I've returned here to report that my "garden buddy" has proved herself useful in the garden for the first time:

She has caught and killed (or frightened to death) the world's smallest mole. Maybe 5 inches long at the most-- a baby, or perhaps this is what a "vole" is...

Regardless, I'm somewhat appreciative, despite the mess she and her prey made of the flagstone patio. (Some areas dug out from the surface by the dog, others dug up from below by the desperately tunneling critter.)

I had something like this dig trails through my front yard at my old house, and I'd rather not have it happen again here.

These pictures were so neat and cute!!! I have a house and yard full of critters,too!!!! SO...gosh.....I feel pretty good! Peggy

I finally joined one of the photo hosting sites. I haven't figured out the proper html code to post a picture in a message so I figured I would first see if the link to the new album even works.

Here is a link that might be useful: my pets

I can see them, Joan! Cute doggies!

WOW...I didn't even KNOW this forum was here!! I thought it was a Chat link, I guess. I have LOVED seeing all these pet photos, and thought I would share mine, too. We have four cats and a dachshund. (You are catching me at a good time...once, I had 46 parrots and budgies, too! Think how many photos I would have had to share THEN!)

This is Abby the Tabby, our basketball with fur. She's a very sweet natured cat, but dumb as a brick. Except when it comes to finding FOOD. She weighs 20 pounds now.

This is Beau, officially named Pierre Gustav Toutant Beauregard the Sasquatch. He's named for a Confederate general because he's wearing Confederate gray and for the Sasquatch because he is a polydactyl with extra toes on all four feet. He looks like he's wearing snowshoes. His nickname is Beauzer or Beauzeau. First picture is him sleeping with our piebald dachshund, Oscar. Second shows more of his big feet. Beau weighs about 19 pounds, but he's taller than Abby, so he doesn't look as fat. {{gwi:755085}}
{{gwi:755087}}

This is Molly, a very affectionate cat who is the biggest PAIN in the patoot imagineable. Molly just sprawls herself anywhere and everywhere she wants, and too bad if there are knickknacks, dishes, valuables of any sort in the way. She will just shove them to the floor, and then look at you as if to say, "Hey...MY comfort comes FIRST, you know." She's a 10 pounder, but very stocky.

This is Snickers, named by a little girl playing with her when I took her to the vet the first time...she said she had caramel stripes and that's what we should call her. So we did. Snickers is our Weirdy-cat, very easily spooked, but very insistant on plenty of attention and face rubbing. She is the smallest at a little over 9 pounds, but she's tough. If you try to hold her to give medication or nail clips, she grows 4 other legs and becomes a demon possessed. She was an abandoned kitten that I bottle fed.

And last, is my precious little piebald dachshund, Oscar. (Officially registered as Oscar Meyer's Beanie Weenie). Yes, I know he is the funniest looking dachsie you've ever seen, but he is not a mix. The piebald dachsies are a new color variation, and when we got Oscar they were still breeding for color and not conformation, so he has legs a bit too long and ears WAY too short...but I wasn't planning to show or breed him, and I thought his coat color was just gorgeous, so I was hooked. He looks like a little bird dog, and he's a doll baby! These are both paintings I did of him last year. Enjoy!

And there you have it! Thanks for letting me share by furbabies with you!

Marcia

Marcia,
Thanks for posting these photos. You are quite the accomplished painter! And all your babies are beautiful. I had a polydactyl cat several years ago - we said she was the next thing in cat evolution because she actually used her 'thumbs' to grasp things and pick them up. Her name was Abby Normal. Our vet at the time never tired of an exchange we had every time we brought her in: "Polly Dactyl?" he would ask. "Abby Normal!", I would answer. Abby never seemed that amused by it, but the vet and I always laughted about it.

Thanks, Solstice. I just recently started doing pet portraits on commission...been learning to paint digitally with a Wacom tablet and electronic pen, and it is so much fun. For the last few weeks, I've been too busy gardening to paint much, but it is beginning to be too miserable outside, so I'm spending more time INSIDE right now. Painting again and watching the Phantom of the Opera a lot. Indulging my romantic side!!

I LOVE Abby Normal! What a great name! (Isn't that from Young Frankenstein?) Way cool for a polydactyl kitty! Beau uses HIS feet, too. He never, ever drinks water the usual way...always cups it in his paw and laps from there. I have always sworn I was going to teach him to write. I know he can hold a pencil! ;o)

Marcia

Yes, it is from Young Frankenstein! "Whose brain IS it?" "Abby something..." "Abby NORMAL?!?" I still laugh every time I see it.

You've given me an idea for the next conversation thread: now I'm interested to know what all of us gardeners do during the summer when it's too hot to spend all day out there. You paint. I quilt. Gardeners are talented and creative people so I bet we'll see interesting things.

Actually, I paint for a living, so I'm supposed to do it all year long. But it gets pushed to one side when the weather is right for lots of gardening, like spring and fall. I spend more time painting in full-on summer and winter, it's true, but my husband would like to see me do it every day, regardless. (He's always thinking paycheck!) But I think it is a great idea for a new topic, Kate...go for it.
Marcia (who still laughs at everything in Young Frankenstein...now walk this way)

I can't resist. Here's one more photo of The Big Petunia, taken today.
{{gwi:755097}}

What a great thread!

Here's Babal my Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

Now THAT's a pretty smile! Babalu looks smarter than most of my employees...

My cat Christian looks exactly like Rock star except he weighs 25 pounds. I have a black with orange stripes dart frog/fire walking frog hybrid named Rain. I also have two pet green tree frogs named Frogger and Watcher. They have gold colored mouths. My cat is 3 years old. I don't know how old the frogs are, even though I would estimate Frogger to be only one or two years old size wise. I also have a female betta fish named Morrocan beauty (red with aquamarine colored areas---less than one year old) and a male betta fish named Gypsy Prince (red color with purple colored eyes). I also have two leopard danio fish.

These are my 2 garden buddies, Lokai and Yuki. They enjoy sitting on our little patio while I'm out trimming, weeding, etc.

Great photos and the paintings of Oscar are fantastic!

They all look so happy and well cared for.

Here are a few photos of some of my garden helpers.

Lisa

This is my first time ever posting photos and it worked !! I am SO thrilled !!

The first picture is Rocky - our rescue Boxer . He was a full grown monster when we found him but is now a true sweetheart .

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And this is Ian - my garden buddy , mole killer , and lizard hunter . His mother was a red nosed pitbull and father bull mastiff . Ian is the runt of the litter that was going to be killed - another rescue for us .

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So now you have met my two guard dogs who take their dog jobs VERY seriously . These two weigh about 70 pounds each - a good size for our farm . We have a third rescue dog who is 14 . I have to upload her picture and post it later . Thank you for this thread . It inspired me to finally learn how to post photos .

This is Lola on the left and Franky on the right. My daughter "found" them in a dumpster. Of course she doesn't live at home anymore, but the kitties do.
Megan

Awwww ! What sweet kitties ! Those are the best kind of rescue animals .

Here is Pepper - she is 14 .

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And this is my newest baby -- Snickers

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I hadn't looked at this thread for a while so I didn't see Snickers until today! What a cutie!

A Snickers update, please!

awe, i miss the farm i grew up on. i always loved spring when the barnyard was alive with little calves running around...lol. snickers is a beautiful color.

This is an OLD thread but I'm bumping it up because of Marcia's pet paintings. Scroll up to her June 10, 2005 entry to see her paintings! Very cool!

I've moved all my photo links around and ended up losing them in the posts above, so I'm going to indulge myself and repost some photos here.
These are my current little buddies:

Sarah - 10 year old puppy. She's my sweetie.

Bandit - 12 years old but still a clown despite terrible arthritis and a bad hind leg. We adopted him from a rescue group when he was 5. I can't imagine anyone giving him up.

GrayC - aka The Big Petunia. She is my best buddy and gardening friend. At 20 pounds, she should be digging the holes for me but she's much more interested in chasing lizards. (Not as grumpy as she looks in this picture.)

Putter - poor, crazy Putter. Not a stable individual. Another rescue baby; she developed a very high fever right after we brought her home. She survived it (panleukopenia) but the fever must have had an impact on her brain. She goes from sweet and affectionate to hissing and biting in an instant. We love her and consider her to be our special needs pet.
Isn't she pretty?

Jack Bauer - the newest member of the clan. Jack is 1 year old and is a fearless little boy cat. He has no respect for the older animals in the house and attacks all of them without discrimination. Idolizes The Bandito and follows him around constantly. Bandit is even teaching Jack to keep the UPS man away.

Group shots!

Here's some of our kids, Buckley and Penny. I love everyone else's pics and "kids."

I love the last shot! Looks like something is being stolen off the table!

Great pictures and stories, everyone!

Here is my kitties:
http://picasaweb.google.com/OlyaGrove/MyKitties
I have 9 cats, all rescues - ferals, former strays...One disabled, Oops...

Olya

I love Oops! What a beautiful gray!

Thank you :)
Oopsy is a special boy...His mom was a gorgeous Siamese, and dad - a big gray tomcat, both ferals. My husband and I trapped them all and got them fixed (SNR - spay- neuter - release), but Oops stayed with us since he was born with cerebellar hypoplasia (neurological disorder)

Olya

I almost lost Crazy Putter a couple weeks ago! Terrible lung problem with no apparent cause. Our vet has been wonderful and kept trying different things until we had some success. She is breathing easier now but looks terrible with shaved sides. They took 3 cups of fluid out of her lungs! That's the equivalent of a couple quarts out of your lungs. Poor baby could hardly breathe!

Turns out I don't have any real good pictures of Ozzie...this is one of the better ones from last year.

Ozzie was a beautiful cat, Laura, I'm so sorry for your loss. By loving them so much we do open ourselves up to pain when they are gone, but the joy they bring is immeasurable.

Here are my two fuzzbutts.
Tater Tot and Fatcakes

="http://picasaweb.google.com/GardenBrat72/200512Dec/photo#5071567888801983794">;

We lost our sweet/crazy Putter today. We thought she was doing OK but her lungs filled up with fluid again. This time it happened very quickly and she was not strong enough to fight through it.

She was such a sweet little buddy to me, but I'll always remember how well she got along with my mother. They were great friends and since Mom passed away in February, Putter has continued to look for her. She would sit on Mother's bed and call out for her. Maybe Putter's gone because my Mom needed to have her cat with her. That's how I'm going to think of it anyway.

Oh Kate, I'm so sorry. Losing a pet is losing a member of your family. I think your mom and Putter and having a blast watching the butterflies and birds in Heaven.
((((Hugs))))
Marion

Now I really must get that book "CAT HEAVEN" to you. I am so sorry for your loss also. It has been a challenging year for you to say the least.
((((more HUGS))))
Kat

Thank you all, but please don't put more messages here about this. I didn't mean to turn this fun posting into something sad. I guess I wasn't thinking when I did it earlier today. It has been a challenging year and I'll use that as my excuse!
I truly appreciate your kinds thoughts and words and knew you would all understand my sorrow. Go hug your cats, dogs, ferrets, baby cows or whatever you share your home with that brings you joy. Let's celebrate our pets!

Hugs right back to you all,
Kate

Ginger a Shar Pei. Her Great Grand Parents were smuggled into the country thru California after the fall of the Ming Dynasty. Got her from a breeder in Daytona.

Daisy the Bassethound.

How can you not love bassethounds??? They are soooo sweet!
What a face! (Don't tell Ginger I said that. I don't want her to get jealous.lol)

Julie

Hi All:

I love this thread! I want to post three pics: (1) Lucky the cat trying to open the door! (2) Sasha my girl! and (3) Sugarpie - all saved animals. Here goes!

We love our pets - don't we? :0)

Cometgirl

The poster child for Good pitbulls (IMHO). Her name is Peati we rescued her form the long name society (SPCA) in NH.

Oh my God! I just had a little rascals flashback.

I added a new member to the household yesterday! 16 weeks old, blue eyes, WAY more toes than he needs, part Siamese and part Travelin' Man, creamy with peachy markings on ears/tail/nose. Very cool attitude with the Shelties and other cats (The Big Petunia and Jack Bauer). He's so cool, we're thinking of calling him either McQueen or Frankie (Sinatra - cool, and blue eyes). But he's only been here 24 hours and I don't know his name yet.

Look at those eyes!

And those feet!
(You can only see 6 toes here, but there's another little one for a total of 7)

Kate, he's gorgeous. Those eyes are so striking. Never heard of cats having extra toes.

What do the cats and dogs think of the new guy?

Where did you find him?

Looking forward to hearing more stories about him.

Lynne

Lynn - the dogs love him (Shelties seem totally intrigued by cats), GrayC ignores him, and Jack can't stop watching him. No mad playing yet but I expect it to happen quickly. He and Jack will be buddies, I'm sure. The new guy is settled in enough so that he's running, dashing, skittering and all the other adorable stuff that kittens do. He's been dragging even the dog's big stuffed toys around, growing to himself over the stuggle. I think that once he is allowed out in the screen room, the lizard population will plummet. I predict him to be a little killer so I'll have to keep him in and away from the birds!

We found him at www.1-800-save-a-pet.com - a rescue organization that operates all over the US. You put in your zip code to find animals listed near you, then contact the individual rescue place. It's worth some computer time just to check them out. I had a Siamese as a child so I was sort of looking for one. When I saw this Siamese mix with the Big Foot I couldn't resist. I drove up to Jacksonville to get him! If anyone is interested, he has an identical brother and a crazy little sister who is tabby striped in gray and peach. I've never seen a cat with her coloring before and she's just beautiful. Both of the siblings have the toes too.

Many of the cats in Key West are polydactyl and are referred to as Hemingway cats . (If he were female, Polly Dactyl would be a great name. Maybe Paulie Dactyl???) They are common enough so that you can even do a search on that save-a-pet site for Hemingway/Polydactyl cats. There was a fluffy black poly cutie listed in Orlando but the foster people never responded to my email about that one.

Kate

For a picture of Peaches (the sister):
Peaches the 6-toed peach/gray tabby/Siamese

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This is Andy the lizard chaser/plant trampler. He has destroyed a few impatiens and pentas but...I love him!
Kay

Kate, glad that McQueen/Frankie gets along with your other furry friends. Thanks for putting up the rescue link, you know how ardent I am about rescue animals.

Kay, Andy is adorable. Is he a Bichon? If so, does he do the "circus dog" behavior (standing on his back legs and bending his front legs, begging for treats)? I have a lizard chaser myself. My dogs never seem to learn good behaviors from each other, just bad behaviors. Some of the others are learning lizard chasing from him. One of the others damaged a screen yesterday in the great lizard hunt.

Yes, Lynne, my Andy is a Bichon. We got him from poodle rescue. They thought he was a poodle mix but when I took him into my vet, he said he was definitely Bichon. He was 2 years old when we got him and was a mess emotionally, he has improved a lot and is a good dog now. He is about 9 years old now and yes, he dances for his treats. Funny how that behavior seems to be inbred.
Kay

Kay, I think every Bichon I've met does that.

My terriers have the hunting for varmints instinct - somehow converted to being obsessed with blue racquetballs.

We decided to call him McQueen. Blond, blue eyes, and Oh-so-cool. This kitten isn't afraid of anything, steals food from the dogs, hassles the other cats into playing with him and never misses an opportunity to cuddle and purr. He and Jack Bauer (the 1 year old kitten) were made to be buddies, I think!

What do you think of his feet?

Great name, Kate. The feet are definitely a conversation starter.