What are your animals? Beautiful? Cute? Odd-looking? Mean? Sweet? Loner?
We have a cat, an indoor one, who I would call gorgeous. All white, green eyes. He’s an asshole, lazy as the day is long and so fussy he won’t drink water if there’s a hair floating in it and will caterwaul until you give him a new fresh bowl.
We have a barn cat that I would call adorable. She’s very small (6 pounds), orange, a little scruffy due to her barn cat duties and outdoor ruggedness. Friendly as all get-out. And unlike the indoor cat, will drink mud and eat skulls. She’s a killing machine, and I’ve seen her eat 5 moles and a baby rabbit in one day.
Our dog is cute. A small chihuahua mix with big ears and a happy demeanor. He’s such a submissive though. I’ve seen him submit to large moths.
Last year we got six chicks, and we now have two left, both hens. The leghorn has gotten pretty aggressive since the last rooster was sent to freezer camp, and she’s gotten less attractive over the past year too. Sorta scrawny and roostery. Our Rhode Island red is fat and beautiful. Between the two of them, the red seems to be at the top of the pecking order, but when it comes to people, she submits more than the leghorn, who will straight-up attack your ankles any chance she gets.
Fun idea! Sit tight…its a long list at Chez Bo Peep…
The cats-
Kitty Claire- when she was younger, she was just the roundest, cutest little tabby (it’s a fat girls name). She doesn’t have a mean or particularly cuddly bone in her body. She’s more of matron now as our oldest cat (11 yo) but she can still bring out the inner cute kitty of her youth if you break out the ice cream.
Kitty with No Name- Officially, her name is Trixie but we really just call her the little kitty and have for all of her 2 years of life. She’s a killer- cicadas beware but also a true lap cat and bed buddy (the above kitty maintains a minimum six inch distance at all times). Quite possibly the most entertaining cat we have had. She’s never really outgrown that kitten look- she’s very lean and tiny faced still. Also has the coolest calico-tabby stripes with lots of orange and a very light colored face.
The dogs-
Meaner-than-a-snake Wyatt. Everything that you’ve heard bad about blue heelers is manifested in this dog. He drinks his own pee. That’s him in a nutshell- just bad, obnoxious yet apparently loyal enough that my significant other can’t live without him. Which is fortunate for him because at 17 he shows no sign of dying…
Brice- just one big doofus of a Border Collie. He’s pretty much as dumb (and deaf) as a box of rocks. Not typical of his breed though managed to pull his three brain cells together when he was a decent working dog. He’s just furry and curly and in the way.
Jet- this is my oldest retired working dog. She’s gimpy now because she didn’t really care if her body was destroyed if it meant getting the upper hand on a sheep. Since I spayed her, she has tiny pin head but giant fat body. Afraid of nothing with four legs but the neighbor hammering on something will cause her to tear down doors.
Vera- this is my current working dog. She kind of looks like the Simpson’s dog - greyhound-y and flat eared for a border collie. She stares at me constantly – either waiting for food time or sheep time. She even falls asleep, still sitting up, staring at us for too long because we are couch potatoes in general.
I should spare you the sheep- there’s five of them. I’ll just tell you of my favorite one, Pearl. She’s white of course, and has this way of looking at you that is pretty cool. Like “Hay! I think you feed me and you might be ok…”. That’s about as good as it gets with a sheep.
My Siamese bro. /sis. pair. The are sleek and shiny, sorta art-deco looking. Velvet brown points and sparkly blue eyes. They are snooty and oh-so aloof. They tolerate me when they feel like it, and love me at treat time. Loud purrers and very vocal.
My Yorkie is all hair and air, dumb as a box of rocks. She’s sweet and loving. And pretty.
The pocket beagle would need a big pocket cause she’s down right obese. She is a orphan I bottle fed so she loves me like no other. She’s leaning hard on my left leg right now. Love my pets.
All mine are standard. Except I have one truly beautiful orange tabby.
First, he’s HUGE! He does have a little bit of a belly. But that’s not where the hugeness comes from. He just has a huge frame. And big well defined muscles.
It’s like I have a little orange tiger living in my house.
Lessee–Bear is the senior animal and the biggest of the lot, absolutely the leather jacket wearing leader and boss of all he surveys. He’s pretty regal and built more like a husky with ears and face and fur of a lab–but he’s not photogenic because he’s a dark brown color with little variation. He’s protective, opinionated and not overly fond of other dogs–getting less so as he ages to the point where he’s only reliable being introduced to female dogs who accept that he’s The Dude. People are cautious around him but he’s super sweet with anyone he’s decided is good people and he’s abjectly in love with my BFF and follows her everywhere with a goofy look on his face.
The Captain is next in seniority, a huge brown tabby long haired brute of a cat who’s the biggest cuddle monster in the world. He’s super chill and pretty much loves everyone but also loves to pretend he’s a badass and likes to get fighty bitey at a moment’s notice–never really puts a hurt on me though, it’s all for show.
Terri’s next, a dainty little orange tabby girl kitteh with the softest fur imaginable and the most gorgeous green eyes. She’s literally half The Captain’s size and she rules him with an iron fist. She eats first, sits where she wants and allow him to dote on her. She mostly identifies as a dog, though, and she was strongly bonded to my old dog who died last year. She loves to cuddle up with any dog who’ll let her and really enjoys playing chasey chasey because she’s very athletic. I really need to figure out a way for her to get more climbing done, she loves to show off her gymnastic skills.
Junior critter is Shoga, a red heeler crossed with something very whippy and fast. She’s a clown, a toy stealer, a keepaway artist and sweet as the day is long. She’s super athletic, disproportionately strong for her size, runs incredibly fast and can jump a mile, very agile and physical. She’s very much a herding dog, always at my heels and would follow me everywhere if I let her. She’s eager to please, whip smart and never needs more than a stern word to keep her on the straight and narrow. She and Terri are besties and play together all the time, it’s adorable.
It’s a very congenial group, they all get along well and like each other.
Mocha, 14, Ragdoll cat. Very beautiful chocolate point, bright blue eyes, lots of fluffy white fur. Rarely made a sound until our other cat, Daisy, died in April, and now complains constantly. Which Daisy used to do.
Muggle, 10(ish)(rescue), Rat Terrier. Very elbowy and slow and lazy and needy. Will sit and stare adoringly at one of us forever if he’s allowed to. Yawns over and over if he has to go out. His favorite spot is six inches from somebody’s face. Wouldn’t dream of hurting anyone in our family, but nervous and skittish and unpredictable with other people and dogs. Known to snap at others on our property. Fond of hanging out in hallways or between two pieces of furniture, then becoming startled and slowly backing up when you want to get by. He’s very annoying, but he’s very sweet. And he puts up with a LOT from …
Annie, 2, French Bulldog and Pug mix. The runt of her litter, she’s tiny and chubby and adorable. Loves everyone and everything, constantly cheerful and joyful and totally fun to be around. Loves to snuggle and will eat, or at least lick, anything she can get to. Stealer of socks and lotion bottles and razors. Big fan of sticks and bones and dog toys and will play anything with anyone.
Annie will (and does) accompany us anywhere dogs are allowed - festivals, parks, ice cream shops, charity 5k walks. Muggle and Mocha get to stay home and snooze, which is better for all involved.
Riley is my female gray Himalayan cat. I adopted her from a friend. Riley is kinda low-maintenance except for the grooming part. She doesn’t even seek that much attention from me. She does love visitors though.
Dylan - he’s a 5 year old maltese dog, with a short puppy haircut and a sturdy body (for a maltese). He has resting sad face designed to make you feel constantly guilty, but he’s also feisty, guarding his garden with a surprisingly deep man-bark for such a small dog.
He muddles along with dogs large and small, it would never occur to him to growl at or bite someone in anger or fear. I don’t think he realises his teeth could be for anything other than chewing food and soft toys.
He’s much cuter in appearance than he is in personality - he’s not a lap dog, and would rather wrestle you for a toy than have a cuddle. And he resents being picked up. He has a large, squashed red rubgy ball that he insists on carrying on all walks, and as such elicits numerous ‘ahs’ and ‘he’s so cute’ from passers by. He’d be cross if he understood, as in his mind, he’s all man.
Noir Kitty is around twelve years old. He’s shiny black, except for maybe two dozen white hairs on his chest that are in the same general area but too sparsely arranged to be called a spot. The tip of his left ear is clipped, a reminder of when he won a free trip to the vet back in his street kitty days.
His favorite game is chasing after treats and his favorite toy is his own tail. When he wants attention he’s not in-your-face about it but has a number of unusual ways to get it.
It takes a very long time to earn his trust and he learned only a few months ago that petting is a good thing. He used to be very fearful and depressed but now is happy and content to be in the company of his two humans. He’s finally learned to Cat and it makes me so glad for him.
Charley is a great beauty, but inclined to the zaftig; she is a orange and black calico with striking eyes and whiskers up to 5-inches. “Who’s the boofulest kitty?” I ask her, and of course she knows she is. I also ask her where I got such a beautiful kitty, but she probably doesn’t remember all the way back to when I brought home this funny-looking, tiny, patchwork kitten from the vet’s nearly 4 years ago (Her birthday is next week). She is top-cat of the house, spoiled, and tends to be bitey especially when I try to brush her.
Annie is a little cutie, also a calico but mostly white with orange and black patches. She’s two-and-a-half now (I adopted her when she was about 6 months), but she still seems quite kittenish. I sometimes look at her an marvel at her extreme cuteness–the way she stands alert when she’s keeping an eye out for the other cats, the way her hind toes splay out when she stands on tip-toe when I pet her, the way she sits with me when we watch TV together with her back against the back of the chair and her legs out in front of her. She is amazingly sweet-tempered and fit in so well when I first brought her home that it was as if she’d always been part of the household.
Emily is also a pretty girl, with orange and grey tabby patches. She’s the middle kitty, 3 last spring, and sort of the “Jan” between Charley’s “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” and Annie’s “Cindy”. She was also half-grown when I adopted her, 4 or 5 months, and is generally sweet but can be strangely skittish and has an odd attachment for a green, woolen glove that a friend knitted for me but I’ve never worn.
My dog is an alleged border collie mix, otherwise known as a mutt. But if you google “canaan dog” the black and white ones are exactly what he looks like.
Now I know he’s probably not an official Canaan dog, because they are rare and he was a rescue from a ranch in southern Colorado or northern New Mexico.
But Canaan dogs are pariah dogs, which means they hae not got a long history of careful breeding. In other words they are basically dogs that evolved on their own, otherwise known as mutts.
Anyway, the interesting thing about him is that every other dog I’ve owned that had prick ears had floppy ears as a puppy, then they straightened out. His were always pricked. The only puppies I’ve seen with ears like that are Karolian bear dogs (which he also resembles).
Anyway he’s a super nice mutt. Very smart, with a few weird quirks. Like, he has lived with cats and he’s okay with living with them, but he will go crazy-dog if one so much as walks down the other side of the street. He once went after a cat, and then it turned out to be one of our cats and he greeted the cat like a long lost friend,once he realized (but the cat was kinda pissed).
Funny story about that cat, he used to walk with the dog and me. One day we encountered a dog we used to see who looked very much like my dog, and who also lived with a cat who looked like my cat. This dog and my cat sniffed each other and were very friendly. Apparently my cat thought this dog was HIS dog and wasn’t worried about it, and was also untroubled by the fact that his dog was also right there.
The other strange thing about this was that however I was wearing my hair, the woman with this other dog was always wearing her hair the same way, every time we encountered her (which was not every day but probably every couple of weeks). Braid on the side? Check. Bun? Check. Tucked under a hat? Well that’s not too surprising, there are days when you just gotta wear a hat. But this meant we were constantly mistaken for each other, even by people who had seen one of us earlier.
Our Shih tzu is adorable. Since they don’t have long snouts, their faces are very expressive. He is constantly smiling or smirking and he seems to know the exact time to do either. He’s white with black markings and although we keep him cut short, he still has the very soft fur that a long haired Shih tzu has. Our cocker spaniel is all brown and has beautiful, expressive eyes. She is small for a cocker, about 21 pounds.
My cat, Jeff, is orange, medium-haired, and totally adorable. He’s also extremely affectionate - except when he isn’t. He’ll either bug you to death for loves or he’ll completely ignore you, there’s no middle ground. There isn’t a mean bone in his body, although he’s hissed at small children a couple of times when they wouldn’t respect his space.
He also has some stereotypical cat fussiness: he’ll howl for treats and then turn his nose up at them. And if he can see the bottom of his food bowl he’ll act like you’re trying to starve him to death.
FWIW, I refuse to allow Mrs. Homie to indulge him. Jeff isn’t stupid; if he gets hungry enough, he’ll eat. He’s not going to starve to death simply because he doesn’t like what’s in his bowl.
Ty, aka Grey Brother – big old-style rangy ranch Aussie, no white merle, almost steel blue-black now with age. Serious trouble type of a dog. Noble, faithful unto death, thinks too much. Poor impulse control and lousy bite inhibition make him a difficult companion but a remarkable one. Won’t see his like again.
Bonnie, my first real working Aussie, now 15 years old and mostly deaf, bulging with lipomas and doddering but still perfectly cheerful as always. A lifetime of stockdog stories in her pretty head.
Young Hope, looks and thinks exactly like a Border Collie but a registered Aussie, 35 lbs, prick eared black bi, absolutely indefatigable, agile as a monkey. What she hopes for is sheep. All.The.Time. Maybe come autumn. We have the fences up now.
Brooke, old-fashioned Morgan mare I got for free as an unbroken filly three years ago. Dark seal brown without a white hair, whimsical but solid. My good trail buddy. She is a stylish beautiful horse, even as horses go.
Pippa, pinto pony with a lot more class than one would expect in a freebie pony my trainer found to accompany & comfort Ms B on her transcontinental trip this spring. She was in a state of deep neglect when acquired, wormy, crusty, and thin. 12 years old and never had a bit in her mouth nor a saddle on her back. Has some big ugly old scars, so deep and old I could imagine that she had some bad accident as a baby and the breeding farm dumped her at the auction as a result. She was picked up by some idiots who thought horses didn’t have to be trained to be ridden and when they discovered this fact the hard way, let her sit unwanted in their back pasture for a decade. Now she is finally learning how to be useful.
She and Brooke are BFFs.
That’s all I have right now, the fewest number of animals I think I’ve owned in thirty years. Left them all in California except the three dogs and Brooke.
I suspect this is a write-only thread. No one really cares what other people’s pets look like.
EXCEPT of course, for mine.
I have two of the most adorable rats I’ve ever owned. (So far, 15 total, all deceased except for the current pair.) Bilbo has a beautiful silky beige coat. He’s a little timid. Frodo has a somewhat scruffy grey coat, with subtle mottled patches. Although he’s much smaller than Bilbo (457 grams vs. Bilbo’s 578 at last weighing), he’s much bolder and generally gets the best of Bilbo when they have their rare arguments. Whenever I walk by their cage, Frodo runs to the top and begs me to take him out to play. He will even turn down food in order to jump on my arm. They both like to ride in my pocket while I walk them around the house. Unfortunately rats only live about 2-3 years, and my boys are now about 18 months old. So they’ll be leaving relatively soon.
I sincerely like to see pix and hear about others pets. I have watched all Gatos videos and enjoyed them all. I would love to see the rat boys…I love hearing their story.
Beckdawrek:
Here are Frodo and Bilbo when they were just a couple months old, and very hyperactive like most baby rats: YouTube
Here they are begging for treats as adults. The two white ones, Merry and Pippin, are gone now: YouTube
Cosmo, my tabby Maine Coon is a hipster doofus. Smallish for a Coon, but still considerably large, with a giant, plumy tail, he struts around the ‘hood like he’s the Grand Poobah of Upper Butt Crack. He looks like a badass but he’s really just a giant moosh. I have a couple of bird feeders in my yard and he can be laying four feet away from it and the birds will just go on about their business (don’t know what that says about the birds). Heck, they could land on his giant, woolly head and head wouldn’t bat an eye. He’s a complete belly rub whore and will roll over for anyone. Everyone on my street knows him and he’s been know to barge in peoples’ doors and help himself to their pets’ bowls if he finds one.
I’m sorry to admit I do let him outside. For the vast majority of his 17 years he’s been an indoor only cat but in his dotage he’s taken to spraying if I don’t let him have a few minutes outside. This compromise is the only thing I could do :o
