Instead of a Flashback Friday post I decided on the Furry Friends Tag.

I recently subscribed to Claire Marshall’s Youtube channel “Hey Claire”. I think I have watched almost all of her videos. Apart from her addictive vlogs, my favorite video has to be the furry friends tag (linked here). Bruce Lee is so cute! He makes frequent appearances in Claire’s videos and always adds to them instead of retracts!

 

(Answers are in order of oldest to youngest. This so happens to be the same order in which we adopted them!)

Color-coded for easier viewing.

Marmalade, Sunsilk, Affie, Saachi

 

1. What are your pets name?

Marmalade, Sunsilk, Affie, and Saachi.

 

2. What kind of pets are they and what breed?

Marmalade and Sunsilk are felines. Affie and Saachi are canines.

 

Marmalade is a domestic shorthair tabby. This is equivalent to the mutt in dogs but has long since become its own breed.

Sunsilk is a mutt. She is some strange mix. We rescued her so we are unsure but we believe she is at least half Abyssinian because her back legs are taller than her front ones. She also has very prominent tortoiseshell markings.

Affie is a Coton de Tulear. This breed has recently become very popular in the USA over the last five years because they do not shed and are hypo-allergenic. Cotons resemble the Bichon Frise but their fur is more cotton like. 

Saachi is a Bullmastiff. She is one of the prettiest Bullmastiffs I have ever seen. Mastiffs generally have short snouts similar to the bulldog or pug. Saachi’s muzzle is quite elongated and she looks a lot more proportionate than others in her breed.

 

3. How long have you had your pet friend?

Marmalade: 11 years

Sunsilk: 10 years

Affie: 7 years

Saachi: 7 years

4. How did you get your pet?

We changed everyone’s names when we adopted them. From Samantha to Marmalade, Cowbird to Sunsilk, Aphrodite to Affie, and Lottie to Saachi.

 

We adopted Marmalade from the animal hospital I work at, one week after my mother passed away. This memory will always stay with me. My father was on the phone with my future boss, the head veterinarian at the clinic, and he mentioned he thought I was ready to take care of my own pet. We were unable to keep a dog or cat while my mother was alive because my father traveled for work, my mother had Lupus and I was too young to take full responsibility for a pet. The doctor  told us one of the technicians moved but was unable to take her one-year-old cat, who was now up for adoption.

The day we brought her home was the longest in my existence. We ran errands all day and we planned to visit her in the evening. I was so excited every minute felt like an hour. My dad told me “you have one day to name her so make it good!” Of course, under pressure, I could not think of anything.

Marmalade was so vocal. She chatted, she was social, sweet, and active. I instantly fell in love with her. So did everyone else in my family.

“What will you name her?”

“Marmalade?”

Just as my father asked me that question Marmalade rolled over on her stomach and I saw the little patch of orange. It came to me in seconds but the name fit.

 This was the first snowball.

One year after we adopted Marmalade I said “we should adopt another cat, Marmalade needs a friend.” Marmalade was an alpha-female so we agreed on kitten, as young as possible.

We decided to rescue from the Humane Society. The kittens at the shelter were certainly cute but we felt no connection to any of them. As we were leaving we noticed a large cage next to the door. There were six kittens curled up in a small bed. One caught our eye because of her very unusual markings.

She sat peacefully in my father’s lap and blinked at him. She had a little kitty cold and was half asleep. Every time she breathed a little mucus bubble came out of her nose. She was gross but totally adorable. (FYI: She never got less gross, she drools, snores, and her nose still drips)

We fell in love…again.

That snowball is gaining speed…and mass.

Adopting Affie was the most sponteaneous thing we ever did. A couple of years after we adopted Sunsilk my father decided he wanted a dog.

As he explained “I grew up with dogs and I want one now!” Alright.

But, I had pet allergies so the dog had to hypo-allergenic. My father took to the internet. He typed in hypoallergenic dog breeds and the first to pop up were the Coton de Tulears and a breeder two hours away. The following day we drove out to meet Affie and we fell in love. That same day we walked away with a new puppy.

Her mother was an award-winning show dog. Affie, however, was a runt and her markings were not up to breed standards, and, as is the usual case with breeders, not well taken care of and extremely malnourished. Within two/three weeks of adopting her, she had gained five pounds!

The snowball gained so much mass it barreled us over.

Six or seven months after we adopted Affie, Dad felt sad. He traveled for work and the cats and dog attached themselves to me. He wanted a dog for himself. I agreed, again, but only if it was a giant breed. Specifically, a Great Dane.

Dad disagreed. He thought they were too common. …I have only seen two Great Danes where I live, EVER. Anyways!

What was my second choice? A mastiff. My father researched and researched and one day started yelling for me from his office. He excitedly showed me pictures of this silly looking Bullmastiff puppy for adoption in Kentucky.

“What do you think??” “She’s cute…kind of chubby…but really cute..” “Good, because I already emailed the owners”. My father was so thrilled. He emailed the pictures to EVERYONE we knew, even before she came to us. Go figure, Saachi is my father’s dog through and through.

Saachi lived on a farm so when she came to us she had tapeworms, some other stomach worms, and giardia. It took months to get rid of them and consequentially she is small for her breed.

 

5. How old is your pet? (mm/yy)

Marmalade: 12 years old (07/02)

Sunsilk: 11 years old (04/20)

Affie: 8 years old (07/13)

Saachi: 7 years old (08/30)

6. What are some quirky things about your pets personality?

Marmalade is a maternal cat. She takes care of me. She does not leave my side when I am ill or in pain. When we nap together and someone tries to wake me up she screams and slaps them. 

Sunsilk never stops purring. She purrs in her sleep, she purrs when she eats, she purrs when she is scared or in pain.

Affie is a Nalgene bottle. She is indestructable. How many times has Saachi trampled her when playing and pushed her down the stairs? Nothing happens to her. Affie is completely unphased. The only time she ever “broke” was after Saachi attacked her but given she should have died…she still fits that description.

Saachi thinks she is a cat. She kneads before she lays down. She also purrs. It is a very low-tone growl on the exhale. It is her attempt to copy Marmalade.

7. What does your relationship with your pet mean to you?

My pets mean the world to me. My father traveled a lot for work so I spent a lot of time with “my pack”. They were always there for me no matter what, even when people were not. A pet’s love is unfailing and unwavering. They always forgive. We can learn a lot from our furry friends.

When I am home alone, Marmalade, Sunsilk and Affie form a “protective” barrier between me and the door. My family jokes they would not want to be the person trying to harm to me if Marmalade is there. She would mess that person up. She will always hold a special place in my heart. She was my first pet. No animal can replace her.

Our current relationship consists of me wanting to play with them and them giving me the stink-eye. When they want to be left alone they are not having it! When I am with my pets, I am about five-years-old.

 

8. What are some of your favorite past times with your pet?

None. HAH. No, that is a joke. Well, not really. We do not really do anything together except take naps. You should see us, we sleep like a pile of ferrets right on top of each other. It is beyond comical.

Seriously though, when the weather is nice I put everyone’s leashes on (cats included) and tie them to the rail on our front stoop. We enjoy the sun and being outdoors.

9. What are nicknames that you call your pet?

Marmalade: Parmpi, Fat Cat

Sunsilk: Kitty, Babes

Affie: Aff-Taff, Little Girl, Chubbs

Saachi: No! (Someone is always yelling at her…poor thing, she doesn’t get away with anything because she is so big!), Ugly (I feel kind of bad about this. When she was growing up her head was too big for her body. I called her “Ugly” as a joke but the nickname stuck…Everyone calls her that and she responds to it!)

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.