Sir Sheldon von Wigglebottom (Sheldon Cooper):
(2012-Present)
Responds to: Sheldon, Shelly, Shelly Belly, Shell-Bell, Shelly Boo, Boogie Shel, Boogie, Sheldaronie, Shel Shel, Jackass, Jerk-face, Fluffy Bastard, Fuzzy Butt, etc
Breed: Pembroke Welsh Corgi
Personality: Fluffy Asshole Prince
Backstory: Ever since watching the anime Cowboy Bebop and falling in love with the dog, Ein, I had wanted a Corgi. A year after I graduated High School, I decided I was going to have one. I scoured the internet for listings with breeders or adoption centers. Sadly there were no corgis up for adoption, but there was a lady who's dog had just had puppies and she was selling them for $650. At least, that's what the ad said. So, I got my mom to drive me down to meet her and the pups and fell in love with a little red one. I paid a $350 deposit and started setting up where his bed would be. About 2 weeks before he was supposed to be ready to leave his mother, the lady emailed us saying we needed to pick him up early and bring the other $500 with us when we go him.
...Umm, what?
First of all, he's only 6 weeks old, he's not ready to leave his mama.
Secondly, another $500 would make him $850, not $650 like her ad had said.
She claimed not to know what I was talking about and said if I didn't want him, she'd find someone else to take him. I said okay, find someone else, but give me my $350 deposit back, because she'd tried to trick me and I wasn't going to play her game.
She refused.
Y'all. I was so pissed.
Luckily, my credit card company (Hi, Chase, love y'all <3) sided with me and canceled the payment of my deposit, so I didn't get completely screwed, but I was still heartbroken not to have my new little buddy.
Not too long after that, I got an email from a breeder I had contacted with some questions while searching, letting me know that she had a litter of pups I could look at if I was interested. I explained what had happened to me and that I was a little nervous to get attached and have my heartbroken again.
Funnily enough, she knew exactly who I was talking about when I told her the story. She apologized for my bad experience and said she understood why I'd be a little gun-shy, but that the offer still stood.
So, I took a chance and went all the way to Dallas to meet her at her home. She had one puppy left who hadn't been spoken for and he was an adorable little puffball of perfection. I made plans to come back a month later when he would was weaned and take him home. No deposit, just the promise that I'd give him a good home.
A month, $400, and a very long drive later, I had my little man and he's been making my life very interesting ever since.
Pixel:
(2014-Present)
Responds to: Pixel, Pixie, Pixie-Kitty, Pix, Pic Pic, Picky Picky Pixel, Pixie-Pie, etc
Breed: Grey Tabby Cat
Personality: Rude
Backstory: About 3 months before I quit my job at [Insert Large Pharmacy Here], I was helping bring in a shipment of items for the store. We'd been about halfway through when I thought I heard a strange noise. I paused for a moment and listened, but didn't hear it again over the noise of the engine of the delivery truck and my coworkers, so I shrugged it off. Then, as we were finishing up, I heard it again. Teeny, tiny, mewling.
I wandered around the other side of the truck and looked out into the field behind the building. There, in the weeds, was an itty-bitty kitty, struggling to get out of a bush. I made my way over to him slowly, ignoring my coworker when she asked me where I was going, and plucked him from his prison. The looks on all my coworkers faces when I carried him back inside was priceless.
"How the hell did you find that???"
I shrugged, "He was crying."
They couldn't believe I'd heard him over all the noise.
From there I called my mom and set up an appointment with my vet for him.
He was a runt of a kitten, small enough to sit in the palm of my hand, so I named him Pixel, because those are tiny too.
He's not so tiny anymore.
Watson:
(2016-Present)
Responds to: Watson, Watsie, Wattie Wat, Watsie Woo, Watsie Woodles, Watsy-totsie, Watsaroonie, Big Man, Big Ole Muffin, etc.
Breed: Yellow Lab
Personality: Big, Lovable Dope
Backstory: On a lovely February day back when I was working at my Vet's office, my Vet led a 5 year old yellow lab back into the boarding area. He told us the lab had been found on the highway with a leash dangling from his collar and brought in by the couple who'd found him. He was going to be staying with us for a little while until they could get him checked over to make sure he wouldn't get their other dogs sick.
I remember looking him in the face as the doctor walked away and thinking, "I'm gonna go home with this dog."
Sure enough, a couple days later, the doctor came back and told us that the lab had heartworms and the couple didn't want him anymore. That began the long battle of my fellow kennel workers and I vs the practice Manager to get the clinic to treat the lab for his heartworms. They would let him stay until he got adopted or space ran out, and if space ran out, they would euthanize him. I did everything I could to find him a home that wasn't mine (we already had 3 dogs and 3 cats, we could NOT have another animal). Finally, he went into heart failure from not being treated and started coughing blood. My coworker texted me to tell me that one of the other doctor's had noticed and, having a soft spot for labs, checked him over and gave him a prescription medication for heart failure.
I said screw it, I'm coming to get him.
My vet, angry that the practice manager had let it get so far, vetoed him and told me the clinic would cover the cost of the lab's heartworm treatment. Bless.
I lied to myself for a little while longer, saying we were just fostering him, but I'd known from the second I saw him what was going to happen.
Bonus Pet:
Zoe:
(2009-2013)
"But, Grey, why didn't you just include Zoe like Ellie instead of making her a bonus pet?"
Because Zoe wasn't around when all the others were at the same time. While I've had 7 pets at a time, I've never had 8. Zoe passed away before Pixel and Watson ever came along.
Responded to: Zoe, Zo-Zo, Beauty Queen of Beauty
Breed: Egyptian Mau/Tabby
Personality: Queen
Backstory: One summer afternoon, I was sitting in the backroom of my house watching TV when I heard a strange noise. I went outside and found an itty-bitty kitty up a tree being stalked by big black cat. How I heard her tiny mews from all the way inside with no doors or windows, I will never know, but I'm glad I did.
I chased the black cat away and then spent the next 8 hours trying to coax the kitten to me. It was a long fought battle, but eventually my brother tricked her into a carrier by making a line of food into it.
After a trip to the vet, she was part of the family. She lived with us for four years before she got sick. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, watching her slowly decline. I was selfish and wanted to believe we could do something to save her, so I kept putting off having her euthanized. Finally, the night before I finally relented to letting her go, she disappeared. We'd put her outside under her favorite bush, we didn't think she could even walk by then and she'd always loved it outside so we thought we should let her spend her last day in peace in a place she loved. Sometime when we weren't looking, she got up and left. I was heartbroken, I knew that often times cats would go away to die alone. We looked for her all night, only giving up when the sun started to rise. We spent the next day grieving and tried to go to bed as early as we could to make up for the night before. I was just about to fall asleep when my mom comes into my room with Zoe in her arms.
She came back.
We laid with her the rest of the night and then first thing in the morning, we took her to the vet to say our final goodbyes.
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