. It was to be an area in the corner of our yard adjacent to the wood pile, under a hammock of long leaf pines overlooking the gentle estuary know as Hall's Creek. Sitting there, the only sounds you hear are the winds whistling through the trees and the intermittent splashes caused by a stray pelican diving for fish.

That afternoon, as we sat on our porch watching the sun make its decent from the western sky, we peered over to grave where Naomi now rested. What we saw above, in the pine tree immediately above her grave surprised us but at the same time reassured us that Naomi was still with us. There, on a limb, was a beautiful hawk. It's majestic feather's glistened in the late afternoon sunlight and its head looked directly at us on the porch as if to say, "I'm here, you're little Hawky, everything is OK."

The hawk then alit into the neighboring woods.

Do our pet's have a spirit? Absolutely!

Mike & Kathy
Swansboro

This story might not be your typical comforting dog story, but to me my dog is a hero. I find comfort in just looking at my dog knowing what she has gone through and has not once whimpered or indicated any pain. But she was in pain, and for that my dog is very special to me and when I do look at her, all my troubles dissappear knowing the pain she has been through. Read on:

On a sub zero day in February, 2007, my daughter was home from school. My daughter decided to let our 3 year old black lab, Emma, outside. But before my daughter could get Emma’s collar on, the dog slipped out the door. My dog wandered into one of my neighbors’ yard, and the neighbor didn’t like that. So, he shot at my dog and hit her left hind leg.

Emma hobbled home, bleeding and in pain. Within 24 hours she had surgery, her leg was amputated, the bullet was recovered, and she came home 2 days later on 3 legs.

In talking to another neighbor (a neighbor who believes in helping other neighbors), she says both dogs were playing in her yard.

Whatever made my dog cross the road that fateful day, I do not know. The worst part is that this neighbor knew that the dog he shot was my dog. Do you think he could have scared her away instead of shooting her? Apparently not.

I have spoken to the State Police and the Humane Officer and found that no charges will be filed against my neighbor. We learned, “If a dog is on your property and that dog doesn’t belong to you, then you can shoot it.” There is no penalty or punishment for my neighbor and his barbaric act that maimed our family pet; he was supposedly within his rights to do so. I must tell you that on one occasion, my daughter walked this same neighbor’s dog back to their front porch when it had wandered on to our property. The thought of harming or killing his pet never entered anyone’s mind.

My dog will adjust. She is a sweetheart and is coping quite well. On the other hand, I don’t think my family will ever adjust. How would you ever reconcile that shooting a neighbors’ dog in your yard was the right thing to do? Or how do you justify willfully and purposely maiming a dog, causing pain and mutilation? And how do you come to terms with the fact that shooting your neighbor’s dog is “ok” with no consequences whatsoever?

I welcome your comments and would like to hear from you.

Rather that a story, I would like to share a poem that I wrote the day after one of my best friends past away.

In loving memory of "Snowtoes"

I LOST A FRIEND TODAY
AND I AM GRIEVING MORE THAN YOU KNOW
YOU SAY HE WAS JUST AN ANIMAL
SO WHY NOT LET IT GO

JUST AN ANIMAL! ARE YOU SERIOUS?
HE WAS A FRIEND OF MINE
A LOYAL, LOVING, COMPANION
THAT FILLED A SPACE IN TIME

HE NEVER FAILED TO LISTEN
AND HE NEVER FAILED TO LEARN
TO CALL HIM JUST AN ANIMAL
MAKES MY TEMPER BURN

WE TALKED - YES HE TALKED BACK
WITH HIS EYES AND A SPECIAL VOICE
AND WE REALLY LOVED EACH OTHER
BECAUSE WE HAD THE CHOICE

THE CHOICE TO BE PARTNERS
TO TOUCH, OR FROWN, OR SMILE
OR JUST ENJOY LIVING
AS WE WALKED THAT FINAL MILE

ALTHOUGH MY HEART IS ACHING
AND FEELS LIKE IT WILL BREAK
I'D DO IT ALL AGAIN - MY FRIEND
BECAUSE KNOWING YOU-- 'WAS GREAT'

By: Emmett Byars

I am so blessed as at this time I have 5 dogs and a cat on 2 acres in TN.
I love everyday with them as they bring me peace and joy and are the best company for me as I recently went through a divorce.
I love them all unconditionally as they love me, but have been focused on my Sammy (Samara) dog lately as she and one other have been with me for 13 and 14 years and pulled me through some of the worse and danced with me through the best for a long time now. I am focused on Sammy a bit more at this point as 4 weeks ago, Sammy had a stroke.
I came home from work and this dog had vomitted and could not walk, I was devastated and took her to the vet, he did labs and gave her a steroid injection and with this and a lot of prayer she got steadily better. She has a little head side ways droop, and eats off one side of her mouth, but plays and interacts with the other dogs well and is able to walk and go outside by herself now.
I am so grateful as I was not ready for this loss with losing my relationship so recently and know in my heart, Sammy works hard to stay here for me.
She is old and had her years, but other than the stroke is in perfect health per the vet. I would never let her suffer, she has no pain and is not acting like life is a strain for her at this time.
My point is, dogs are unconditional love, always there and for me give me a reason to keep going when my world collapses. I believe they know what you are feeling and do their best to protect and serve us.
I have given my animals a good, warm and secure home but it doesn't compare to the happiness and security they have given me.
I thank God for this time with Sammy to get closure and know when it's her time she'll go and it will hurt but it will be her time.
Pray for us, especially her, as I know without her devotion to me, she would not have still been here.

This pet story is about my cat named Mittens. He is 14 years old and he is a tiger tabby. Now comes to the fun part on his "cat antics". He does some pretty odd and maybe even unusual antics that I have ever seen. First off, when my mom turns on the wash machine, he jumps up onto it when he hears the water coming out and then he wants a drink of the water from the washing machine. He also used to drink out of the bathroom toilet, a bad habit that he now seems to have broken this bad habit. He also likes to jump onto the counter by the refridgerator and jumps then onto the top of the fridge, itself and boy.... does he not want to come down. He will also not drink his water, if it's dirty. He will only drink it FRESH!!!! He is also fussy and picky about what he eats for his selection of canned cat food. He also jumps onto my mom's motorized recliner and she tells him no... but he instead persits on sitting next to her. He also jumps onto the dining room table --- for no reason at all and he has done other "goofy" cat antics that you just would not believe even if you saw him!!. All I have to say is that he is a very funny and interesting pet cat and we love him, even for his odd cat antics and behavior.
Posted By:
Mr. Matthew Burghgraef
24 yrs. old
-Union Grove,Wisconsin.
If anybody's cat does these strange antics, please let me know by sending me a e-mail. After you read this, you won't believe the stuff that my pet cat Mittens does!
My e-mail address is:mattbond24@hotmail.com
THANKS!!!!!