Congrats on your new fur baby. I don't think there is a link to add a picture of my fur baby. We have a black and white dog. He's a Springer Spaniel named Apollo-- not for Zeus's son but after the space program of the 1960's and early 70's in the US. Hubby and I are empty nesters so Apollo is our baby. We've always had Springers and Apollo has the best demeanor. He has health issues but you would never know. He has epilepsy controlled by medication and crystals in his urine, controlled with special food. He was a failed show dog and was put up for adoption. We are grateful he wasn't meant to be a show dog but a member of our family. BTW, we have an outdoor cat-- he came with the house. He's pretty awesome too. I wrote his story and it was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul; Lessons Learned From My Cat. Enjoy Veneri. Love the name.
Thanks for the comment! Dang, I didn’t realize you couldn’t add pictures to comments. I should ask the Substack team to maybe implement that. Your story is super interesting! I’m sorry abut your dog’s health, but glad you’re doing your best to control things. I’d love to get published in Chicken Soup, been eyeing it for a while, but I don’t yet have a story that would fit. Do you have a link to your story? I’d love to read it.
Welcome, Vineri! We also have a tuxedo cat adopted from a rescue group that found him feral at just under 1 year old. He and my daughter (3 at the time) bonded at the pet store where the rescue group had brought him, and where we were intending to get a goldfish. Pluto changed our minds. Our cat Pluto is now 19 years old, has outlived a rescued dog and two moves. I can’t imagine our children growing up without him!
Such a wholesome story! And wow, 19? He’s one of the oldest cats I’ve heard about. May he break beyond 20, and may you enjoy each other for a long time to come! How long does it usually take him to get used to a new home?
Love your cat story! Veneri is definitely a community cat, both in cyberspace and real life.
Like your wife we’re more of a dog family but always have a cat prowling about. We rescued Mandy, our current family feline a dozen or so years ago from a hoarding situation, in which she lived the first 7 months of her life in a cat carrier. She’s still an indoor cat because of traffic and javelinas and coyotes, but after being in such confined space, the house feels like the entire galaxy to her. She has made herself the boss of the household quadrupeds. Respect.
Respect! I’m amazed how many people here own rescue cats 🐈 ! Vineri is still small and we haven’t fully cat-proofed our house yet, so we try to keep him out of the kitchen, and that makes him mad. I feel bad for him, even though his room (our bedroom) has everything he needs. Can’t wait to open up the whole house for him soon.
I love this story. We just rescued what I'm now going to call a tuxedo dog, Winifred (Winnie) the terrier mix. She joins our already resident rescue dog, Chunk, who is some strange combination of dachshund, black lab, and pit bull. He has been described as "a black lab someone put in the dryer" and "an Ikea project missing some pieces" (his legs are very short).
We're glad to give her one. To be fair, we didn't pick them up as strays ourselves--they got picked up by others and we "adopted" them through a rescue organization. So you have some bits of this experience that exceed our own!
I love the story about Vinery! You both were very lucky to find each other 🙂
I'm going to tell you about the story of two of my pets. The first one is a stray cat and his name is "Tito" that comes from "gatito" in Spanish. His mother was also a stray and she used to come around looking for food, she was tiny and cute but in that time my mother didn't want to have more cats. I've got to say that in that time we were living in a village, we usually did that in summer. When autumn came we left the village and returned to the city, but we left a house for de kitty. It was made of some cardboard boxes and some of our old clothes. The next spring we came back to start preparing the garden and when we looked into the "house" we saw the kitty with three little kittens, one black, other orange and the third one white and grey the same as his mom. When we came back to the village for the summer season all cats left but the white and grey little one. He used to do the same as his mother did, and had long naps in our garden. His mom was still in the street at that time till one day someone decided to make her disapear running over her with the car... So we started to let this little cat in our house, and as the time passed by he was more confortable. In the end, he came with us as the next autumn started. Now he lives comfortably at home.
I have also an stray dog which I adopted in a pet's refuge. His name is Felix and despite being a bit naughty he is very loving too. They both get on well most of the time, but is funny to see them arguing for little things such as, this is not your bed get out of there :D
I'm afraid I can't share any photos of them here...
Enjoy the time with Vinery, it'll surely be a great experience!!
Hey, Sara! Thanks so much for sharing. Yeah, unfortunately I saw too that you can’t post photos in the comments. Hoping that will change soon. I’m so sorry about the cat being run over by that car, but at least her son found a wonderful family in you. That’s such a beautiful story! And though it might weird that a cat and a dog became friends, I believe it, because I have an acquaintance who’s got the same combination, a golden retriever and a little cat, and they get along just fine! It’s awesome to see.
Well done Andrei. For being such a kind soul, for finding such an amazing person to spend your life with, for finding the space in your home and heart for a creature who needs it the most. These are actual #couplegoals, haha!
I've lived with two cats (both by way of girlfriends), and I would love to have one myself now that I have a home of my own. Thing is, I live on a 700 sq ft houseboat, and I don't really want the cat box indoors. I just realized this morning that I could put one out on the back deck, but I still have the problem of a putting in a cat door—solvable, but it would require replacing the back door, or one of my the casement windows. There just isn't much wall space! Any thoughts on how a cat would handle an outdoor box? Seems fine, right?
And then there's also my current girlfriend, who seems to be rather allergic :/ When I've looked for info on so-called hypo-allergenic cats there seems to be a lot of misinformation. Any actual experiences to share?
Hey Bowen! Welcome to Practice Space! By cat box, do you mean litter box? If so, I think that if the cat is used to being outside and as long as you take precautions that it doesn’t leave and get lost or jump in the water, putting one on the back deck should be fine. As for hypoallergenic cats, I have no idea. I know bichons are, though, so maybe look into getting a dog:D
I have a black cat called Kepler. After moving to Graz, I told people I knew to keep an ear out for a cat needing a home. It was also the beginning of winter, so not many kittens about. But then a friend was hiking and came across a farm that with some kittens needing a home, so the next weekend we piled into a car and drove into the hills in the snow, to try to locate said farm. Kep came home with us that day in December 2020, and has made me smile and laugh every single day since. He crawls onto my shoulders as I make coffee in the morning. He gets under the covers to cosy up in bed. He chatters endlessly and jumps out at us to try and scare us, then runs away to hide. He has made himself the centre of our home ❤️
Amazing! Mine gets super angry whenever we're occupied with our phones or a book, and he tries to slap them away with a paw or munch on them. He demands all the attention!
We adopted Bubba in Berkeley, California after he was shoved in the Night Box at the local shelter. For those of you who don't know, a Night Box is a metal box in the side of the shelter where people can abandon an unwanted animal in the middle of the night. He was covered with fleas, had a broken eardrum, was malnourished and very frightened. He is the biggest ham you ever met, and absolutely loves people, all kinds - he has friends all over town, people blowing kisses to him across the plazas, shopkeepers shoving fistfuls of treats at him - and all of this despite the fact that by law, he has to wear a muzzle due to his breed (American Staffordshire) being designated by Catalunya (Barcelona) as potentially dangerous. It's unfair, but he's the unofficial mayor of the town, and we couldn't love and spoil him more.
Wow, Troy! He’s such a beaut. I’m sorry to hear he was left in the middle of the night, but then again, if his previous owners couldn’t handle him, it’s so much better he found his way to you. I also love the name, Bubba! I’d feed him all the treats in the world. P.S. Vineri really is a dapper gentleman, and he appreciates you taking notice of his dandiness.
My husband John found a stray Persian cat in Philadelphia on a U-Haul truck lot- we think she may have escaped a truck somehow- but she had been there for some time, she also was filthy with dirt and truck oil, she’d been living around a dumpster on that lot. He took her home, naming her Priscilla.
I have never loved a cat more… she’s gone over the rainbow bridge 🌈 now, having taken a piece of our hearts with her…❤️🩹
Vineri is a beautiful cat. You and he are lucky to have found each other. Our rescue cat, Kinmo, is also my first cat. I had no idea what that meant and how much she would change my life--all for the better. (Even she wakes me in the middle of the night I'm happy because that means she wants me.)
I look forward to hearing more about Vineri and seeing more photos, too.
Haha, yes! I look forward to writing more about him. I have a short essay under consideration from Chicken Soup for the Soul, hopefully it will get published and I will be able to share here soon.
Dear Andrei, I like very much the story and it’s impressive how you can transmit your feelings to whole story. I sincerely think that you have something special in the way that I really can imagine the story trough your words.
Congrats on your new fur baby. I don't think there is a link to add a picture of my fur baby. We have a black and white dog. He's a Springer Spaniel named Apollo-- not for Zeus's son but after the space program of the 1960's and early 70's in the US. Hubby and I are empty nesters so Apollo is our baby. We've always had Springers and Apollo has the best demeanor. He has health issues but you would never know. He has epilepsy controlled by medication and crystals in his urine, controlled with special food. He was a failed show dog and was put up for adoption. We are grateful he wasn't meant to be a show dog but a member of our family. BTW, we have an outdoor cat-- he came with the house. He's pretty awesome too. I wrote his story and it was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul; Lessons Learned From My Cat. Enjoy Veneri. Love the name.
Thanks for the comment! Dang, I didn’t realize you couldn’t add pictures to comments. I should ask the Substack team to maybe implement that. Your story is super interesting! I’m sorry abut your dog’s health, but glad you’re doing your best to control things. I’d love to get published in Chicken Soup, been eyeing it for a while, but I don’t yet have a story that would fit. Do you have a link to your story? I’d love to read it.
Welcome, Vineri! We also have a tuxedo cat adopted from a rescue group that found him feral at just under 1 year old. He and my daughter (3 at the time) bonded at the pet store where the rescue group had brought him, and where we were intending to get a goldfish. Pluto changed our minds. Our cat Pluto is now 19 years old, has outlived a rescued dog and two moves. I can’t imagine our children growing up without him!
Such a wholesome story! And wow, 19? He’s one of the oldest cats I’ve heard about. May he break beyond 20, and may you enjoy each other for a long time to come! How long does it usually take him to get used to a new home?
Love your cat story! Veneri is definitely a community cat, both in cyberspace and real life.
Like your wife we’re more of a dog family but always have a cat prowling about. We rescued Mandy, our current family feline a dozen or so years ago from a hoarding situation, in which she lived the first 7 months of her life in a cat carrier. She’s still an indoor cat because of traffic and javelinas and coyotes, but after being in such confined space, the house feels like the entire galaxy to her. She has made herself the boss of the household quadrupeds. Respect.
Respect! I’m amazed how many people here own rescue cats 🐈 ! Vineri is still small and we haven’t fully cat-proofed our house yet, so we try to keep him out of the kitchen, and that makes him mad. I feel bad for him, even though his room (our bedroom) has everything he needs. Can’t wait to open up the whole house for him soon.
Congratulations on your new kitten. :).
My husband and I had two cats. One we had to put to sleep last month. And the other one is still with us, eighteen years young. *big smile*
My condolences for the slumbering one, and my best wishes for the wise elder! Long may he live!
Thank you for your kind words.
And the eighteen year old is actually a she. :).
Oh, all right, thanks for the clarification! Long may she live and love!
I love this story. We just rescued what I'm now going to call a tuxedo dog, Winifred (Winnie) the terrier mix. She joins our already resident rescue dog, Chunk, who is some strange combination of dachshund, black lab, and pit bull. He has been described as "a black lab someone put in the dryer" and "an Ikea project missing some pieces" (his legs are very short).
Haha, love all this! Vineri is our first stray, but it seems you’re more experienced at this. I’m glad Winifred (awesome name!) has a good home now!
We're glad to give her one. To be fair, we didn't pick them up as strays ourselves--they got picked up by others and we "adopted" them through a rescue organization. So you have some bits of this experience that exceed our own!
I love the story about Vinery! You both were very lucky to find each other 🙂
I'm going to tell you about the story of two of my pets. The first one is a stray cat and his name is "Tito" that comes from "gatito" in Spanish. His mother was also a stray and she used to come around looking for food, she was tiny and cute but in that time my mother didn't want to have more cats. I've got to say that in that time we were living in a village, we usually did that in summer. When autumn came we left the village and returned to the city, but we left a house for de kitty. It was made of some cardboard boxes and some of our old clothes. The next spring we came back to start preparing the garden and when we looked into the "house" we saw the kitty with three little kittens, one black, other orange and the third one white and grey the same as his mom. When we came back to the village for the summer season all cats left but the white and grey little one. He used to do the same as his mother did, and had long naps in our garden. His mom was still in the street at that time till one day someone decided to make her disapear running over her with the car... So we started to let this little cat in our house, and as the time passed by he was more confortable. In the end, he came with us as the next autumn started. Now he lives comfortably at home.
I have also an stray dog which I adopted in a pet's refuge. His name is Felix and despite being a bit naughty he is very loving too. They both get on well most of the time, but is funny to see them arguing for little things such as, this is not your bed get out of there :D
I'm afraid I can't share any photos of them here...
Enjoy the time with Vinery, it'll surely be a great experience!!
Hey, Sara! Thanks so much for sharing. Yeah, unfortunately I saw too that you can’t post photos in the comments. Hoping that will change soon. I’m so sorry about the cat being run over by that car, but at least her son found a wonderful family in you. That’s such a beautiful story! And though it might weird that a cat and a dog became friends, I believe it, because I have an acquaintance who’s got the same combination, a golden retriever and a little cat, and they get along just fine! It’s awesome to see.
Well done Andrei. For being such a kind soul, for finding such an amazing person to spend your life with, for finding the space in your home and heart for a creature who needs it the most. These are actual #couplegoals, haha!
Here's a tiny rhyme for this beautiful story:
----------
A tiny life, came in your lives,
it filled your heart with love.
Its tiny paws and tiny eyes,
they are your treasure trove.
This tiny life, has changed your lives,
it's made you learn so much.
And with this tiny life in hand,
there's gold in all you'll touch!
Beautiful poem, Punit! Thanks for taking the time. It was well worth the wait. I love, love, love the final verse!
Thanks for this space Andrei!
I've lived with two cats (both by way of girlfriends), and I would love to have one myself now that I have a home of my own. Thing is, I live on a 700 sq ft houseboat, and I don't really want the cat box indoors. I just realized this morning that I could put one out on the back deck, but I still have the problem of a putting in a cat door—solvable, but it would require replacing the back door, or one of my the casement windows. There just isn't much wall space! Any thoughts on how a cat would handle an outdoor box? Seems fine, right?
And then there's also my current girlfriend, who seems to be rather allergic :/ When I've looked for info on so-called hypo-allergenic cats there seems to be a lot of misinformation. Any actual experiences to share?
Hey Bowen! Welcome to Practice Space! By cat box, do you mean litter box? If so, I think that if the cat is used to being outside and as long as you take precautions that it doesn’t leave and get lost or jump in the water, putting one on the back deck should be fine. As for hypoallergenic cats, I have no idea. I know bichons are, though, so maybe look into getting a dog:D
Love it. I have a 6.5-year-old tuxedo. He’s my son. Seriously. I get it.
Yeah, brother!
I have a black cat called Kepler. After moving to Graz, I told people I knew to keep an ear out for a cat needing a home. It was also the beginning of winter, so not many kittens about. But then a friend was hiking and came across a farm that with some kittens needing a home, so the next weekend we piled into a car and drove into the hills in the snow, to try to locate said farm. Kep came home with us that day in December 2020, and has made me smile and laugh every single day since. He crawls onto my shoulders as I make coffee in the morning. He gets under the covers to cosy up in bed. He chatters endlessly and jumps out at us to try and scare us, then runs away to hide. He has made himself the centre of our home ❤️
Oh my god, he tries to scare you? That’s so cute. Kepler sounds like an amazing friend. Thank you for sharing, Tamzin!
Yep, he'll hide under or behind something, jump out, tap us with a paw and then dash to hide on the other side of the room. It's like a game of tag 🤣
Amazing! Mine gets super angry whenever we're occupied with our phones or a book, and he tries to slap them away with a paw or munch on them. He demands all the attention!
Our cat does not allow me to talk on the phone. She will slap my legs and meow loudly.
Kepler sounds like a lovely cat. I wish our cat climbed shoulders. (At least I think I wish that.)
Vineri looks like a very soft and dapper gentleman, congrats on your new family member.
You can see our little prince, Bubba, on my most recent post, about half-way down, here: https://open.substack.com/pub/mrtroyford/p/just-the-tips-kitchen-advice-hard?r=1w6mmw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
We adopted Bubba in Berkeley, California after he was shoved in the Night Box at the local shelter. For those of you who don't know, a Night Box is a metal box in the side of the shelter where people can abandon an unwanted animal in the middle of the night. He was covered with fleas, had a broken eardrum, was malnourished and very frightened. He is the biggest ham you ever met, and absolutely loves people, all kinds - he has friends all over town, people blowing kisses to him across the plazas, shopkeepers shoving fistfuls of treats at him - and all of this despite the fact that by law, he has to wear a muzzle due to his breed (American Staffordshire) being designated by Catalunya (Barcelona) as potentially dangerous. It's unfair, but he's the unofficial mayor of the town, and we couldn't love and spoil him more.
Wow, Troy! He’s such a beaut. I’m sorry to hear he was left in the middle of the night, but then again, if his previous owners couldn’t handle him, it’s so much better he found his way to you. I also love the name, Bubba! I’d feed him all the treats in the world. P.S. Vineri really is a dapper gentleman, and he appreciates you taking notice of his dandiness.
love a good dandy 😻
My husband John found a stray Persian cat in Philadelphia on a U-Haul truck lot- we think she may have escaped a truck somehow- but she had been there for some time, she also was filthy with dirt and truck oil, she’d been living around a dumpster on that lot. He took her home, naming her Priscilla.
I have never loved a cat more… she’s gone over the rainbow bridge 🌈 now, having taken a piece of our hearts with her…❤️🩹
❤️❤️❤️ what a beautiful story! Thanks for sharing.
I loved this so much! 😎🙏🤩
I’m so glad! Thanks for checking it out.
Vineri is a beautiful cat. You and he are lucky to have found each other. Our rescue cat, Kinmo, is also my first cat. I had no idea what that meant and how much she would change my life--all for the better. (Even she wakes me in the middle of the night I'm happy because that means she wants me.)
I look forward to hearing more about Vineri and seeing more photos, too.
Haha, yes! I look forward to writing more about him. I have a short essay under consideration from Chicken Soup for the Soul, hopefully it will get published and I will be able to share here soon.
Dear Andrei, I like very much the story and it’s impressive how you can transmit your feelings to whole story. I sincerely think that you have something special in the way that I really can imagine the story trough your words.
Thank you so much, Luci! It means a lot.
Great! Tuxies are the best. What’s their name?
Oh yes. That doesn’t disappoint!