On Dogs:
I can’t think of another relationship that is similar to the one which exists between a dog and owner. When a dog looks up at you with big soft doggie eyes, so full of love and trust it makes you want to be worthy of that trust. I’ve got two special small dogs and two wonderful cats.
The relationship between me and the cats is entirely different than the one I have with the dogs. Cats need lots of attention too, but they’re more self-entertaining than dogs. Time alone, as long as it isn’t excessive, is fine with them. Time alone for a dog is quite different.
Although many dogs will patiently wait for their owners to return home, they don’t spend any pleasurable hours alone as a cat might. They’re just waiting. Their lives begin when their owner comes home, and they know a long time in advance when that will be.
Some dogs have anxiety problems – eat the furniture, shoes or whatever. This problem isn’t common with cats. Because the relationship is different with cats and they don’t seem to need as much as dogs, some people mistake cats for being self-sufficient, but this isn’t completely true.
I live in the country, and some of the people who live in the nearby town simply abandon their animals, especially cats. They think that if the cat is a good hunter it will survive. This isn’t true. Cats who are good hunters still don’t do well without owners. Some might survive for a time, but they freeze to death in winter if they don’t have shelter; and really, dogs and cats have been bred for thousands of years to be human companions. Without the relationship of a person they aren’t the same animal and in many cases don’t survive.
Ringo’s Story
One late spring day my husband and I were relaxing in the late afternoon when we noticed a tabby cat we’d never seen before, scoot into the house, slouched low, and headed straight for the cat dish. Our long-haired black and white cat sat nearby and watched this happen, much to our surprise. Obviously she’d seen this cat before, and it was entirely possible that he’d been here not just once, but several times.
The weather had been very pleasant, and we’d had the sliding porch doors open during the day to air out the house, closing it only after retiring at night. So this tabby bolted our cat’s food as fast as he could and zipped out the porch door the way he’d come in. We topped off our cat’s dish and vowed to watch out for this stranger, unsure of what we should do about him. We caught only a few glances at him. Did he belong to someone else? Obviously he was a boy, since we did see him disappear and got a good view of his backside. Whoever might own him didn’t bother to get him neutered, which would mean he might be several miles from his home in search of a mate. The next day, he showed up at the same time. We watched him come in, disappear around the corner and leave.
We came to expect him each day, and gradually he would hang around the porch for awhile before slinking up the driveway and scooting off into the bush. He was a long, tall and super slim cat. Our cat didn’t want him close to her, but she seemed to understand he was starving and decided it was alright if he ate some of her food.
One day he decided to have a nap here, and moved into my office, curled up on the bottom self of my bookcase and had a long nap. Gradually he got into the habit of hanging out with us during the day and hunting all night. After a month of this we were sure he didn’t have a home and needed one, and that we were willing to provide it for him. Then we got him neutered. The vet said he was approximately eighteen months old, so he’d been sexually mature for over a year.
It took about a month before we saw a radical change come over him. Up until that time he went out every night and didn’t come home until the next day. Our neighbour told us she saw him at the gas station up the road several kilometers from where we live. But a month after his surgery he stayed home mostly.
He’s a sweet natured fellow, who loves to curl up beside you, or be nearby if you’re engaged in a sitting-down task. He’s filled out now; isn’t skinny at all anymore, and has a good coat, clear eyes and is obviously healthy. He waits for us to go outside, and then runs around, climbing the trees and showing off his acrobatics, obviously very excited that SOMETHING IS HAPPENING!
Our female black and white cat, Allie, is very spoiled but very sweet natured – except when it comes to Ringo. It was okay with her that he came in to eat, but she had no intention of him actually LIVING in her house! That was an entirely different matter. Since he’s been with us – over two years now – she’s done her best to drive him out. Ringo – so named for the many rings around his tail – would love nothing better than to be friends, but she’ll have none of it. She hisses and swats out if he dares to get too close. He goes well out of his way to avoid her, but sometimes she ambushes him, giving him a swat as he passes. She is a very sweet cat, but refused to get use to another cat in her space.
The Dogs
We got the dogs last spring. Allie didn’t mind the dogs so much. She certainly did a lot of hissing in the beginning, but she had to train them how to behave around her. Now that she has them trained, she tolerates them well. They’re respectful of her now, and there’s no problem between her and the dogs.
Ringo is another matter. At first he was afraid of them, arched his back and hissed. The doggies were afraid to come into the house when they saw our two large cats, both hissing at them from nearby. Since they’re all the same size, I didn’t blame them. Must have been really intimidating.
It didn’t take long for Ringo to realize he had the upper hand with the dogs. Before long, we had to watch out for him because he likes to hide somewhere, then give them a smack as they pass by his hiding spot. We’re not sure if he’s trying to play with them or not, but when the dogs try to play with him, he freaks out and runs away.
Too bad they can’t learn to compromise the style in which they play. When the dogs play, they tend to run along side by side, then tumble and roll together with small bites and nips to ears, the side of faces and the backs of necks. Frequently they jump on each other as part of the play. When they included Ringo in their play and jumped on him, he screamed as if he was being tortured, even though he wasn’t hurt. I think he’s still a little afraid of them, and they are afraid of him too.
I knew for quite awhile that I wanted a dog, and last winter I searched the internet for dog sites. I found a number of sites run by rescue societies – organizations that rescue dogs who’ve been abandoned or mistreated in some way, and decided I’d like a rescued dog. Both the cats are ‘rescued’ animals. Ringo rescued himself, and Allie was adopted from the SPCA as a kitten back in 1993. So it made sense to me to have a rescued dog. We knew we didn’t have the right set-up for a large dog. We’ve got the property space, but the inside of our home isn’t suited to a large animal and to make it suitable would mean changes we weren’t prepared to make. I don’t believe is it right to keep an animal outside all the time. They want to be part of the family, and why have a pet that isn’t? We wanted a small dog, but not necessarily really small. It would be more likely that a small dog would get along well with two cats.
On the ‘Net, I found Big Heart Rescue Society, and they had a little dog on their site I thought was really cute. I e-mailed them, and they explained the that the dog I inquired about had been adopted already, but the mom of that dog was in the process of being rescued now, and would soon be in
Vancouver. They sent me a picture of the dog, and I made an appointment to see her. My daughter, who lives in
Vancouver, came with me. She was hoping to go to the SPCA in Coquitlam and find the right cat to live with her. The lady who was adopting the dogs lived in Coquitlam, so off we went.
When I first saw Gypsy, she barely raised her head when I walked into her foster mom’s house. She had large, sad, wet eyes and a ‘whip-dog’ vibe to her. I knew someone had been very mean to this little girl. I wasn’t sure whether she was the dog for me or not.
As I pondered this, a cute little doggie came bouncing out of the other room and jumped up on me, wagging her tail. “That’s Gracie,” her foster mom said. “Is she one of yours,” I asked her. She had three little doggies, barricaded into her kitchen. They barked the entire time I was there, but Gracie and poor Gypsy – then called “Tipsy” – didn’t bark at all. “No, she’s up for adoption too,” she informed me. I asked if we could take them both for a walk. She agreed, and lent us leashes. Right away we could see that these little dogs were bonded. They moved together as if trained to do so, and it was obvious they loved each other; one had only to watch them a short time to realize this.
My daughter said it would be mean to separate them, and I agreed. They’d been through so much in their short lives, it seemed mean to separate them when they each knew they could count on each other and had already been through so much misery. I vowed they would have a wonderful life from now on, and be together. The only trouble was, I’d promised my husband, who couldn’t come with me because of work, that I wouldn’t come home with two dogs. I’d made an appointment to see another dog while I was in town, and he was afraid, knowing me, I’d take them both. So when I explained this to my daughter, she punched up our number on her cell and spoke to my husband. Soon she had him chuckling and he agreed that these two couldn’t be separated.
The woman who had been fostering them was surprised when we returned and asked if we could adopt them both. I filled out all the paperwork, having already gone through a home check, done by a local man in our village which the society found. As we were finally ready to leave, my daughter mentioned we were going to the SPCA to look for a cat she could adopt. This lady asked if she wanted to see the cat she was fostering, and brought out this kitten, two months old who was mostly white with bits of caramel in his fur. He had large blue eyes and was extremely cute. She told us he was a ‘rag doll’ cat – and I’d never heard of this breed before.
My daughter held out her arms and the two – young woman and cat bonded right there. A perfect match it was, and they’re very happy together. She called him “Jackson” and got him neutered as soon as he was old enough. He’s a happy fellow, quite a good sized cat now. She sometimes brings him to my house when she comes for a visit. Then, for the time the visit lasts, there are three hissing cats, but there’s enough hiding spots around my house that this really isn’t a problem. This isn’t a very big house, but it’s an A-frame with a loft, and the design is such that cats love to climb around in places otherwise inaccessible to dogs and people; not to mention the many trees we’ve got on the lot.
The rescue society took care of spaying the two dogs I adopted, so I didn’t have to make that appointment. I believe very firmly in having animals sterilized. You aren’t doing the animal any favor by letting them go through the rigors of nature. If you’re a trained breeder that’s one thing, but unless you know what you’re doing, letting your animal have a litter usually doesn’t work out very well all around. Your pet will be much happier without having to deal with parenthood.
If you’ve got a male animal, not neutering it is just plain irresponsible. You simply can’t control your pet 100% of the day and night, and sooner or later, your pet will impregnate another pet of someone who thinks that sterilization is unnecessary. This is the main cause of ‘problem’ animals.
Unwanted pets have a miserable existence. In the country they are frequently shot or drowned. Some get away and live a short life in the wild, ending up as the dinner of a wild animal. This is a terrible way to die. In the city they sometimes roam the streets until caught, or hit by a car. Finding food is a huge problem, and many get sick or diseased and starve to death.
If a cat goes completely feral, it is unadoptable. Ringo found us just in time. He was part feral, having lived alone for months, we figure. If they go completely feral, they will never fit into any household and will never become tame. Ringo took months of patience before we even tried to touch him. He thought any act of affection might be an attack, and he was ever-ready. We always had to make sure he didn’t feel trapped before we approached him, otherwise he’d scratch us badly. Now he’s cute, cuddly and adorable, but there are still situations which make him feel threatened. We understand him well though, and make sure he feels comfortable.
We get real joy from each of our animal friends. Each of them have their own special personality and qualities, their own preferences, favorite foods and games and their own special spots in our home and hearts. If I had more room and more money, I’d be likely to have a house full of dogs and cats. There is no relationship like the unconditional love and trust that a pet brings into your life.
