Saturday, October 4, 2008

Animal Menagerie

I have a 14 year old Miniature Schnauzer that can barely see or hear and adopted an elderly (14 years or more according to the vet) teacup poodle, named Clarke, in January. This has been quite an adventure! We adopted Clarke by chance since we had no intentions of getting another pet. I think that God intervened and somehow we found Clarke on an animal website and long story short, we ended up driving and hour and a half to adopt him. He looked like a little, old bat on his profile page! His profile said he had been dropped on the side of a highway in the cold rain and had to have his hair shaved off since he was severely matted and all of his teeth were pulled due to absceses. He looked so pitiful that we couldn't get him off our minds. Katie and I drove to the shelter to get him and when they took him out of the cage we almost passed out! He was so skinny and weak that he could hardly walk. We looked at each other in a way that meant, "WHAT have we done?" He was the saddest looking thing you have ever seen. His tongue hangs out of his mouth since he has no teeth and he is almost completely deaf and blind. However, we love this little fellow and he looks great now! He has gained weight, his hair has grown out, he has been groomed and now looks like a poodle! He sleeps in my bed ( which is unbelievable if you know my husband) and is carried around all the time like a little prince. He and Prissy, the schnauzer, co-exist but don't really acknowledge each other. Priss is definitely the alpha dog and makes sure that Clarke doesn't forget it.
Katie and Ben are here for the weekend and have a beautiful chocolate lab named Pete that is also here. I lost my mind in July and bought a precious little Maltese puppy for Cara ( my youngest daughter) because she was lonely living alone during her first semester in graduate school. I broke the rule we have always had about not having pets while living away in college. This is one of the top five dumbest things I have done lately! Anyway, we love this little guy that is now named Henry and he is absolutely the cutest thing and is extremely hyper! We also have him here this weekend since Cara had to go to an engagement party in Nashville. He comes with his own playpen and diaper bag that includes toys, treats and cucumber melon spray. To make things even more interesting and to add to the top five dumbest things list, we now have a kitten living in our screened in porch! He was stuck under the hood of a car and another long story short, is now living here until I figure out what to do with him or her. Unfortunately, we have also gotten very attached to this cute little thing, too! Katie is checking him out and waiting to see what Pete thinks about him and might just take him home with her and Ben. So, we now have four dogs and one cat here this weekend! Two dogs can't really see or hear and Henry is running around in circles about 90 miles per hour and the lab just stands around wondering what is going on and how to get away from it all. To top it off, we are painting the kitchen and laundry room this weekend. Other than that we really don't have much going on!

2 comments:

A said...

You didn't even mention all the house guests you had, too! Oh my goodness, what a hoot. I love you and your animals--it was great finally meeting the legendary Clark this weekend!

Penny said...

Oh what a heart you have! Thank you for going to get the abandoned poodle. Sometimes I see an ad that pulls at me, but I always manage to talk myself out of it since I have two already. Now I feel guilty. You are so sweet!
Penny