A long time ago, when my husband, Josh, and I were dating, we decided to get a pair of budgies…mostly because we both enjoy birds and their chirping noises, but also, I think, to secretly test our responsibility levels…you know, if we couldn’t be responsible with birds, how could we ever raise a family?!  The birds did well in our care…actually, the male budgie is still with our family…five years later! Before we got married, we added a cockatiel named Pippy to the mix. Pippy and the budgies were in separate cages, but liked to sing songs to each other…at least, I like to think they did!

Then we got married and moved into a house…with a big yard! I grew up with German Shepherds and knew that I wanted to have one of my own, but Josh was hesitant, only because he didn’t know the breed very well…his dad was a hunter, so Josh had grown up with outdoor hunting dogs, not family pets. But over time I convinced him that a Shepherd would be a good fit for our family…I’m sure if you ask Josh, he would say I eventually wore him out with begging and pleading, but that’s not how I remember it!

In the summer of 2007, Wooderson, the German Shepherd, was added to the family – Woody for short. Although Woody WAS a great addition to our family, I knew that he would do good to have some company during the day while I was away at work. We have talked many times about getting a second dog, but Josh wants to wait until we move to an acreage outside of the city…he’s worried they won’t have enough yard space.

Then one day, not long ago, out of the blue, Josh came home and said “I picked out a kitty for you.” Ummm, pardon? Seriously, Josh is never spontaneous…he needs to plan things out…so when he made that announcement, I was totally shocked! Then reality sunk in and I realized that I have no idea on how to care for cats, so I spend the next few weeks doing research on the internet. The only two things I was worried about were hairballs and UTI’s…besides that, all the info I read seemed pretty much like common sense. Or so I thought!