DKF

As most of you have heard, Kelly and I grew our family from four to seven a few weeks back. Here is the not-so-short story.

Three weeks ago, Peta, my parent’s seventeen year old cat snuck out of the garage and into the wild. Fearing the worst, we went on a hunting spree for him, which included the Lied Animal Shelter here in Vegas. He was not there, but I did discover a kitten that looked as if he could be his son. Kel and I resolved to adopt the kitten on behalf of my folks if Peta was indeed lost for good. Later that evening, Peta turned up and, after discussion with my Dad, we decided to bring the kitten home to them anyhow.

After visiting the shelter on Friday, I made arrangements for the new kitten to be chipped and neutered the next morning. So on Saturday, Kelly and I went down to pick him up. I already assumed that we would be bringing home at least one more kitten for ourselves. I won’t blame that all on Kelly, I am soft touch as well.

In fact, I had my eye on a kitten with a burnt tail, but that lucky rascal had already been adopted. So as we waited for Pepe (my folks’ new kitten) to come up from the vet, Kelly started scoping out the scene and fell in love with the two fuzzballs you see below. Their names are Foca (Spanish for “sea lion”) and Bohdi (short for “Bohdisatva”, the Buddhist word for “living saint”).

After agreeing on the two kittens, we collected Pepe and headed up to the adoption office to fill out all of the paperwork. Almost immediately upon entering, we heard the unmistakable (and to Kelly … irresistible) yips of a chihuahua. Handing me the kittens, she went to investigate. She found a very special breed of Chihuahua … the Mexican Tripod. That is to say that the little yipper only had three legs.

She’d come to the shelter with inoperable damage to her right hind leg and the vets had no choice to remove it. Only that morning she’d been cleared for adoption. The minute I laid eyes on her, I knew she was coming home with us as well.

Kelly immediately named her Cosita (Spanish for “little thing”). My attempts to call her B.E.F. (short for Bug Eyed Freak) were not well-received by my darling wife.

The transition has been relatively smooth. Psychie and Truqui were aloof at first and, in truth, pretty much remain so. Truqui now spends most of his time with me in my office. And, he seems to yowl more to go out or gain attention. Yesterday, he bolted to the roof from the upstairs balcony. Before I could move to get him, Kelly (bad toe and all) hopped onto the roof after him. Suffice to say, she has been adequately chastened.

About the toe, that is Truqui’s work as well. Last Monday, he attempted to bolt out the front door. While stopping him with her foot, Kelly caught her big toenail in the doorjamb, almost surgically removing it at the quick. She was a real trooper though, toughing it out as I removed the remaining nail and cleaned and dressed the wound. She’s still a little limpy, but more or less on the road to recovery.

Aside from those misadventures, the only other news to report about our family expansion is that Cosita, in true chihuahua fashion, has formed a deep and jealous bond with Kelly. When I come to bed, she growls and barks at me. That said, she is slowly warming up to me. And, being exiled from the bed has taught her she needs to respect me, if not love me.

We have a ton of seriously cute pictures of the new additions which I’ll get up on the site ASAP, along with new pictures of the house. Work and travel have been nutso as usual, so I am a little behind on writing and posting here. Be patient with me.

Until we talk again,

Doug

PS: Congratulations to Patti H. and John Z. on their exciting news! We wish them all well as they take on exciting new challenges and chapters in their respective lives. And congrats to Maco and Glori on years of wedded bliss.

PPS: Let our story be a lesson … adopt from the shelter. If you want a purebred pet, you’ll find them in the shelters too.

Posted on September 11th, 2006 by Doug and Kelly
Filed under: News