Pets come and go, but memories last forever

I had pets all my growing up years. Alas, at that time we knew nothing of special diets for them. They ate milk and leftovers. They seemed happy at meal time despite the fact I didn’t go to a health food store to buy it. My pets brought me much joy and were well cared for.

My first cat was a gray and white feline that I named Jelly Bean. I was three years old when that sweet little kitten came into my life. We grew up together. One of my special memories of summertime is sitting on our front porch while rain was falling and Jelly Bean on my lap sleeping. When the rain stopped, he would be ready to get in the yard and ramble on his own again.

My first dog was a rescue pup. That phrase was not popular in 1951, the year my dad rescued a puppy from a neighbor. Daddy was coming home from school and the neighbor was on the side of the road aiming his gun at the little brown puppy. Dad stopped and told the neighbor he would like to have the dog. That little rescued puppy became my best friend. We named him Bosco. When Daddy passed away Bosco seemed to be a connection to him and his kind and caring ways. Bosco was a great playmate, and if I was outside he was beside me.

Neither of my special pets ate gourmet food, had a designer bed of their own, or an anxiety blanket so when it thundered they would not be frightened. My pets were too independent for any of those things.

Jelly Bean might have been a lap cat on rainy days, but there was never a better mouse catcher than he was. He could take care of himself and greatly enjoyed his dish of milk and whatever leftovers were put in his bowl. Bosco would go in the pasture to make sure the cows remembered the way to the barn in the evening, and he loved roaming every acre of the farm. He would fight any varmint that he thought was a threat, from a snake to a stray dog. One of Bosco’s favorite rituals was catching left over biscuits as I tossed them from the end of the porch. That was probably 350 calories per catch!

My pets did not have their own special sweaters for winter wear. God gave them hair covering their bodies to keep them warm. To help them out, we provided a big box in our car house with a blanket inside for sleeping in extremely cold weather. Jelly Bean and Bosco were friends. They shared the same box. And I will say here, never once did it cross my mind to brush Jelly Bean and Bosco’s teeth. I fear I would have met great resistance.

If you have pets and you want to pamper them with gourmet food and make sure their anxiety is held at bay by a blanket when it thunders, have at it. It’s your life and your pets. However, it begs an answer to the question: could those pampered pets ever make it in their natural animal world… outside…no gourmet food… without an anxiety blanket when it thundered...and no one to brush their teeth?

My Jelly Bean lived to be 12 years old and Bosco was 15 when he crossed the rainbow bridge. I wept when they left me. They gave me many simple pleasures. The memories of their simple lives still warms my heart.