When sharing an old photo of the two girls on the couch as part of my Sunday post, our friend Dolly the Doxie suggested I share that for her Throwback Thursday blog hop this week. That got me thinking of another photo which I used back when I first started the blog in September of 2012, and then led me to thinking back to the days when we had four dogs and four cats.
Christmas of 2004 my sister gave me two photo frames to display our crew at the time. We had just brought Sheba and Moses home and that completed our perfect sets.
We now had four dogs: two males, two females, two golden retrievers, two beagles; and four cats: two males and two females. Some people, including my own family, thought we were kind of crazy to have that many pets. It hadn’t really been planned that way. Don Juan was getting older and we got the two female cats to keep Conrad company when Don was gone. We had only planned to get one more cat but came home with two. The same happened with the goldens, we had only planned to get one but came home with two.
Didn’t it work out nicely that we ended up with perfect symmetry, which is defined as “balance, proportion, and harmony”? If you had asked me before I got thinking about this I would have told you that our symmetry lasted for quite a while. It seemed like it was a long time that I was telling people we had four dogs and four cats. Now, when looking back, I realized it wasn’t. Don Juan died in March of 2005, so our symmetry only lasted just over 3 months. We had gotten the two female felines in June of 2002, and our plan worked….they were now here to keep Conrad company.
Don Juan was a great cat who got along with everyone. Samantha is similar to him in that way, but she and Conrad, the two cats left now, are not close at all. Conrad was extremely close with Katie, but you are more likely to see Sam with the dogs than with Conrad these days.
Now we are a three dog, two cat household; we lost Katie to cancer in August 2011, Moses to cancer in June of 2013, and Kobi to old age just over a month ago. Although there’s not a lot of symmetry going on anymore, and we miss those that are gone dearly, we can work with these numbers. They still fill up the couch…..
…..and they still fill up the kitchen when getting treats!
We are joining Dolly the Doxie for her Throwback Thursday blog hop! Please visit her and others through the links below. *Update – I neglected to name Dolly’s co-host DogThusiast, and needed to correct that.*
Gosh you sure did have a house full and you still have a house full…lol. Love all of the photos.
It did and does keep us busy, that’s for sure! 🙂
Thank you!
That is a lot of pets. I think I would go crazy 😛 But I’m bad at multi-tasking, so good for you 😉
Well, I’m not always so good at the multi-tasking either, I think I’m just stubborn and determined! 🙂
Beautiful post with great photos. Those that are gone are still with you!
Thank you! Yes, their sweet spirits will always be with us through the happy memories.
Cute photos! We are three dogs and two cats…some think we are nuts, but we are happy and like it this way. Us cats and dogs all seem to get along in our own ways.
Thanks, Emma. I think 3 and 2 are great numbers and I’m glad it works for your family too. The cats and dogs may not totally love each other all the time, but everyone seems happy enough!
Thanks for sharing with us how your household has changed over the months and years. Love that not once, but twice, you went out looking to adopt another animal – and came home with two. 🙂
Hey, you are now at the same number as us, but it seems your crew gets along a lot better. I’m jealous! LOL!
Well, these must be good numbers because Emma has the same number too! Maybe that’s a sign you should stick it our with your crew, if possible. We are very lucky that they all get along, though Conrad gets pretty crabby with just about everyone sometimes. But they all pretty much just ignore him, and the poor old guy doesn’t really have the strength to do any real damage!
Fank youz for making my birthday so special. Wez away’z the weekend’z
so catch up’z wiff you Monday’z xxxxxx
Load’z of Hug’z
Mollie and Alfie
We were happy to be there for your birthday, Mollie! Have a great weekend.
xxxxoooo
You still have symmetry! One in the middle and two on the outside! 😉
Oh, you are so right, thanks for pointing that out! 🙂
Squee to those baby kitten photos! Katie was adorable!
I know, right? No wonder we ended up bringing two home!
What a great throwback! Thanks for sharing the ones that came before.
Thank you for coming to share with us too!
They’re small. Why not take two, huh? 🙂
One of the fun things about having lots of pets is that each one can figure out who they want to be friends with. It’s interesting to see how the cats choose their favorites despite what you expect or hope to happen.
Ha ha, right, Pamela! Luckily when we got Luke we never got to go see the whole litter of puppies, because who knows what would have happened then! 🙂
Luke seems to spend equal time playing and snuggling with both of his sisters, so hopefully he doesn’t pick a favorite, because I don’t want anyone to feel left out (then we might have to get another dog….lol).
I love the frames of the pets! Canines versus felines!
I think I need to do some updated ones too though!
What SUPER photos of a most wonderful group of animals – the cast of characters may adjust with time but the one thing that shines through in all the faces is LOVE.
Hugs, Pam
Aww, thank you so much, Pam, what a lovely sentiment.
What a handsome group of dogs and cats! Golden Retriever puppies are just so dang cute, I completely understand how you came home with two! I miss Tucker’s smile everyday. I’m glad that you have so many great memories and of course, your new edition!
Thank you, Melissa. Yes, those golden fuzzballs are pretty irresistible! They are such happy dogs too.
What great memories! We thought we were overwhelmed with three cats! We sort of had the same theories as you. Started out with one cat, Peaches, who became very big for her britches fast so we went and got Herb to put her in her place. They bonded fairly well until several emergencies/illnesses got Herb’s nose out of place with Peaches getting so much attention which pretty much ended their bond. So hubby brought home a kitten who Peaches loathed so Saffie turned to Herb for companionship although she was very independent. Great memories but never again, the drama!
We’ve been pretty lucky that we didn’t have a lot of drama, other than in the beginning when the new ones came home. There were a couple of dog fights that we certainly could have done without though, but luckily no one ever got seriously hurt or anything.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. 🙂 The players have changed but that’s about it. LOL
🙂 It’s still the same crazy household for sure!
Awwww, those are great photos. I was a bad dog mom with Roxy as a pup, i have hardly any photos.
Thank you. There was a spell for a few years where I didn’t have a lot of photos either, once they were past being puppies and kittens I did slack off for a while!
Oh wow! Such adorable photos!!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!!!
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
Thanks, Jenna, and thanks for coming by to see them! 🙂