Our newest family member!

My kids have been raised in a house of pets. I was raised with one pet at a time. I never really heard of having "a dog AND a cat". Or two cats even. Terry's family have had more pets at a time then I had my whole "growing up life". They had cats, dogs, birds, rabbits, guinea pigs and fish. Sometimes all at the same time.
Terry and I started our marriage with two little hamsters, Rodney and Magnum (both girls, but we didn't know that when we got them) Terry bought me the hamsters for Xmas before we got married. Then came our first cat, that Terry also brought home. At one point in our married life we had 5 cats and two dogs, a guinea pig and fish, along with 2 daughters and my dad all under one roof. Our house is relatively empty now, with just Mollie, Pika, Terry and I. Oh, and a few fish in a tiny tank on the kitchen counter.

So, back to what I started with... our kids have been surrounded by pets and therefore its not surprising that they have started their "independent" lives surrounded by pets.

Stephanie has two sweet cats, Paralax and Tonks. They are different from each other, just like any siblings.... one is loving and nosy, the other is shy and mysterious. She has had up to four cats living in her apt but she didn't own them all.





Michelle and Scott couldn't wait for the time when they would have their own place and one of the reasons was to get their own pets. They were limited to what they could own, as the landlord had pretty strict rules and they decided on guinea pigs. With careful planning, research and good timing, they purchased their pigs locally and perfectly timed for when they moved in. I am sure you have seen pics of these little gaffers and they are still babies, learning not to bite or pee on you. Over the summer though, they began to notice that several of their apt neighbours had kitty cats in their windows. It started to really bother Scott, who, as you know, totally loves our cats. He started to get down right bitter that their landlord made them jump through hoops in order to "allow" them to have little pigs in their apt.

This, coupled with her own desire to own a cat, prompted Michelle to pull a little surprise for Scott. She found a sweet little kitten on Kijiji, and started making her plan. the kitten was too young to leave her mom yet, so Michelle had a few weeks to plan everything. She got everyone involved from getting Scott out of the house, to hiding all the kitty supplies. Michelle and Grace made a trek to Bedford under a false story and when Scott got home from a day with his friends... the little black and white kitten was waiting for him. "Phanny" short for Phantom, was named because of her black face and white mask around her eyes... She kept them on their toes for the first week, but she had the last laugh. Her first vet appointment revealed the SHE is really a HE... and he is Phanny no longer. He is now Apollo and is in his toddler stage now, wrecking havoc on their apt.... hee hee... serves them right, I say.
We will meet this little butterball at Thanksgiving. Imagine, he will meet all of us too, dog and cat included... oh my.