Cats and Dogs and Turtles O My

On Glamour's Storked today Chrissy asked readers their pets' names. I never felt like I had a lot of pets growing up. But I started listing them off, and wow! Maybe, that's why I'm not really an animal person. It's more of a been there, done that for me. So I tried to comment with my pets' name (which it wouldn't let me do. I would hit post and noting would show up... anyone else?). But I realized doing so each of them has a story behind how they go their name. So here goes...

Mama Cat - Mama Cat literally had kittens on my inside the column in front of the house. Supposedly my parents had to actually dismantle it to get her and the kittens out. I can't really picture this, but I wasn't alive yet.

Kathmandu - He was one of Mama Cat's kittens

Fluffy - We got fluffy when I was in 2nd grade I believe. Kathmandu had just died, and the period before we got Fluffy was the only time in my life we didn't have pets. We got Fluffy from a girl on my soccer team, Megan. Her cat had just had kittens. She was nice, until she had kittens the week before the Northridge earthquake. Which brings us to

Conan (Named after Conan the Barbarian) - Conan was one of Fluffy's kittens. My mom decided to let Fluffy get "knocked up" once so me and my brother could have the experience of raising kittens. If I remember right she had 4 or 5. And we kept one of them, Conan. They were born when I was in 4th grade.

Tinkerbell - We found Tinkerbell one Thanksgiving in the alley next to our house. She was in a box with 4 of her kittens. We wound up keeping her and one of her kittens. My parents still have Tinkerbell. She's like an old lady now

Indy (short for Indiana Jones Cat) - One of Tinkerbell's kitten. He was orange and white. He wound up getting hit by a car, like most of the cats, be grateful I'm not listing how each of the cats died.

Nicky (short for Nickolas) - He is named after Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys. Yeah, that was all me! Nicky and his 4 other siblings were born in the backyard of one of my mom's work friends. Unfortunately, their dog chased the mom away, and she abandoned her kittens. She gave my mom 2 to raise and raised the other 3 herself

Grizzly - Nicky's brother. I wanted to call him Carter (see above) but my mom and brother shot me down.

Nubi (short for Anubis) - My parents haven't had her that long. I think since last summer. I haven't really live with her, so I'm not sure of the story. I think she might have been a stray that my parents adopted. Currently my parents have 4 cats (Nubi, Tink, Nicky, and Grizzly). We actually had 4 cats at once most of my life (Fluffy, Conan, Tink, and Indy)

Moving on to the dogs...

Cicely - Cicely is an Alaskan Husky and is named after the town in Alaska where Northern Exposure took place. We got Cicely when I was in 4th grade when our neighbor's two huskies had puppies. My parents still have her, but she is also very old and going blind.

Clementine - My parents got Clementine when I was a Jr in college, so again I don't know a whole lot. I think they bought her from someone at a farmer's market. Maybe? If I remember correctly they named her after Clementine in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. She is still there too.

Philbert - Was a Turtle. We name him after the Turtle Philbert on Rocko's Modern Life. My mom actually found him in the middle of the street one day and decided to rescue him. Turns out he was actually a water turtle (Why he was wondering the street then remains a mystery)

Godzilla - was some kind of lizard. After my parents sold Philbert to a pet store, my brother bough Godzilla to fill the cage. If I remember right, once my brother went off to college they sold him too.

And that my friends is it. Kind of ridiculous isn't it. But I guess I do still enjoy them all when I'm home at least. Buying my own pets... that might be a while.

~Shoshanah