Most people have baby gates to keep their infants safe in their homes. Even after we had a baby, we still called them puppy gates. Because our dog of choice is the Great Dane, we have the all metal, four feet tall puppy gates that attach not with pressure, but hardware. Today, due to the "Princess", our oldest cat, needing a diet of high calorie wet food, and her royal refusal to eat in the laundry room with the other cats, the puppy gate came back into use to stop the dogs from eating her food. This houseful of animals has a wide range of coping mechanisms.
The Cats:
Finney, aka "the Princess", Skinny Finney, aka Super Brat: at 17, her thyroid is overactive and she's gotten pretty thin. We'll have more on her battles against medication at a later post. She's so thin at this point she can squeeze through the bars.
Sheeba: (as in a great annoyance, not the Queen of) She's so happy to be an inside cat, not a barn cat, that she doesn't care about going to the front door side of the gate. On this side, through the pet door to the laundry room, is food, litter boxes and water. And laps, don't forget laps. She's never going to the barn again.
Lucy Fur: she's taking the role of the Fat Cat, and in denial about it. She remembers her youth, when she jumped easily to the top of the gate, balanced, and finished her leap over. It took four tries to get to the top today, but we are not allowed to laugh.
Hades: recently underwent a complete ankle reconstruction, which I also had done this year. The other cats are giving him grief about being a brown noser, but we're just glad he's home and healthy again. In our relief that his leg was saved and didn't require amputation, we make up disabled nick names for him. Keeping the leg means "Peg Leg" is out, so we like "Hop-a-Long Hades". He has use of the leg, but has discovered that for now, he's faster on three of them. I was pretty impressed when he climbed a tree when still in his cast. Pissed at having to catch him, but impressed at the same time.
Scratch: (yes, the last three cats all have devil names. The next kitten in our lives will be Pestilence, Pest for short.) He's a solid 30 pounds of cat muscle and fur. I've never rubbed a kitty belly before him that had muscle definition. He just pushes on the gate with his head. It usually moves anything in his way.
The Dogs: they haven't quite realized that this is the end of sub-par tuna snacks. Even though, they are pretty afraid of the Princess and don't try to take her food, Hades has been getting some special attention after the injury, and he's a big pushover.
Lydie: English Springer Spaniel, 10 years old, liver and white. Lydie likes to play dumb. She'll get her face stuck in the puppy gate at least twice a week because she "forgets" which way it swings open, but she can sneak into the garage, pull hardware cloth and chicken wire from a chick coop, and eat a nice chicken dinner without help. She's the main reason for the gate.
Schumacher: Also a member of the weasel Spaniel clan, but a Publix mutt. I brought him home from the grocery store 8 years ago. He's so busy trying to trail boss the Great Danes he forgets to eat and finds himself hungry later. Also, he's pretty sure no one should have anything better than he does. This is why I'm down to four pairs of running socks. He learned to open the drawer and was taking nice, clean, fresh pairs of socks to play with, no laundry rejects for him! In our house, he's a "small" dog, less than 50 pounds, so he thinks he can slip in and out with a human and not be noticed. Good Try.
Anita: a Mantle Great Dane, and probably the sweetest dog on the planet. She was our first puppy rescue, most of our Danes come to us full grown. That's when people realize Marmaduke is not a cartoon, but an illustrated diary, and it's not as much fun as they thought and take the poor animal to the pound. Anita was one of a litter of nine, with both parents, taken to the Citrus County, FL animal shelter. Six of her brothers and sisters died from flea anemia. I had written a grant proposal from The Body Shop Foundation for Tampa Bay Great Dane Rescue, and they won the grant and saved me a puppy. I wasn't sure I was ready after the loss of two wonderful Danes in our life over the past four years, but I'm so glad she's here. I'm not sure she's noticed the gate yet, she's not very food motivated, and well, we'll see.
Kaya: our newest Dane, she's a Blue Merle and was an abuse case I liberated from the son of a former co-worker. She's got a lot of fear issues we're working through, to the point I called an "animal communicator" about her. It's a charitable donation and was pretty interesting. We'll see what she does when she's not on the lookout for my husband!
There are outside animals here; horses, goats and chickens, but they deal with so many gates and so far, I haven't let them in the house. I'm sure there will be a story about them one day.
The humans: Me, I'm Rebecca, Mom, Babe (my husband never calls me by name, I think he's a closet bigamist or something and can't keep us all straight, lol
Simon, the husband, silent tough guy who can fix anything, thank goodness, and the only person who can strike fear into a bunch of dogs by simply entering a room. He must do something terrible when I'm not here. All I've ever seen him do is feed them, walk them and play with them. Maybe they're afraid he'll stop the gravy train!
The Boy: he's six, he's in first grade, tomorrow is open house, he talks more than I write, he loves the animals, and they're not sure about him. Kaya is his dog, don't mess with him, you'll be short an arm. And she won't give it back, she will gnaw on it in front of you. Schumacher will back her up, probably hamstringing you so you are crippled for life and easier to catch in the future. Your arm tasted yummy. Lucy Fur can deal with him because she's the Angel of Light. He also has thick hair she likes to groom. Go figure. Sheeba thinks he's the devil, and meows her funny sound at him. I taught him to brush her, which she loves, and he's winning her over.
I hope you liked this, and I can write more later! I think I'm going to throw my arms over my head and take a nap on the couch, it looks like it works for everyone else!
Here's an update: Hades just made a perfect three legged jump over the gate. Lucy said it was pure luck.
ReplyDelete