Show off your 'Work From Home Co-Workers!

Slightly different than Pibbur's 'funny cat' thread, here is a chance to show off your furry friends who have been starring in WebEx and Zoom meetings for the past weeks.

My crew is as follows:
Upper left is Riley, a Norfolk Terrier about to turn 14, who we didn't think would make it to 2020, and is really living on borrowed time … but as long as he can have more good days than bad (even with anti-inflammatory and pain meds) then we are sticking with him. (this has been a very bad week, so I have him on my lap this morning and have no idea how many more we have).

Lower left is Charlie, a 1.5 year old Schnorkie (Schnauzer-Yorkie) who we rescued last October after he was deemed 'unadaptable' due to temperament issues after abuse. When I met him he growled, barked and bared his teeth …and was in my lap within 10-15 minutes and has never left!

Upper right is Otis, a 7-8 year old mutt we just rescued a few weeks ago but were only supposed to be fostering … but he needed more extensive neutering surgery, and also had rear paw issues needing surgery, and we kept him during recovery and then with COVID … well, I wasn't thrilled for yet another but there it is.

Middle right is Ruger, a terrier-poodle mix we rescued 2 years ago from impending euthanasia and went through 5 obedience training classes to get him all the way to 'canine good citizen' certification … but honestly while he is good with/for us, he remains completely unadoptable. Sweet, but got so badly abused for the entirety of his first 9 months before we rescued him that he has tons of issues.

And finally lower right is our older son's cat Franklin … and since our son is home from college, so is Franklin. He gets on pretty well with the smaller dogs (especially Charlie) but Ruger just can't play properly with a cat!

IMG_0290 by Michael Anderson, on Flickr

I'm not seeing the picture, Mike. Did want to congratulate you on all your rescue animals but I can't help but wonder what sort of hellhole you live in with so many badly abused pets running around. Sad statement on the world we live in when people can't treat animals with even basic respect.

Do I get to count The Wild Dogs since all three girls got sent home from college? I still think it's an appropriate title for them given the way they eat, play, make noise, and occasionally bite each other.

All we've got in the house is Owen the female tabby cat. The girls gradually pulled her in off the street (against my instructions the whole way) 5 or 6 years ago. The male name for a female cat is the fault of a long-past ex-boyfriend but somehow it stuck. You'd think, being out in the sticks like we are and given that Owen's not at all shy about flashing her junk to anyone and everyone, that the boy could have got it right but such is life. She's got skin cancer pretty bad, with 20-some tumors that range from pea to large marble size plus a "double dip" on her face that's covered half her nose. We had the mass on her lip cut off a couple years ago and within two months it was back at the same, strangely stable, size. We're just monitoring things at this point to ensure she can eat and drink (the tumor on her face gets in the way a little but she's adapted) and isn't in pain. The local vet was so nice- ripping us for not knowing the basic history of the animal such as her age, even though we explained that we basically saved her from freezing to death after some family around here decided she wasn't a cute kitten anymore (she's fixed so we know someone had her as a pet before we inherited her).

I'm not much of a cat person, but she's part of the family. She's much happier now that the girls are home. She gets about the same amount of attention, just from a wider audience. I think Owen just likes having more slaves under her roof.

dteowner said:

I'm not seeing the picture, Mike.

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Fudge - seems to work now. Switched it over to Flickr.

dteowner said:

Did want to congratulate you on all your rescue animals but I can't help but wonder what sort of hellhole you live in with so many badly abused pets running around.

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Seriously - we have set it up so we get 'really broken ones' as my wife works at the SPCA. We also foster kittens ... but it astounds me the depth of cruelty people are capable of.

And kids home from college DEFINITELY count as wild animals! Work conference calls have been hilarious these last few weeks between kids and animals!

My wife wants us to adopt a fourth dog, because she's been hearing about how many pets are being abandoned due to COVID. Does your wife see that at work?

Capt. Huggy Face said:

My wife wants us to adopt a fourth dog, because she's been hearing about how many pets are being abandoned due to COVID. Does your wife see that at work?

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Not directly because our area has not been hard hit yet, but they had a'virtual shelter conference' and that is a huge thing near NYC in particular. But ... they have also found that many of the pets can become carriers, with cat and dog stool testing positive even after their owners have been in the hospital for days.

I posted this notice about a human infecting a tiger with the coronavirus in the cat thread, as the two threads are kind of the same in my head, but maybe it fits the conversation here better.

I'm definitely looking forward to some of the voice acting outtakes going on right now.

HA! Your pitiful band thinks they can stand up to ME!? Lord Darkity Dark will…

Daddy, I need go poddy