Hello from Ontario!

[Sariss]

Hi there! My name is Sariss, but you can call me Robyn.
I found this forum while searching for a place to chat about my pets. I belong to a couple of Pitbull forums due to my interest in the breed, but because I don't actually own one, I sometimes feel a little left out, and went on a search to find a place to share my pets without feeling like the odd man out.

A little about me first before I get onto my pets (and there's lots!)
I'm a 20 year old College student. My hometown is a small place called Collingwood, which is about two hours northwest of Toronto (landmarks near my hometown are Wasaga Beach and Blue Mountain). This is where I live with my parents, and my pets.
However, I am a College student. I am taking Veterinary Technology at Algonquin College in Ottawa. Unfortunately, Ottawa is pretty darn far away from Collingwood, and I am therefore away from my pets for 8 months of the year (from the end of August to the end of April - but I am home for two weeks at Christmas).
While I am not in school, I work as a Certified Veterinary Assistant at a local animal hospital. I have been there for three years now.
I am engaged, and my fiance lives in Brampton. I plan on moving there after I graduate from College and get some debts paid down.

Anyways, enough about me. On to my pets! I noticed that we have a 100k filesize limit with pictures. I upload my pictures to an image host. If the file size rule still applies... I am sorry if any of these pictures exceed that limit.

Sophie

Sophie turned 10 this year. She's technically my mothers cat. She came from a lady who had feral cats have kittens in her shed. Her nickname before we got her was "fatty arbuckle", because she was a porker. We think she's a Maine Coon mix, but who knows, especially since her mother was a grey short haired cat.
She's a pretty cool cat, but she's pretty grouchy from time to time. She wasn't always this way. I think it may be because she's the oldest pet in the household, and has been through the life and death of her half sister (Tasha, a little grey cat that unfortunately died when she swallowed floss and it teloscoped her intestines), the death of our old dog Rox, and the introduction of Emma, Toby, Daisy, Niku, and Honey.
She doesn't get along with many of the other pets, although I have caught her sleeping with Toby, and sitting beside Niku. Her least favourite dog is Daisy, as she gets a kick out of chasing Sophie.

Toby

Toby is a very special cat. After the death of my old cat Tasha, I wanted another cat. My mother kept putting it off and telling me that "the right cat would come". I would get frustrated. One day I told her that I would go out and find myself an orange male tabby just to piss her off (Note: prior to Toby, she hated male cats and thought orange cats were ugly... well, she still says Toby is ugly, but I know deep down inside she thinks he's handsome).
No word of a lie, two days later Toby shows up. We see him out the window across the street. We go out to investigate. Toby is skin and bones. He looks to be on his last legs - I still believe to this day he was looking for a place to die when we found him. We had seen him before but he was completely feral. Not this time. I think he was so starving he had no energy to run. So we took him in. He weighed approximately 3-4 pounds. He was put on the radio, and no one claimed him.
We named him Karma (for obvious reasons), but that changed when I was trying to figure out what his name may have been before he showed up at our house, and he came up to me when I said the name Toby. So it stuck.
Toby is the "therapy cat". Every time someone in the household is sick, upset, hurt, etc. He is right there to comfort you. He breaks up fights between the pets, and consoles the others when they are sick. Him and Emma are best friends and she truley looks up to him as a "father figure".
Just as a side note, Toby weighs about 13 pounds now, and he has very little fat on him. Just to show how skinny he must have been, since he was an adult when we found him!

Emma

Emma is VERY special, and she is lucky to be with us.
I had only worked at the animal hospital a few week when she came in. Someone had found a box of kittens taped up on the side of the road. The kittens were in horrible shape. Sick, covered in diarrhea, infections everywhere. Three of them were dead - only two were still alive - Emma and her brother. Unfortunately, her brother could not be saved. We thought Emma was too far gone, and actually had a needle of euthanyl sitting there because we figured we may need to put her out of her misery.
She somehow pulled through. She was tiny. Maybe 4 weeks old. She was on antibiotics and needed constant medicated baths. The backs of her legs were scalded from the diarrhea. Every day I took care of her.
When she was 8 weeks old, she came up for adoption. I had grown very attached to her, and managed to convince my mother to get a third cat. On Halloween, we took her home.
She is a very special cat. Her ordeal as a kitten left her with slight brain damage, and stunted growth. She has the mentality of a kitten, and the body of a young cat. People sometimes ask me "when did you get a new kitten?" when she's 3 years old.

Daisy

Daisy is our five year old Australian Shepherd. Before we knew better about backyard breeders, we got her at a bird show. Some guy was selling puppies out the back of his truck. They came from two Australian Shepherds that worked on his sheep farm. She was a very cute puppy.
Daisy is extremely active. She was crate trained as a puppy, but as she aged it drove her insane. She needs to be on the move constantly. Even at night she gets up every hour or so to move around. Swimming is her life.
She is an awesome dog. She is very protective, and she has taken over guard dog duty since our old dog (a Bouvier) passed away. Her looks alone tend to intimidate people.

Niku

Niku is my mother's 7 year old Chihuahua. She came from a "breeder", but I openly admit, a puppy mill. My mother worked for the lady who had her. She was bred twice a year every year, along with all the other dogs around. Niku hated the breeder, and my mother bought her from her. I know, buying a dog from a place like that does nothing but make them want to breed more, but honestly she bred enough that it didn't matter. We were stupid, and agreed to breed Niku once, so she could have a dog as a replacement. Unfortunately Niku had one very large puppy, who was delivered via c-section. Niku nearly died, and her puppy died the next day. After my mother and I had a long talk, we severed ties with the breeder, although I am in the works of getting her shut down.
Niku is such a nice little dog. She is the exact opposite of what most people think of Chihuahuas. She has quite the motherly instinct, as she was very persistent on trying to nurse Emma when we got her.

Honey

Honey is the newest addition to our family. She is a 9 year old Chihuahua. She came to us last August from a woman who'se husband died and no longer could care for her.
Honey came to us EXTREMELY fat. She weighed 12 pounds, which is huge for a Chihuahua. Here is a picture of her the month we got her:

Honey was promptly put on a diet, and she is now down to a healthy 6 pounds.
She's an awesome little dog, despite people thinking she's ugly. She is still fairly nervous of most of the other pets. She is the most trusting of Niku, but I have caught her sitting around Toby (because really, Toby isn't that threatening). She is afraid of Daisy because she doesn't know how to look where she is stepping, and she steers clear of Emma because Emma likes to try to pierce ears and poke buldgy eyes.

Those are my furry pets! I also have a Canary, two Diamond Doves, some Zebra Finches, about 60 pigeons, and a Cuban Tree Frog. If you want me to talk about them, I will. But this is long enough.

I look forward to getting to know all of you!

[erykah1310]

Lovely pictures, such nice descriptions on each one of them too. ( well the byb and miller isnt nice , but atleast you guys have them now)
Welcome to the board, and post many pictures!
I have family that just moved to Collingwood and opened a Toppers Pizza. ( well they did it last summer, anyway your not there so.... back on topic lol)
Once again welcome and I too look forward to talking with you more one day!

[phoenix]

wow, what a family!!! Thank you so much for posting, love the pics. I really enjoyed reading your stories and hope that you post often in the future! I'm glad that people like you are working in vet offices etc. welcome to pets.ca.