• Toby, Poodle-Mut.

Sisters dog before I was born. Ran away whe I was in the 1st grade. Never heard from again.

• Zima, California Spangled Cat.

My first pet, also the way I discovered I was beyond allergic. I wanted to name him fluffy, while a long haired cat, he was nothing of the sort. My sister used to be a tacky drinker, thus, Zima. He was born under my uncles house and that pretty much set him up as an outdoor cat. He was the type of cat who drooled when you held him and frequently brought dead birds and rats as a display of affection. As a life-long outdoor cat he is believed to have gone away, as many farrell cats do, and died in a place we never found of old age summer of 2007 at the age of 16.

• Vixen, Black Lab.

Grandparents gave to my father as a gift when I was in 3rd grade, he wasn't a very good pet owner so he gave her away several months. I only saw my dad a few times during that year.

• Hoosier, Calico-Siamese mix Cat.

Step-dads older cat. She would help me drink my milk and eat my pasta growing up. Good nap cat, had to be put down at the age of 18 in 2004 the day after Bush's re-election.

• Ms. Socrates (aka Sox), Maine Coone mix Cat.

Step-dads other cat. Beaten as a kitten before my Step-dad found her she's still very skittish and afraid of others. The smallest maine coon you've ever seen, face of a kitten even now at age 19.

• Millie, Siamese Fighting Fish.

Since I couldn't hold or go near any of the cats most of my life, my mother thought it'd be nice for me to have a pet, in this case a fish. She thought wrong, I was a young child and while I loved the fish, it made me really sad that I couldn't hold her, like most fish, it died at random, I was still really upset. Died sometime early 2000.

• Skittles, Russian Blue mix Cat.

Previously named "Amanda" (who names their cat that?) My father and I adopted her when I was in middle school from the humane society and named her for her big candy colored eyes. She has the funniest disposition, like a large dog who thinks it's a lap dog. Notorious for running across a room and rolling onto her belly like a ninja! Like Vixen, my dad isn't much of a pet owner, a few years ago I gave her to my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jim (who are big cat lovers) in Sacramento where she still lives and tries to make escapes on the daily.

• Kisses, mini-lop bunny.

My best friends father died when I was in the 7th grade and suffered some anxiety of it for a while afterward, I hated sleeping alone and one night after a nightmare my mother came up with the concept of getting me a rabbit. We thought I might not be so allergic to it as I was with cats and the next day we went to the store in search of a little love. We found him right away, in a large litter he was the only black and white lop. I picked him up and he scurried up to the crease between my neck and chin and immediately started licking the salts off my skin. He was mine. Named for his "kisses" he gave from day 1. Unfortunately I was very allergic to the little ball of fur, but I love him none the less. My mother and I fenced in the lower deck of our house and converted it into Bunny heaven. Once he was full grown we even started bringing him to Tahoe with us when we went on vacation. He had the best life a bunny could ask for. He was a very special Rabbit too. He was friends with a grumpy cat (sox) and a chubby corgi (nick, below) he had his own deck and got to go on mountain vacations. How stoked was he?? He had several health problems through his life, cysts as a baby, severe underbite (had to literally trim his teeth every few weeks), seizures caused by a tumor in his head (which seemed to disappear after 2 years). He lived a pretty full life given the circumstances and died at the age of 8 in his sleep while in Tahoe. My mom, Sister, and nephew burried him the next day in our cabins back yard.

• Nick (at Night) Pembroke Welsh Corgi

My mother never really had a pet of her own since her 2 Siamese cats she had before my sisters were born, 30 years was long enough to go it alone. A few months after I got Kisses she adopted Nick from a show breeder who couldn't take care of him. Nick is a very large oversized Corgi who would often get left at home while everyone went on the road for shows. He's just too much of a love to have spent his life this way, and at the age of 2 he entered our home. He was probably the most significant pet in my life, I wasn't allergic to him, he slept in my room with me, followed me around, and was one of my best friends from 8th grade onward. If I could guess he's currently hanging out with my mom in our Tahoe cabin, probably trying to steal my nephews lunch.

• Frederick Alvin Mercury (aka Fred), Ragdoll mix cat.

Fred Fred Fred. My <x>newest</x> and probably most interesting pet. I had been seeking to adopt a cat (despite life-long allergies). In late July I found myself at a particularly low point in my life and figured a visit to the East Bay Humane Society couldn't hurt. I wasn't particularly serious at the time, just kinda looking at the zillions of kittens they had at the time. I was playing with a little black kitten who was a little to feisty for me when I turned around to see a window with 2 sleeping kittens on the sill. I put my finger to the glass to point him out to my roommate and at that moment he opened his little eyes and reached his paw up to the window at the same point as my finger. That was it. He picked me. I don't think life could have given me a more perfect partner (oh, c'mon, besides Scott, ha!) Fred recently celebrated his 1st (of many) birthdays with Scott and I and has become nothing short of the center of our attention.

• Bruiser (aka the Bruise Cruise) White & Orange tabby cat

Mid-May 2009 there was a horrible fire at the East Bay Humane Society where 15 cats perished due to smoke inhalation, thankfully all 7 dogs and an additional 12 cats were rescued. I called in and put my name on a foster list and 2 days later was the day I would have graduated from college and that day I was called in to pick up one of the surviving cats. My cat was a mangy, greasy, skiddish cat with a shaved tail. He was a mess. I brought him home and when I introduced him to Scott he looked at me and said "we're not giving this cat back are we?" he knew before I did that this guy was about to be the next addition in our family. He needed all kinds of medicines, and he took a while to really come out of his shell, but within 2 weeks we officially made the decision that this guy wasn't going anywhere. Around that time I was at work and while Scott took out the garbage Bruiser lived up to his name and scaled our 12 foot fence and took off out of sight. The next couple days were terrible, flyers all over the neighborhood with little hope that we'd see him again... but then the unexpected happpened, that night around 2am Fred went to the door and got scotts attention, sitting on the other side was Bruiser, covered in mud, grease, blood, and about 100 fleas. He is a Bruiser alright. He's since mellowed out on his spontaneous "vacations" and has satisfied himself as our slightly shy, but big teddy bear of a 2nd cat. The kicker? Bruiser and Fred couldn't get along better. The fact that I am the mom of 2 cats who genuinely love each other straight off the bat; priceless.