I'm more of a dog person, myself. I like cats, but find dogs more emotionally accessible. We have four chihuahuas. We didn't plan on having that many. An older woman I had previouusly bought a chihuahua for as a companion animal had a stroke and had to go into a nursing home that didn't allow animals, so we had to take Theya in on only half an hour's notice. (We did not name her that, but she definitely knew her name and responded to it, so we felt we had to keep it.) Yes, four is a lot of chihuahua energy, but we do love them all.

We once had a great cat. Zoe (Zozo, as we usually called her) was a real character. Then, in about 1997, we went on vacation in Maui, and drove to Hana, where they have a lot of stray wild cats. Well, this one poor, starved little kitty wrapped himself around my legs, meowing, and simply would not let go. I picked him up, and it was love at first sight, even though he was the saddest looking creature I had ever seen. He had, among the fleas and lice, practically no fur; big, red, painful-looking joints; and ribs that stuck out from starvation.

I went into the only market there, and bought him some baby food—pureed veal—and he ate two jars of it before falling asleep in my arms. How could we not take him back to our condo? He slept during the 1.5-2.0 hr. trip home over the windy but beautiful road back to Lahaina.

We took Buster, as we named him, to a vet on the island, who recommended euthanasia. I, however, was determined to save him. Amazingly, United Airlines let us bring him back to C for only a $50.00 surcharge, but he had to fly in the cargo hold. I guess it got pretty cold in there, because Buster was shivering when he came down the luggage shute (in a box), and he shivered all the way home from SFO to Alperthaus in Aptos, a 90-minute drive. Once home, he smelled Zozo's scent, and promptly started marking his territory, as did Zozo in return. What had I done?

To make a long story short, we eventually had to put Buster down. He was finally diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder of the connective tissue, making even walking painful to him. (I'd noticed his rather tentative gait, as had the Spouse.) In all, we'd spent over $3,000.00 on vet bills alone, trying to get an accurate diagnosis and possible cure. And even with Buster gone, Zozo kept peeing all over the house, no longer in her litter box, so we ended up having to replace all the carpet in the house after we rehomed her. Sad story.

Yes, Buster was expensive, but so worth every penny. He was so loving and trusting, you have to love him. I will never forget one night toward the end when I was lying on top of the bed, reading, and Buster, who finally had no more fleas, and who didn't have to go hungry ever again, was curled up on my legs, and he was just purring away loudly, content as he could be. We tried our best to take good care of him, even though the kindest thing we did for him was to ultimately put an end to his suffering. I cried buckets the day I took him to the vet for the last time. With Buster, it really was a case of love at first sight, ugly and scraggily as he was.

We ended up giving Zozo away to a single mom with an autistic, teenage son who, unfortunately, had an unknown allergy to cat dander. Swell. Where our sweet, funny little kitty ultimately ended up is anybody's guess. I never could pin that mother down about what she had done with Zozo, whom we really loved. This woman never even gave us the option of taking Zozo back if we wanted to, which we probably would have done rather than leave her to the whims of fate, or worse, the local animal shelter, which has a disproportionate kill-to-adoption ratio, especially for cats. In fact, we only heard about Zoe's disaappearance some months after she had been gotten rid of. This woman never did tell us exactly where she was. Drove us both crazy.

Zoe and Buster were each great cats who came together under adverse circumstances, and being cats, lived up to their feline natures. If we ever have a cat again, it's going to be just one, so we don't have the territorial marking problem. (Canie, will a cat compete with dogs in this regard? Just curious.)

And that is more than any of you wanted to know about cats and dogs at Alperthaus. I'll include some photos of Buster if I can figure out a way to do so that isn't too cumbersome.

Cathryn