ALL of them!

Here's a blog to the little critters my husband and I share our home with. All 'n all, we have 4 cats, 2 kids and one dog. Oh, we also have 2 small hermit crabs, whom are not pictured. :P

Starting with the oldest, we have Star! She is Jason's cat mostly and only mildly tolerates me. She had her ear taken off about 3 1/2 years ago, just a few days after Riley was born. She had cancer. She's going to be 10 years old this year and she still runs around here huckle-butting through my house like a bull in a china shop.


Then we have Virgil. Virgil is going to be 8 this year, which I can hardly believe. He seems so young still and flies around this house having a great time. Virgil is a Devon Rex, which is a particular breed of cat that stems from a genetic mutation in the 'rex' gene and was first identified in Devonshire, England in a barn cat named Curlee. They're bred to have short little pixie faces, big ears and a very friendly, fun personality. Virgil plays fetch, talks to me, and sleeps under the covers with me. He is my heart-cat. He is also special needs. Virgil has ocular herpes which can never be cured. That's why his eyes look drippy in the picture. He also squints on one side because the herpes is currently giving him a hard time there. Even still, he's easy with the purrs and a very sweet boy.



Next we have China, our grayhound. I affectionately call her 'Ding-dong' because China isn't very smart. I'm not sure how old China is because they weren't really sure when we got her. She must be about 5 now. She's pretty sweet and has the biggest eyes and the most sensitive dispossition.


We have Keelin, another Devon Rex, who is majorly *MY* cat. She doesn't let the kids touch her and most of the time my husband can't touch her either. Keekers is a really odd girl, I got her in hopes of showing her in the Cat Fancy and though I tried, Keelin never took to it and was nearly disqualified from every ring because she kept trying to eat the judges. Oh, those were good times. *sigh* She'll be 5 this year.
She's a really unique color for a cat too, she's a reversed chocolate patched mackeral tabby. Which is a complicated way of describing a really complicated coloring. She's got tabby markings on her legs, head and tail, along with the tabby buttons on her belly, but on the rest of her body, she's what's called 'hot cream'. Normal tabby's are darker with lighter accents and Keelin is reversed.
Here is a picture of Keelin taken at the International Cat show in 2004, by Tetsu, a really awesom Japanese photographer. She placed 2nd best of breed at that show and didn't kill anyone at that particular show.



We also have a little nearly 4 year old guy named Emmitt, who is also a Devon Rex. Emmitt is a shameless affection seeker and will do whatever it takes to get loved on. The cat doesn't care much for his own well-being and allows himself to be picked up by the children and doesn't run away from them. I think he might have brain dammage or something. I don't know how else to explain this behavior. He's a really odd cat. Sweet, but not playing with a full deck.

It is nearly impossible to get a good picture of Emmitt. I have never seen a cat that was any less photogenic. I tried getting professional photographs of Emmitt at a cat show and the photographer tried and tried before just giving up and giving my money back. It was awful. He somehow manages to look like a buck-toothed, googley-eyed, sloth in almost all pictures and his eyes are never open. It is so strange.
This is the best picture of him I have ever seen. LOL


We also have children!!! I have a 3 1/2 year old son, Riley and a 19 month old daughter, Olivia. They are so goofy, but they're good kids.