Peppy Pets
Jan. 20, 03



I have always called all my pets - Fur Covered Hearts!

I have loved and cared for animals all of my life. I also
raised six children and taught them to be always kind and
caring towards animals. I am a senior now and have just
lost my precious little dog, Cocoa. Cancer took him very
quickly and I had to make that dreadful decision, which
tears out the heart.

I have always adopted dogs and cats--not wanted by others
and destined for an early demise. I never turned my back on
any animal in need. I have had quite a variety of them.
including an injured crow named Alexander, who loved dog
food and learned to bark--a monkey--a fox--goats--horses etc
etc.

Six years ago I lost a dear little dog named Princess and my
husband and I agreed that it was just so painful to lose
pets that we would not adopt another dog. I was away for a
few days and while I was gone, a man I had met earlier in
the year dropped in to visit my husband. I had discussed
his dogs with him and mine too. When he visited my husband
he had a little dog with him and told my husband that this
was the dog that I said I wanted. It was not so!!!--but-- My
husband, being the kind soul that he is, accepted the little
dog from this gentleman thinking that I had actually asked
for him.

When I got home my husband was sitting in his truck and had
the dog on his knee. I asked him--whose dog is that?? He
said this is the dog you wanted isn't he delicious??
Needless to say, I was shocked and told him that I wanted
him to take the dog back to his owner. Neither of us knew
where he actually lived and could not reach him.

In two weeks, he dropped back in to see how the little dog
was doing. He had named the little guy --Trouble-- In that
short time we had become very attached to Trouble and couldn't
ask him to take him back.

During this little visit, this man had another little dog
with him -a dear little dog named Cocoa- apparently,
according to the owner---this dog was Troubles Daddy. He
looked nothing like him at all. Trouble was [as we were
told] one year old and Cocoa was five or six years old. I
couldn't resist Cocoa. His eyes, shining out of his dirty
little face, were beautiful and I took one look into them
and fell head over heels in love with him. The owner said
that he couldn't look after him any more and would have to
have him put down. This was more than I could bear. I took
him too!!

Here we were --now the owner of two dogs when we had agreed
to never have another one. Trouble, who we quickly renamed
Buddy is a short haired terrier and Cocoa was a combination
of Yorkie and something else--beautiful beige and long hair
that had to be brushed and required frequent baths. They
didn't look like relatives at all.

Cocoa has been gone for three months now and the pain of
loss is still very strong. There are no words to describe
how I feel about this loss and most people don't understand
anyway. My little men, as I called them, followed me
everywhere, even to the bathroom. When I left a room so did
they.

Buddy stills does this and is accompanied by a large black
cat who follows and clings to me a lot. He is another
rescue story as is the story about our other cat Misty. We
have always had a houseful of cats and dogs, so now that we
have only one dog and two cats it seems to be rather
unusually quiet here. Neither Buddy or Cocoa were
housebroken properly and after I had them neutered they did
clean up their act some but they were never as clean as they
could have been and for five years I was their faithful
follower with a mop etc, when needed. the love I have
received from them has more than compensated me for any
extra work I had to do.

I have always called all of my pets --fur covered hearts--
and I have never met an animal that I couldn't love and
receive love from. They ask so little and give so much.

Jean Gilmore
Moncton N B
Canada



The camera found Mandy relaxing in just the right spot





Mittens and Buzz

I just wanted to thank you for all of your informative pet
articles. I have had my two cats, Mittens and Buzz, for 16
and 15 years respectively. I know that without proper care
they never would have lived to this ripe old feline age, but
now that I have subscribed to your e-zine, I can stay
informed on topics that I had never realized were of such
major concern in respect to my cats' health.

I received the in-depth article available from your latest
publication regarding just what is in our pet's food. I
can't tell you how disturbing I found this article- I admit
that I have been rather naive to such matters until just
recently when Buzz developed an allergy to canned cat food
containing seafood products. Now that I am aware of these
"ingredients" I am more cautious of what foods I buy for my
two cats. I want them to hopefully enjoy many more years to
come in my home with me. I have had these two since I was in
Grade school (I'm 23 now) and while I know the tragedy of
death is inevitable, I want them to enjoy a long happy life.

On behalf of my two "babies," Mittens and Buzz, thank you
again for your efforts to keep our pets happy, healthy and
safe. Tippy, Alfred, Dave and Jan, (and the rest of the
staff), our undying gratitude goes out to you!!

Jamie, Mittens, and Buzz




Buddy and Taxi
Karen Shaffer

We once had a wonderful dog named Taxi who was a part of our
family while our children were growing up. Then came the
day when Taxi became old and sick and had to be put to
sleep. Taking her on that last trip to the vet was the
hardest thing we ever had to do and my husband and I swore
we would never have another dog.

About 6 months later, we were sitting in the living room
watching TV when all of a sudden this animal jumped straight
up in front of our picture window. We both looked at each
other and said at the same time "Did you see that?" Then
pretty soon it happened again. We went over and looked out
on the porch.

It was raining and there on the porch sat what looked like a
soaked fox. We went to bed and in the morning it was still
there, but is was this furry, cute, frightened dog. We
opened the door to talk to it and it put it's ears back and
growled at us, so we left it alone. We had to go out the
back door to go to work.

When we came home from work that night, it was still on the
front porch and wouldn't let us in the house. So we went in
the back door again and called the local police. A nice
policeman came over and eventually coaxed the dog with some
crackers. But, no one could get in touch with the ASPCA. So
he stayed on our porch another night.

To make a long story shorter, BUDDY (his name now) is now a
member of our family. It has been one year now and he is
very loving and affectionate. It has taken him a long time
to trust us and he is still leery of strangers. We believe
he was previously abused. He is very smart and was well
trained. We have noticed a lot of Taxi's traits in him.
Maybe there is reincarnation after all.


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Now listen up, if you are a feline friend, do that precious
kitty of yours a big time favor and check out this food and
Daily Supplement.

Cat and Pet Food

Your feline friend,
Alfred

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