Family Pets

When my (then boyfriend) husband and I were in college, we acquired a beautiful hand-fed young cockatiel, which he named Wintermute. She was a fun little bird, and when we left college and moved to Chicago, she brightened our days in an otherwise pretty bleak surrounding.

Unfortunately, one day when she was sitting on my shoulder, playing with an earring, she swallowed the jade bead that was in it. She stopped eating, and her keelbone was prominant. We took her to the vet (one that actually had doctors that specialized in avian medicine), and she died there.

Even though this was years ago, I still get tears thinking about her, and I still feel guilty for wearing the earring that must have caused her death (we couldn't afford the necropsy, so we'll never know for sure). The vet's office had a grief counselor call us, and she also wrote a lovely letter. It helped a little, but it was still an awful experience.

After we recovered from Wintermute's death, we got another cockatiel, this one a male lutino. Marc named him Silmaril, and while his personality is not Wintermute's, he's a lovely singer. He makes a great watchbird and alarm clock.

In addition to the cockatiels in our lives, we also had at one time a small flock of society finches. We started out with Nimue and Merlin (cinnamon-colored). Nimue died mysteriously and quickly, and we were afraid Merlin would go into a decline without companionship, so we got Arthur, Lancelot, and Gwenevere (all brown).

Merlin adjusted to these strangers, but was never really warm with them (I think he missed Nimue). I even managed to name the newcomers appropriately: Gwen paired off with Lance, and they had The Babies (we never got around the naming the four of them), even though Arthur was a much more handsome bird and a far superior singer. One by one, though, these tiny companions died (finches are not especially long-lived), until all that was left was Arthur. (Which further illustrates Gwen's bad choice; he was a very robust bird.) Losing Arthur was hard for me, because he was my favorite, and he had a lovely song that he sang for me.

This is Cody. He's a pretty dog, really, even if is parentage is far from pure. He's allegedly Border Collie and Akita. Normally, when he's in a jauntier mood (he dislikes cameras), his tail curls high over his back like Akita's tails do. His long and silky coat is more like a border collie's, though.

Cody's been with me since 1994; he's a second-hand dog. His previous owner couldn't keep him in his apartment, and the people that my friend had left Cody with were abusing him. Clearly, the dog could not stay in that situation! So, I made a few phone calls, arranged for my mom to watch Cody until we moved into a building that allowed dogs, and here we are!

Since Cody has come to be in the family, the family has grown by one. My daughter was born in 1997. At first, Cody seemed to be vaguely curious. Then he came to the realization that the noisy, smelly, getting-all-his-attention baby was staying. He's been tolerant of her. And protective. That's a good thing.

Cody's protectiveness seems to cover Mom (who took him in when I couldn't), me, and Diana. My husband needs very little protecting, but I bet Cody'd come to his "rescue," too. Like most dogs, he hates the mailman, squirrels and Jehovah's Witnesses. I sleep much easier at night knowing Cody's there to save me from the killer squirrels' nut mines. ::grin::

Cody was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in the summer of 2002. With medication, he should be just fine. (Ya know, if it's not one crisis in this house, it's another...)

My mother has a Schipperke (also a second-hand dog) named Skippy. He came with that name, and she never got around to changing it. Schipperkes are small Belgian dogs, once kept on barges as watchdogs. They're about 13" tall and weigh around 15 pounds. Their faces are often described as "foxy," and Skippy's certainly is. It's funny to watch him play with Cody, since he can run under Cody's belly and stay there while Cody tries to catch him.

Because I am not a sane person, I took on another project. I gathered from an online source a bunch of dog biscuit recipes, and edited them, added some clip art, and will self-publish it the same way I did the family cookbook. I have a few family members who are just indulgent enough to make dog cookies.

Humane Society of the United States Get your next pet from a shelter. Save an animal's life!

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Animal cruelty makes me sick. I try to buy products that are not animal tested. Get involved.

The Fund for Animals "We speak for those who can't."

Animal Cruelty Issues

Animal Legal Defense Fund

Family Pets

Important Pet Links