This Animal Lover, Changes Her Spots

I have always been an animal lover.  As a kid I almost always had a dog in the house and we always played with most of the neighborhood pets, but we never had a cat in the house because my mom hated cats.  But I, lover of almost any kind of animal, broke away from the all dog idea when I first moved out on my own.  I got a Siamese cat who I loved.  But of course when I fell in love and decided to marry I had chosen not only a “dog” person, but had a man who did not understand cats, nor trusted them, I believe.  So my lovely little Siamese cat had to be given away and I again became a dog person.

When I went out on my own again recently I knew I  had to make a choice of a very small dog, or a cat.  After exploring the various shelters and playing with both I discovered the cats were by far the most prevalent and the quieter of the two.  Apartment living does not work well when you have noisy neighbors, be they dogs or humans and though the small dogs can be taught not to bark, most of the dogs found at shelters are larger breeds or tiny barkers.

After my third visit I discovered I was drawn to the funny felines that I began to encounter.  I had totally forgotten their penchant for destroying paper bags and boxes and crazy cat-astrophes they often can create in a home.  Humor and silliness are often traits I find the most endearing in my animals.  I’ve had my share of crazy dogs that would often have us laughing at their antics over the years, but by far in my opinion a cat can more subtly grab attention and make you question if there is a mini human within those furry bodies.  It is said that Jim  Davis loved cats so much but because of his allergies could not have one of those little furballs so he created Garfield as a cartoonist to fill us with all the laughter of what never could happen with a cat – right??  We who know cats have a secret.  Often what he shows daily in his Garfield strips is total truth about our furry feline friends!!

Bird Gone Wild…

I have a very confused bird in the neighborhood.  But of course that would probably describes our whole little neighborhood!  We’re certainly not your A-typical corner of the world.  But our wild critters are certainly the more normal segment of this part of the world.  All that is excepting our little seed-hunting, seed-eating American robin.  For those of you who don’t know about this robin it is more worm,or berry eater and usually does not frequent the local feeders.

For two years now we have had this rather strange robin who at least twice daily comes to snack at my tray feeder and chomps down on the sunflower seeds I offer to our local feathered friends.  If the bird happens to spill any while looking for that perfect seed he hops to the ground to find the one or more that this he, or she has dropped.  The bird does not like to lost a sunflower seed!

It’s wonderful to see that even our wild neighbors can be a bit different once in while and try a more exotic food…Isn’t it great how even there an individual can be different?