Four Ears, Two Tails And Seven Legs

I was on the phone with a listener for a contest and we got talking about pets. We talked about her three dogs and she asked if I had any animals. I realized that I've never actually talked about my experience with pets.

Growing up we had dogs. Not all at once, though. My dad must have been in a German Shepherd phase because our first two dogs were both that breed, Rusty and Misty. Later we had another dog, Chip, then the last dog I remember was Pebbles.

I enjoy dogs, but my wife grew up with her cat, so when we contemplated adopting we ended up going that direction.

In a story that's simply too long to explain here, instead of owning one cat, we came to own three. (I'll save that story for another time.)

First we had Jovi, then we adopted Rico and Lola. We've had them for quite some time. In fact, when you ask me and my wife how old they are we always have to do that whole "well, we moved here in 2001" and "such and such died in 2003, so they must be this old."

Sadly, last year we lost our cat, Lola.

Now we have Jovi, who was the oldest of the trio... but you wouldn't know it. She still jumps up where she shouldn't and loves our attention.

Rico has slowed down a bit over the last few years. He had a bout of feline cancer a couple of years ago. The vet said if she took his leg he could very well live for a few more years so we jumped at the chance as he's such a warm and affectionate cat.

So here we are, four ears, two tails and seven legs... just one big happy family.

~Chris Farber