To some people, pets are just animals. Some people just don't understand how pets can be part of a family or why people get so attached to their animals. To me, pets are family, once these animals are adopted by you, they are part of your life. Right now, I have 4 animals; two cats and two dogs. These animals are part of my family as much as any other human in my family. These four animals bring so much joy and happiness to my life.

I'll start with my cats, since I've had them the longest. We got Zorro and Ava in the winter of 2008, shortly after my mom's cat Figment died (a few years after her sister Garfield had died). My mom had said she was too sad to get more animals, she had to wait awhile, of course that didn't last long. She went onto pet finder to help her friend find a pet and she found Zorro; a six month old, black and white, male cat. She fell in love with him and so did I. She contacted the owner and set up a time to meet him. The owner mentioned that he had a sister that she really wanted to keep Zorro with and my mom was wary. She only wanted a male cat, she didn't want to have a female cat. When we met Ava, she was the shyest most timid cat I had ever seen. She hid from us and wouldn't even come to us when we had treats and lunch meat. When we had left for the house to see the cats my mom vowed we weren't taking them home that day and just put one carrier in the car "Just in case". Needless to say, we took them both home that night. 8 years later, Zorro is as much as an attention cat as he was when we got him and Ava has come out of her shell more than we ever thought possible.

For a long time my dad and I talked about getting a dog, my mom wasn't as keen on the idea, saying we were fine with just the cats. Lo and behold, one day a year after we got our cats, my parents posted a link to the song "Gonna buy me a dog" by the monkees on my facebook. We had seen a picture of a beautiful german shepard mix on pet finder and I had my heart set on her. For a long time in my life I was afraid of big dogs, besides a German Shepard named Sam that my brother's mom owned. He had died a few years before so I was dead set on naming our future dog Sam, after the one big dog I wasn't afraid of. We adopted Samantha after finding out she was good with cats and the fact that she was from Arkansas (something we hadn't known we first questioned about her). She came down in a big air conditioned truck with a bunch of other dogs. She's the most majestic big dog in the world to us.

We went a long time just being a 3 pet household, and we we're perfectly content with that. Until one day my mom's friend posted a dog from a foster group and she fell in love. She was a funny looking dog but so cute, her ears were so big compared to the rest of her body. My parents decided we would look into adopting and my mom went "We're naming her River Song, I've already decided", after one of our favorite characters on doctor who. We adopted River in November of 2014 and once again we fell in love. She was clingy and whiny and cuddly and small and always wanted to snuggle and we loved her. Sadly, we lost River only a year after getting her. We lost her on New Years Eve of 2015 after she ran out into the road. She left a huge hole in our heart and we miss her dearly. She was part of our family and she was spoiled rotten, we loved her more than anyone else could have.

After we lost River Song, the only thing that consoled me was looking at dogs that were up for adoption. The house was too quiet with only 3 animals, it was hard to believe we only ever had 3. The only consolation to this sadness was giving another dog a happy life like River had. A month or so after River passed away, River's foster mother sent my mom a message saying we'd know the right dog when we saw him or her. Right after my mom refreshed her facebook page she saw her, a 1 year old Chihuahua who had just had three puppies. She was skinny and looked too small to have just given birth to three puppies a month before. We immediately expressed interest in her. We saw her at an adoption event where she was first separated from her puppies. She was confused and upset that she wasn't with them and stayed towards her foster mother. I wasn't completed sold on her at first, there were so many other dogs, but when I got crouched on the ground and she came over to me and jumped on my knees I was in love. Almost a year later I can't imagine not having her in my life, she is the best snuggle buddy in the world and even though she has earned the nickname "Barky McBark Bark" she's my little princess.

My pets are my family, and nothing will ever change that. (and yes, those are three out of four of my animals and my dad on our lanai as the cover photo)