Note: For those who feel that gratuitous pages discussing people's pets are part of the clutter that is contributing to the crumbling infrastructure of the internet, I invite you to consider that I pay for this space, and that I compel no one to visit it. One generally finds on the web what one seeks.

The Late, Great Eliot (EliotisMacGruder)

Eliot was a cat of many names, and a diabolical personality. He lacked teeth. At age 12 he went on a hunger strike for no apparent reason, starved himself very nearly to death (the vet referred to this as being "not his normal gustatory self"), tormented me by staggering around and making me feel guilty, and then experienced spontaneous feline healing. Then he got sick again. This time he did not experience any healing, spontaneous or otherwise. The vet who helped me put him down was a wonderful person, and made the experience considerably less awful than it could have been.

I read somewhere a very accurate description of a feline disease which exactly matched E's symptoms, but I didn't manage to assimilate what it was. If you have any thoughts on what it might have been, please tell me.

Hugo

Hugo is a dog of Surprising Size, and Very Little Brain. Though rather Baskervillish in appearance, he's wholly Tiggerish in personality. I'm sure if Eeyore were around, Hugo would bounce him into the river. (Yes, he really is that blurry :).)

Sheba

Sheba is Hugo's sidekick, and now that he's blind, his seeing-eye dog. She does all the thinking for the team. To mix my cartoon metaphors, she's Arthur to Hugo's Tick. She's a very pragmatic and sensible dog, and she doesn't generally like men. I leave as an exercise to the reader to determine whether these facts are related.

That's all the main and auxiliary pets. Back to the homepage?