Marrieds choosing not to have kids

[HockeyKat]

We will be at BCV Sept 16-19 and BWV Sept 20-26. I also just booked 2008 trips for Jan 27-31 at AKV and May 18-23 at BWV.

Ahh, the fun of of a childfree lifestyle... the ability to go when kids are in school!!

 

[Liisa]

Ahh, the fun of of a childfree lifestyle... the ability to go when kids are in school!!

I agree! Lines... what lines?

Aclov - Wilderness Lodge is our home resort and we've never stayed there! We walked through a couple years ago when it was decorated for Christmas...boy did it have a "wow" factor! But DH loves the boardwalk / beach club area. We are going again in December this year (taking my in-laws and niece and nephew) and staying at OKW - never stayed there either. But I do love trying them all.

 

[HockeyKat]

We did Wilderness Lodge Villas in May... it was definitely WOW. I didn't expect to be impressed as I am not really a lodge person, but I was.

Sept will be our first for BCV/BWV, and then Jan for AKV... we have done OKW and VWL. I don't really have much desire to try out SSR, we might someday if we do a last minute short trip. Although, we have our points pretty much over-borrowed at this point so I doubt that would happen unless we had a last min cancellation!

We leave one month from tomorrow! I really, really need a vacation.

 

[Muushka]

We are going Sept 29 thru Oct 4. We booked the free dining last year, so we are staying at ASMu. But we are also going to try out SSR for a few days. First time staying there. We are VWL groupies!

 

[bulah1]

Below is my newest addition to the family. She had hung on my back porch for 6 years and I did not realize she was homeless (believe me, she looked great, someone must have been feeding her). Come to find out she was also a feral cat, very wild. When I realized what kind of a cat she was, I slowly got her to trust me.

You can't see her ear clipped, but her left upper ear was clipped when the people who spay ferals spayed her (thank goodness). She is one of the best cats I have ever cared for. But the poor vet, when he has to vaccinate her, it is not pretty.

I give anyone who can take in a feral and get their affections SO MUCH CREDIT!! Please share your secrets! I actually adopted my Frodo, but he "tricked" me in the shelter because I think he just desperately wanted out of there. He seemed to want to cuddle and show affection so badly. Come to get him home now he really doesn't want to be touched. Now I take that back... he will touch YOU under HIS terms, but heaven forbid you pick him up or try to pet him... it's "RUN AWAY". It's not that he's scared, but he just won't let you. And so scared of other people still. He was about 5 mos old when I rescued him, but I didn't think he'd be that set in his ways at that age?? He does love me, you can tell, he is always watching over me and is soooo happy to see me after I've been at work or whatever. I just don't know how to get him past this point of "I don't wanna"... Hoping you had some tips for the affection part, since you seem to have a cuddlebug on your hands now, and from a feral cat - that is a HUGE accomplishment. I can't say so much for myself! LOL!

 

[Muushka]

I give anyone who can take in a feral and get their affections SO MUCH CREDIT!! Please share your secrets! I actually adopted my Frodo, but he "tricked" me in the shelter because I think he just desperately wanted out of there. He seemed to want to cuddle and show affection so badly. Come to get him home now he really doesn't want to be touched. Now I take that back... he will touch YOU under HIS terms, but heaven forbid you pick him up or try to pet him... it's "RUN AWAY". It's not that he's scared, but he just won't let you. And so scared of other people still. He was about 5 mos old when I rescued him, but I didn't think he'd be that set in his ways at that age?? He does love me, you can tell, he is always watching over me and is soooo happy to see me after I've been at work or whatever. I just don't know how to get him past this point of "I don't wanna"... Hoping you had some tips for the affection part, since you seem to have a cuddlebug on your hands now, and from a feral cat - that is a HUGE accomplishment. I can't say so much for myself! LOL!

Wow! Thanks! I thought it was huge, but not many people realize how difficult this can be.

I had volunteered at a cat shelter where occasionally we got the 'research kitties'. These are cats that have lived their entire lives in a cage, only picked up when something 'medical' was done to them. So they came totally freaked and afraid of humans (for the most part). It was there I learned how to hold a very fearful cat (self taught, by the way ).

First I would pick the cat up and immediately sit down. Then I would cross my leg (as a man would) and the cat would feel more secure than restrained. Always talking softly, rubbing the area between the eye and ear (that place where they rub up on their face). And when the cat settled down, stopped squirming, after about a minute, I would release my grip. Usually they jump down at that point. But they appreciate that they are the one making the decision to get down, and it is not by fighting with me.

Then the next time I hold for a little longer. If the cat does not purr after several times of this, chances are that they are not going to be able to be picked up.

My late kitty Brenda (not a feral) was with me for 14 years and she simply did not like to be picked up or sit on me or anything that involved being held. I did not get her as a kitten, as she was a stray. But she was so loving in so many other ways that I finally accepted that she was just not a cat that I could hold.

With Lucy (the feral) it took about a 2 months of picking her up and letting her get down on her own before she was comfortable being held. But before that it took about a month before she would even let me touch her head! Then it was about 4 months before she would come into the house and getting her to come into a different room took about a year.

Now, and especially during the winter months, she comes through the pet door, and meows quite loudly to announce that she is here. And if I don't come out to see her, she actually comes into the bedroom and jumps on the bed and comes up to me for love. I can't tell you how much that means to me. My other cat Loretta only does that when she is hungry!

As for Frodo, it seems that cats do that, don't they! So affectionate in the cage, but not so out of the cage. You can try what I did and hopefully you have a Lucy and not a Brenda! As for strangers, it took a long time for Lucy to not be afraid of my husband. Sometimes he just has to come up to her, softly say her name and scratch in that special area on the face. That calms her down. As far as other strangers, if they are just there for the day, I don't bother trying to get her used to them. But for several days, I will try by just holding her and allowing them to pet her.

Good luck! And thank you!

PS I think the fact that he did show affection while in the cage means that he does like it! That is a start .

 

[eeyore74]

Can I throw in another furbaby pic? I saw there was another Duncan dog on here, so mine wanted to say hi.

Duncan putting up with his eeyore crazed mama:

And to anyone who thinks he is not my kid - I have to diaper him. He leaks. I say it is the universe's way of making sure I have to diaper something.

 

[maddhatir]

Hey another Duncan!!! Hi Pup!!!


OK- I finally found a pic of my pride and joy-- my kitty cat
are you ready b/c this is not one of the best pics I have of her??

Bhhhhaaaa

OMG! That pic always distrubed me- I just had to share it. I forget who even sent it to me

But, no, for real, I scanned some pics of my kitties and I am putting them in my photobucket and will be back with real pics!

 

[Muushka]

Cute cat!

 

[maddhatir]

THIS IS VERY LONG...SORRY!

hee hee, OK here are the real pics. Both kitties are with mom now b/c of our allergies. But we lived with them for a few years before she moved out. There were times when my asthma was so bad that DH would have to take me for a drive in the car in the middle of the night so I can get out of the house to breath- But there was NO WAY I was getting rid of the kitties! (Get this! My allergist told me to tie a cinder block around their necks and drop them in the river )

This is Patches (yes, real original name!) aka Squirel- it has been so long that I have been calling her Squierl I forget how it started! She is a little princess, so quiet and sweet as can be. But if she does not want to be held, she will just look at you, stick her nose up and walk away!

You can see her tail, well lack thereof. Both cats are Japanese Bobtails, VERY vocal. They are born without tails, no chopping off!

This is Patches' brother, Katzenjammer, Jammer for short. I wanted a crazy name for the second one, after the obvious choice of Patches! I wanted to name this one Spot, but no one thought that was funny but me. Who names a cat Spot?.......exactly! But no, they still did not like it.....so, I searched and came up with Katzenjammer. Our last name is German so it fits nicely on his papers. Not only that- the word means, A loud, discordant noise or wailing in english. Well! How the name fits him!

He needs to be up your butt 24/7- he is the nosiest cat ev-ver! If you have something in your hand- He will grab your hand, with his paw, pull your hand towards him just so he can see what you have!

Now, the rest of the pics are a few kitties that "found me"

This is.....Kitty. Not sure if Kitty was a boy or a girl. DH and I lived in St. John USVI for 5 months and this kitty found us. Kitty would be at our door all the time. When he/she would hear the jeep pull up in the driveway- Kitty would come running down the hill and would be waiting for us at the door. If someone came for a visit- this cat would NOT move away from the front of the door he/she would just lay across the doorway so the person had to step over him/her.

This cat also found me. One day he just showed up at my condo door- and I was on the second floor why not pick someone on the ground floor- oh well, all DH and I could come up with was, maybe someone moved out of their condo and left him behind I would throw old towels in the dryer for him to lay on at night so he would be nice and warm b/c he found us in November. I put a copy of this pic in EVERY vet office and supermarket in the area- no one claimed him. Once day a woman down the street said her daughter MIGHT want him- so I took him to get cleaned up and his nails cut, and don't you know, the groomer fell in love with him and kept him BUT- sad to say- a few months later he passed away. He must have been sick

The next kitty's name is Jack! He found me too- one day- he was just THERE. I named him Jack. He was so friendly but I never saw him in the neighborhood before. So, of course, I feed him. and of course, he sticks around. It was this past winter he found me. So- again, I worried he was cold. We have a stairwell outside that leads to our basement. I would open the door so at least he can be out of the elements and be warmer than if he was outside. I got the brainy idea of putting the spaceheater out there for him. I would let it run for a while before I knew he would come down for the night so it was warm for him

Fast forward- actually a DISer ended up taking him. I know her from the Johnny Depp Eye Candy thread- she lives in N Jersey I live in South. So we met in the middle and exchanged Jack! He is happy, warm and loved now! Thank you rhiannonwales (Sherrie) for giving Jack a loving home!

and......these are just the deer I would feed every day in my backyard during the winter when I lived in our condo! I took this from our balcony. There was a baby that would run up to me when I would come out with food, so I would scare him away so he did not get used to approaching people!

 

[Hixski]

Can I throw in another furbaby pic? I saw there was another Duncan dog on here, so mine wanted to say hi.

Duncan putting up with his eeyore crazed mama:

And to anyone who thinks he is not my kid - I have to diaper him. He leaks. I say it is the universe's way of making sure I have to diaper something.

The world can never have too many Duncans!!!!! Cute dog!!

Hey another Duncan!!! Hi Pup!!!


OK- I finally found a pic of my pride and joy-- my kitty cat
are you ready b/c this is not one of the best pics I have of her??

Bhhhhaaaa

OMG! That pic always distrubed me- I just had to share it. I forget who even sent it to me

But, no, for real, I scanned some pics of my kitties and I am putting them in my photobucket and will be back with real pics!

Ok, that picture is just freaky!!! Love the pictures of the other kitties!! The real ones.

 

[bulah1]

and......these are just the deer I would feed every day in my backyard during the winter when I lived in our condo! I took this from our balcony. There was a baby that would run up to me when I would come out with food, so I would scare him away so he did not get used to approaching people!

Your kitties were all very sweet!! And how cool about the deer! You are very smart to scare the deer away, so he wouldn't learn to get to attached to people... see you're smart, I probably would have done the total opposite and tried to pull a Snow White or something and have all the little forest creatures as close to me as possible... but that really defeats the purpose of them surviving in the wild doesn't it! LOL. You are clever at least, I'm a big dummy! LMAO!

I have had other little forest creatures come up on my "level" when I was living on the upper part of a duplex. Our place was set up similarly to yours where there was a "wooded" area behind us. So we'd get deer, ducks, and all sorts of stuff wandering in when they felt it was appropriate.

I even had a hawk fly on to my porch, now that was about the coolest thing ever... couldn't get my camera in time...

But my favorite must have been "OPIE" - my opossum. The first time I met him he was just a little baby possum. Tiny little guy. And he was hiding under my bird bath stand all "frozen" with his little mouth open in defense. A much larger possum was threatening him right there on our back porch over some spilled safflower bird seed. All I had to do was knock on the glass door, the big fellow took one look and ran away down the stairs. Little Opie just sat there in his defense mode for about 3 minutes or maybe more until he felt safe. Then he "unfroze" and immediately began munching on the seed. You could actually here these little "crunches" from the other side of the door. I thought it was the sweetest thing ever. I do have pics of my Opie somewhere. I began to leave stuff out for him on the deck floor so he could get at it. LOL. Little "leftovers" or bird seeds, whatever I felt like giving him. He would always visit. I made him fat and happy. I never got to say good bye to him - we ended up moving down the street. I wonder how long he visited the new residents! LOL I probably ruined him too... I was not smart and made him dependent on my foods... I hope I didn't destroy my little buddy by doing that. Again, you did the right thing! LOL - I just always try to make buddies with whatever critters come my way.

 

[Liisa]

Jammer looks CRAZY!!! All wide eyes and with that "what's going on, what are we doing next" look. I know that look well, Khabo has it too!

And you named one of your kitties Jack? Foreshadowing??? Was he a rogue, lovable pirate as well?


And I LOVE that picture of Duncan. "Mom, is this really necessary? Deep sigh, ok I'll where the stupid hat if you insist...." Animal expressions are sooo funny. And they really do put up with a lot from us insane human people.

 

[maddhatir]

But my favorite must have been "OPIE" - my opossum. The first time I met him he was just a little baby possum. Tiny little guy. And he was hiding under my bird bath stand all "frozen" with his little mouth open in defense. A much larger possum was threatening him right there on our back porch over some spilled safflower bird seed. All I had to do was knock on the glass door, the big fellow took one look and ran away down the stairs. Little Opie just sat there in his defense mode for about 3 minutes or maybe more until he felt safe. Then he "unfroze" and immediately began munching on the seed. You could actually here these little "crunches" from the other side of the door. I thought it was the sweetest thing ever. I do have pics of my Opie somewhere. I began to leave stuff out for him on the deck floor so he could get at it. LOL. Little "leftovers" or bird seeds, whatever I felt like giving him. He would always visit. I made him fat and happy. I never got to say good bye to him - we ended up moving down the street. I wonder how long he visited the new residents! LOL I probably ruined him too... I was not smart and made him dependent on my foods... I hope I didn't destroy my little buddy by doing that. Again, you did the right thing! LOL - I just always try to make buddies with whatever critters come my way.

oh- You sound like my mom! She lived in a ground floor apt. She fed all the little creatures. She was there for about 10 years until she moved. They would all come out of the woods to eat on her porch! opossums, raccoons, chipmunks, of course squirrels- Not sure how they are all making out since she left!

 

[maddhatir]

Jammer looks CRAZY!!! All wide eyes and with that "what's going on, what are we doing next" look. I know that look well, Khabo has it too!

And you named one of your kitties Jack? Foreshadowing??? Was he a rogue, lovable pirate as well?

Jammer IS insane- I am contemplating putting him in the kitty mental institution- it will be for his own good


As far as Jack- He just looked all roughed up, missing some teeth poor thing- he looked like a pirate kitty!

Sherrie, who has him now, took him to the vet. The vet told her he looked like a cat who someone may have abused or has been through some rough times. Some of his teeth were broken off at the gum line- but they had healed- he had some bumps and bruises.

But he was the most friendly cat! But what scared me was, anytime I would go to walk away from him- he would grab my leg with his claws, really give me a few swats and dig in like he was mad I was stepping away from him!- I wasn't sure if was going to go psycho kitty on my butt But I would tell him no and put my hand in front of his face and he would stop- I was also thinking about where his claws had been- I do not want them puncturing my skin!!

 

[KRIS10420]

I enjoy seeing pictures of everyone's pets and they are all very cute.
Off the side of my house is an enclosure that the cat's have access to via a pet door in a window. I came home from work one day last week to find this outside http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m317/kris10420/deer.jpg
Bodie was outside talking to him and he was just laying there watching the cat.

 

[Hixski]

Aren't we all terrible the things we do to our pets????? I am sure I have posted these before but.......

 

[arbeywolf]

I'm sort of a lurker here but after seeing everyone's great pics of their critters, I just couldn't hold back on posting some of mine

Here's our 2 dogs after killing a giant shark toy
They are so proud of themselves

our kitty, Ferris

And our Senegal parrot, Chicken

All these guys are rescues. Both dogs were shelter dogs,and Chicken was also a shelter bird.
Ferris' whole litter was dumped in a box at the door of the vet's that I used to work for sometime in the night/early morning. They were too young to have been separated from their mom but I guess that didn't matter to the person who tossed them out
So anyway. all of us techs took turns fostering them until they were old enough to be adopted...then each of us and one of the vets adopted them all LOL

Anyway now that I've delurked I'll try and post more here. Nice to have a place with like minded people

~Raeann

 

[maddhatir]

Aren't we all terrible the things we do to our pets????? I am sure I have posted these before but.......

Hix! I just hope for Duncan's sake it is Halloween!

 

[Hixski]

Hix! I just hope for Duncan's sake it is Halloween!

That is what he wore to a Halloween party at the kennel. They said he was too sweet for that hat. That was from a couple of years ago.