We love our fur-babies.
For us, animals are really part of the family and we treat them as
such. Sometimes it’s embarrassing. But, hey, wouldn’t you rather have friends
who dote on their animals, versus ones you call Animal Welfare on??
Much like our loyalty to different political parties, James
and I are split over Dogs vs. Cats. I’m
a cat person and he’s a dog person. I
brought two cats into the marriage, and he had to beg and plead to add the dog
into our family. He says he doesn’t like
the cats, but deep down I know…eh, I know it’s totally true - he really does not like them. I, on the other hand, love them all.
I’ll introduce the fur-babies in birth order:
 |
| 5 weeks - so scrawny! |
 |
| 2004 |
I adopted Lupe from the Town Lake Animal Center in June 2004
while in grad school in Austin.
They told me she was 8 weeks old (their standard line), but I then found
out the little gal was only 4.5 weeks.
She was SCRAWNY, and had to be bottle-fed for a little while until she
got her teeth. POOR BABY! But, so stinkin’ adorable. The first part of her life was spent traveling
from Texas to California (for a brief project) to D.C. to Atlanta. Admittedly, she has not grown into a sweet
little old lady. After we added Carmen,
James and Enda into her perfect world, she reached a whole new level of
bitterness towards life and only likes me. (Which is good, because she is a
cat that really only a mother could love…)
When guests come over, we like to make her perform parlor tricks by
hissing and spitting at James on command.
Free entertainment! When she’s
not being sassy, she spends 20 hours a day asleep on my desk under the light. (James says, “our little pork
butt under the warming lamp”)
 |
| 2006 (Photo: Ben Kerr) |
 |
| 2007 |
I adopted Carmen from the Alexandria Animal Welfare League
on Valentine’s Day 2006 while living in Washington, D.C. I was traveling so much during that time, and
felt Lupe needed a friend. (This is when
you wish animals could talk because Lupe would have said, “DON’T DO IT, MOM – I
HATE other cats!!”) Despite the fact
that she is shown so little love from anyone else in the Sasser household,
she’s an overly sweet, loving, affectionate, playful kitty. I have so few pictures of her as a kitten,
which I hear is typical with a second one.
Now considered a “senior”, most people don’t believe it because she
stayed kitten-size with a high-pitched kitten meow. Precious.
James actually tolerates Carmen, and sometimes I find him snuggling with
her. She spends about 15 hours of her
day asleep on a heated window perch (yes, heated, it’s ridiculous); 5 hours a
day stalking and beating up on the dog; and then another 4 hours a day slowing
eating her cat food, kibble by kibble…. (James says, “she’s always at the
trough.”)
Enda…oh, where to begin with Enda. Like I said, James REALLY
REALLY REALLY wanted a dog for, like, forever.
Not sure how he wore me down, but he did…and now we have our Vizsla
baby. (You can click here to read about
her homecoming in April 2012.) Selecting a dog breed was something we took very seriously and discussed endlessly, but we were drawn to Vizslas by pure chance after seeing one from afar and thinking "what a pretty red Weimaraner!" (I had been raised with Weims, so they were on the list.) After researching more about Vizslas, we decided the little red lightening bolt might be a good fit for our very active family.
Enda definitely keeps us on our toes, with her bounds of energy and curiosity. We are learning more and more why they’re referred to as “Velcro dogs”. God-forbid that you step over the baby gate without her or close the shower door - Enda needs visual contact of her people at all times. (And, no, it's not weird at all to see her little red face staring at you while you lather/rinse/repeat.) Joking aside, she is an extremely loving dog and loves to show her affection with hugs and kisses. She also does not believe that 40 lbs is too big to be in your lap. She's super smart and fun to train - we may be making our fortune off of YouTube videos if we're lucky! Vizslas are definitely not for a “casual” dog owner, and do require a lot of attention. However, as I say about Enda, they’re a good example of the phase “nothing good in life comes easy!” She’s totally worth it…usually. J
