For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 10, 2010

I understand totally!

Wife and I own, operate and maintain a home for 1 dog, 3 male cats and ONE (lil-bitch) female cat!

When I go into sleep, _MY_ female cat comes along and nestles down in the clothes that JUST came off my back (or what the wife calls “Daddy-Stink”)!

_MY_ 3 male cats FIGHT for “Dads Easy Chair” — unless the DOG beats them to it! … (Then, one at a time, they crawl in the chair and PUSH the dog OUT!!!)

Moral of the “tail”? YOU only pay for it - the ANIMALS own it!

I love Farley, he makes no sound (mostly), but he still gets his himself understood.

\\//_

It’ll take time but eventually Farley will use his new bed. Right now the sofa has all the “right” smells but soon the dog bed will too as he begins to use it. I remember my cat Ashley wouldn’t use the cat bed we got her but after a while she started using it and never used anything else.

That’s not a dog. It’s a teenager.

Put Farley and the new bed outside,I’ll bet he’d use it then!

@sarge112751

LOL. My cats are the same. I have various kitty beds strewn around the house, most treated with catnip smell. Where do my 2 cats sleep? In MY bed! Occasionally, on the couch, but mostly my bed. I even tried putting one of their cat beds on my bed, but they prefer my pillows.

“Pet Bed” is a brand name, Paul Jones. I have one, and it has “pet bed” embroidered on it. They are sold by CVS, I think.

My cats rotate their sleeping locations depending on the time of day. Sometimes it’s on my bed in between my feet, sometimes it’s on their pet pads, and sometimes, if it’s warm enough, it’s in front of the window in the cat tree thing. They never liked the sofa though.

My dog loved her pet bed. She always seemed so comfortable stretched out on it. She never attempted to lie on the couch or bed because she never was invited onto the furniture.

Never had a pet bed for the cats I used to have.

I had the same thing with my beloved cat about the pet bed. He just acccepted and got used to it. He climbed up the cat tree, stepped to the counter of cabinet for storage and then, sat on his pet bed normally. I will always treasure the good memories about my cat. :-)

My pup’s usually happy with the rug on the floor… however, if I forget and leave my bedroom door open and get up to go the bathroom, she does not hesitate to run down the hall and burrow in the middle of the bed.

Our dog didn’t like the way new things smelled so we would put a blanket on the couch and we’d all sit on it and stuff for a week, then put it down on the dog bed or whatever for the dog and cause it smelled like us, then it was ok. Same with the cat, though I liked it better when she slept next to me.

My little dog sleeps with me EVERY night. He’s so special and so spoiled.

Susan001: You are just soooooo right about that! My husband and I are absolute slaves to our dog!!! We just love her so much and wouldn’t trade her for all the money in the world … or, as you said, all the gold in Ft. Knox!!!!!

Regarding “sleeping arrangements”:

My dog sleeps wherever she wants during the day (sometimes the couch or recliner, sometimes the floor) but she prefers to sleep in her crate at night rather than in one of those pet beds.

She’s never slept with us because we only have a queen-size bed and we’re afraid that we’ll accidentally kick her off during the night. She’s very small (only 9 lbs.) and we don’t want her to get hurt if that should happen. However, she is allowed on the bed with us at night while we watch a little t.v. before going to sleep.

3 cats,, one at my feets, one next to the spine, one on top of the wardrobe ( old house no closets) as soon as lights out,, they know their “spots” and stay there, the little “girl” cat will walk ahead of me when i tell her i’m going to the bathroom,, and walk into there and sit on the tub.

We have a medium-large round flowerpot (16” tall, 16” across) in one of our windows. We got a 7 week old kitten in early October. By the time Halloween came around, there wasn’t a living plant in the pot and she had made it her favorite place to sleep. (Probably because of the sunlight.) We put a blanket in so she would be clean after one of her “dirt naps” were over.

My Sun Conure parrot died yesterday morning. She was only 11 1/2. I couldn’t get her help in the middle of night from egg complications. She died in my lap as I was rushing her to the Vet first thing in the morning. I buried her this morning. Her little brother, a 5 year old Sun Conure, and I, are completely lost and devastated. I look around my hose and realize that just about eveything I have I got while I had her, and much of the stuff I got for her (and me) to have a nice life together, that we will never have now. I would gladly give it all up to see her smile at me with a little fluffy face of pure joy, while I rub her back, and she shows me her pretty wings by spreading them out for me to see. It goes for all creatures who are loved. Her name was Happiness, and she WAS my happiness. I’d do anything for her and her brother, and I have.

sarge112751: _MY_ 3 male cats FIGHT for “Dads Easy Chair” — unless the DOG beats them to it! … (Then, one at a time, they crawl in the chair and PUSH the dog OUT!!!)

I totally love that part.

I used to have a cat who loved to sleep in between my husband and me. Couldn’t budge him. He slept like a log. I have 2 new cats now who are youngsters at age 2. They are too hyperactive to sleep on the bed. They attack anything that moves. They were welcome until they started to bite my breathing tube. Now they sleep on the couches in the living room! I miss my old cat.

That’s quite the yell with her mouth wide open and tongue hanging out.

It is tough losing a pet.

Burgundy … I call ‘em Couches, Chesterfields (usually the older ‘Victorian’ style stuff) or sofas (usually with a pull out bed )..

How are things in your end of ON? I’ve moved recently … not of my own volition but … am staying with friends who have a big pooch who, if i don’t close my door, will curl up with me.

Stayed with other friends on Thurs, and their two cats slept with the daughter, and the dog with the parental units. They hung around me when I was alone in the house, but that’s it. haha.

Love animals, as long as I don’t have to clean up after ‘em. Just like kids. haha

Susan001 said,

LOL I love stories about pet owners and their “trials and tribulations”. But they wouldn’t trade their beloved animals for all the gold in Ft. Knox! LOL

~~~~

In this you are correct. You have to make some allowances for having them, like never having the house smell really clean, and not having breakables where they can get to them, never having clean furniture because they leave their fur on it, not leaving food out etc, but when they curl up on your lap and purr you know it’s well worth it.

I have heard the sofa referred to as a chesterfield here in Canada but I’m not sure all Canadians use the term. It was a British woman who has lived in Canada for about 50 years who used the term.

Mrsluke, I’m sorry for the death of your parrot, it’s so hard to lose a pet. I suppose birds will go to the same rainbow bridge as dogs and cats so you can be reunited with her again someday.

I knew what Farley was going to do before he did it. Animals have minds of their own. Just like people, they have their own individual personalities, and no two are exactly alike.

@mrslukeskywalker, I too offer my condolences, without sarcasm.

I don’t know whether a Sun Conure is the same as a Golden Conure, but there’s a wonderful website that has some photos of a very young Golden - so young its feathers don’t all seem to have grown in yet. zooborns.com specializes in photos of animals that have been born in zoos, and each one is cuter than the last!

To see the Golden Conure, you have to click on owls in the list that runs down the left side of the screen. They don’t have an entry for Conures, but the site with a baby owl also has the baby Golden.

I hope this will give you some comfort. The bird in the picture looks like it’s smiling - as tho it’s delighted to be alive! Your bird must have been very easy to love!

As a Canadian, I have sometimes used the word sofa and sometimes chesterfield. We have access to US terms, British terms, or even some that are uniquely Canadian.

Cats do the same thing.

Thank you very much Susan, Macushlalondra, and Rina.

All animals are God’s creatures. I have two cats–one male, one female, both fixed. She’s skittish and will attack anything. He is docile. She growls, sounds like a low frequency sliding hum. He growls, sounds like a foghorn (if he hears a cat outside).

They both have timeshares on me (only one will be on my bed). I would not trade them for anything. God made each one different.

I also must mention that they help me maintain my faith.

I am so sorry. It’s dreadful to lose a beloved pet. Try and hold onto memories of happier times.