It's a zoo in here!

I was looking through some coupons online today and almost selected one for cat treats. I guess it’s a force of habit after having a cat for almost 10 years. This is the first time in my life (aside from college where pets were not allowed in dorms or my apartment “building”) that I have not had any pets. While it’s a strange feeling and I do think of our cat from time to time, I can’t say it’s a bad thing. Our house is clean, our older son’s eyes are no longer red and itchy, I don’t have to worry about changing litter on garbage day, our younger son isn’t getting scratched because he tried to pull the cat’s ears, people who also have cat allergies can actually stay in our house now, etc. I checked in on our cat after my husband found her a new home (I can’t take the credit for that, even though I tried) and she is doing well. She’s the queen of her new “castle.” I thought she wouldn’t be able to adapt to other pets, but it turns out that she bosses them around. She’s getting a lot of attention and is allowed to sleep in the bedroom. This is the life for her. I always thought my home would feel empty without a pet around, but it’s different with kids. Never a dull moment and lots of cuddles all the time. I can’t complain. If I need a cat fix, I can just live vicariously through my parents and all their stories and pictures. Their cats even visit with us on Skype. :)
I want to briefly share our pet “history”. I am not counting any cats my parents got after I moved out:
When I was a baby, my parents had a West Highland Terrier named Fluffy. She was very sweet and easygoing. She died when I was 7, on Christmas. My parents then tried to fill the void with other dogs. We had a puppy (Bichon Frise) named Frisky for a few days before my parents decided that we were too young to handle having a puppy around. I was sad about that because he was really cute. Then they got a dog named Dusty (some type of mutt that had an underbite). He was so mean! He bit people and barked really loud all the time. His stay with us was short-lived. Later, we got another Westie named Willy. I think we named him for my sister’s Cabbage Patch Kid. He was nice, but was destroying our wallpaper and furniture. I think my parents gave him to someone in my uncle’s building. After that, we got our first cat, T.J. (the name she came with at the shelter). I didn’t know what to make of her at first, but she was really sweet. She managed to gain a lot of weight and our visitor from England called her “massive.” Another friend called her a “Mama Pillow Kitty.” We got another dog to be her companion. His name was Fluffy II, as he was also a Westie. He was okay, but we gave him a new home after he bit me (and I did nothing to warrant it other than sitting by him and petting him). The following year after we got T.J., we saw a kitten that looked similar to her at the same shelter. We decided to adopt her too and named her Cassie (because of “A Chorus Line.”) She was very cute and sweet, but a nervous wreck. This was brought to light when we got a beagle named Buddy (the summer I turned 12). Buddy was crazy, but we managed to keep him around for a long time. He also was huge and my sister called him “Fatticus”. Despite the fact that he drove my mom crazy, he was my faithful friend. I took him on walks all the time and loved playing with him. He did things to embarrass me in front of my friends, but that’s okay. It made for interesting conversations later. :) Anyway, Cassie would hide under my bed and Buddy knew she didn’t like him. He’d come in my room and howl at the bed. I think he needed a new distraction. In the spring of my freshman year of HS, we got Velvet, a black kitten. She was nice and extremely vocal at times. We had these 4 pets until I graduated high school. Then we got another cat (just because we were browsing at a shelter and he liked my dad) and named him Kitty (so original…not my idea). My grandpa thought we had too many pets at the time so we pretended that he was really Cassie. We couldn’t trick him though. Kitty was a match for Buddy. This little cat could intimidate him out of his own food or keep him away from my parents’ room. In 1997, my parents found a new home for Buddy because it wouldn’t work out to have him at the raised ranch townhome we were moving to (no place for him to run outside and he woke up neighbors on our street with his howling, let alone someone whose house was attached to ours). Later that year, T.J. died from diabetes. The following fall, Cassie met T.J.’s same fate. Velvet died from a brain tumor in 2002. Kitty is still alive but has diabetes. He’s almost 17 years old. In the meantime, I moved into a condo in 2000 and got two cats a week later. I had some allergy problems with Dixie (a tabby), which I ignored until my husband also developed allergic reactions to her. We gave her to some friends who gave her to some other friends. Winnie stuck around until this past summer, due to our older son’s allergies (which weren’t tested until last spring). Now my parents have 4 cats again (I think they’re taking back my sister’s cat) and we have none. While it would be fun to get a dog again someday (I’d love another beagle), I don’t know if they’ll bother people (including our children) with allergies and I’m not ready for that responsibility on top of raising kids right now. We’ll enjoy our friends’ and cousins’ dogs in the meantime.