Thankful and Dogs on Thursday

I have allergies people. They ebb and they flow... Right now they are flowing like there is no tomorrow. I take allergy medication, there's been a frost and suddenly it feels worse. Grr. For this I am most decidedly not thankful.

Today, in honor of Dogs on Thursday, I am going to tell you about my Urban Zoo, of which cats comprise 75%.

Once upon a time there was a Cynical Gal and a Lehu (all names have been changed to protect the innocent) living harmoniously with Cynical Gal's 16 year old cat, we will call her Poki, Now Poki was a sweet little girl. She was used to living life on her terms, and she liked to sleep on Lehu's pillow. Cynical Gal and Lehu also had a young boy kitty, we'll call him Little Buddy (since that what we called him). Alas I have no digital pics of Poki because she died before we had a digital camera! I will have to scan a few for future posts.

Cynical Gal got Little Buddy in 1994 (2 years before Lehu) because she was feeling very sad. He was a teeny tiny black kitty, and cuter than cute! It was love at first sight. He came home with me on January 2nd. I first visited him the last week in December of 1993. He was a chatty boy. He really liked Poki, but she didn't care so much for him. She was an old lady before he was even born, so they lived together harmoniously without a lot of connection.

When Poki died, October 31, 1998, Lehu and I went to a local no-kill shelter and just sat with all the homeless kitties giving them love when they needed it, getting some for us. We were really sad. But we were not going to get another cat...ha ha ha...After Thanksgiving we ended up at the same local no-kill shelter and adopted our spunky little Idgie who was racing around the place like a bat out of hell. Lehu said, "that one." Cynical Gal was like, "umm but she's so hyper." Lehu said, "uh, yeah." Since Little Buddy was a really mellow, but chatty boy I guess it made sense. I was still heartbroken, I think, at the time.

Well, it made a LOT of sense because Miss Idgie and Little Buddy became inseparable. They were best buds. It was amazing to see them snuggle up together. Little Buddy was hoping for this from Poki for all those years...and his sister Idgie just fit the bill.


The summer that we moved into our house (which we bought in April and did a lot of reno), a neighbor found a litter of kittens. Poor sappy Cynical Gal found homes for two of them, and Ruthie was left. The one who ate the most, who stands up like a little bear sometimes and does the cutest little mrrrwrr when you say her name... Ruthie joined the Urban Zoo in 2000.

Ruthie, like her namesake in Fried Green Tomatoes (my favorite movie and book), does NOT care for Idgie one iota. And the feeling is mutual. So, they are our ironical gals...Ruthie is my blog assistant.

When Little Buddy died, we waited a little bit...kind of hoping we could be a 1 dog and 2 cat family (the 3 cat thing still feels a little nutty to me). But Idgie was so sad and depressed, and it felt so odd without a balancing force. This time we needed a boy kitty who would get along with the dog and the cats (both cats).


Georgie just sat in the middle of the floor at the shelter looking up at us, then he'd go curl up with another kitty. He didn't seem bothered in any way about much of anything. Perfect. He is. He and Idgie snuggle frequently.

He likes Gracie, he and Ruthie play together, and he and Idgie are best buds.


So today, I am thankful for my little allergens, I mean Urban Zoo.