Hope you like our pets page - of course there are those we haven't mentioned by name - tropical fish, numerous hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits that have lived with us over the years - all as much loved as the others but there just isn't the room!

Apologies if this page is taking a long time to load, it's full of pictures

updated January 1999

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Tink : About Us : Cross Stitch : Animals : Pets : Chickens : Foxes : Allotments : Links

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This Page:

Tinky the Cat : Lisa & Wolfie the dogs : Tigger & Bista more cats : Hamsters,Guinea Pigs & Rabbits

Tropical Frogs : Tortoises : Charlie the Cockatiel : Ben & Stimpy more dogs & cats

Poppy & Herbert the kittens

TINKY

Tinky was of course a direct descendant of Tink. You can tell this by the tongue hanging out and the white patch on his chest. He was also a bit of a pain. At the age of 6 months he caught a large wood pigeon (larger than himself) and managed to carry it along a tiny little ledge and through the bathroom window into our flat - in the dead of night. Getting up to a room full of feathers at 7am in the morning was not a pleasant sight! Needless to say he was given a collar with a bell to warn the birds he was coming. He also had the ability to find any article of clean clothing and make sure it was covered in muddy paw prints. We often found paw prints in ridiculous places - such as the front of kitchen wall cupboards (especially if they had just been cleaned), usually a single print at the top with no indication as to how it got there. He remained very much a loner like his namesake. Still, Tinky moved house with us twice and lived till he was 17 years old.

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LISA AND WOLFIE

Lisa and Wolfie were minature long-haired dachshunds. Lisa (on the right) was our first pet, she came to live with us when Karin was recovering from open heart surgery. Tinky was supposed to be company for her, but as he always lived his own life we got Wolfie as a companion. They were extremely loyal dogs and would follow you anywhere (including the loo!). Despite only being small dogs they were very protective and would stand up to anyone or anything - large dogs and children their pet hates in particular. Lisa sadly died after having some teeth removed and Wolfie was quite lost without her, though he actually seemed to take on many of her characteristics. He was 16 when he finally joined her.

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TIGGER AND BISTA

Tigger was born in a coal hole, which is probably why he always made sure he always had the cleanest white socks. He was very definately not your typical ginger tom. He got on well with every pet we had at that time (apart from the lapse with the hamster) and was very prim and proper. Unfortunately he was found dead one morning, poisoned by some thoughtless person.

Bista came from a rescue home as a six month old kitten. She isn't very sociable with our other animals, especially Ben the dog, but she really loves people. She waits for people passing the back of our house and rolls around on the ground in front of them demanding attention.

She's firm friends with the children going to school.

Thinking of adopting a rescue pet ? See the RSPCA & The Blue Cross sites

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Hamsters, Guinea Pigs and Rabbits

The picture on the left is of Simms, Emily's first hamster. The majority of hamsters sold in this country are usually Syrian and don't actually live more than 18 months or so - tho' most pet shops don't tell you that! So don't feel guilty if your hamster didn't live it's expected life span (3-4 years) as it tells you in the books, that refers to Golden hamsters not Syrian ones. Emily has had a few hamsters as well as Simms, including Gizmo, Joey, Sonic and Choco. When we had Sonic, she gave birth about two weeks after we bought her. The current Hamster is called Panda - he'd been here 2 weeks before discovery - by a squeaky wheel! We have never had any Russian hamsters, which are smaller, with a brown and white colouring.

Gizmo did not like living in a cage and decided to take up residence under the heater, and she liked to patrol Emily's room at nights. She made a nest in a drawer full of tee-shirts, and would take her bedding back to her cage whenever it was cold. Sometimes she even managed to close the cage door behind her and open it again when she wanted out.

On the right you can see one of our rabbits and some of the guinea pigs in their summer quarters, a large run in the garden. Unfortunately if you keep female rabbits they will dig tunnels, which the guinea pigs then insist on going down and getting lost in - or worse getting stuck in! The rabbit in the picture is a Netherland dwarf called Gravy (don't ask why!). She had a companion, an English rabbit called Scamper. Unfortunately Scamper managed to get a fractured front leg which could not be fixed by the Vet, so she had to be put down.

Visit PetStation and IVH Hospital for info on your pets.

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Tropical Frogs
	These are our White's Tree Frogs, Jabber and Winky, they come from Australia. We got them three years ago and they can live up to ten years and can get quite big and extremely fat. We have had a couple of scrapes when they have got out of their tank, especially Winky. We normally find him beside the fireplace, although he once spent three worrying days under the cd player, but he was alright once we put him back in the tank. They like to croak along to music, especially the frog song by Paul McCartney. (Tho' we all prefer John Lennon)
Visit the White's Tree frogs and !!!FROGLAND!!! sites for more information

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Tortoises

I've included the totoises here, even though they aren't actually ours, and they don't live with us (yet). Let me explain, I bought Mo (on the left) for my mother 28 years ago, tortoises were being imported by the thousands, many of them dying, I felt so sorry for this one I got it for my mother's birthday present. Miki (below) shortly followed to keep Mo company.Thankfully the importation of tortoises is now controlled and you can no longer find them for sale in pet shops, only from breeders or a licenced keeper. Anyway, being such long lived creatures, they have out lived my mother and will far outlive my father, so he's specified in his will that they come to live with me after he dies.

After they had had them for a number of years another tortoise (below) named Lonely wandered into their garden looking for company and has stayed ever since. Tortoises are very social creatures and like to be with their own kind. Despite adverts and enquiries, Lonely's owners couldn't be traced, so he is still with Miki and Mo. Lonely soon changed his name to (randy) Andy - it's the first thing he thinks about when he comes out of hibernation, despite the fact that Miki and Mo, although both female are of a different breed and several times larger than him.

Mo has layed eggs, although they never came to anything. They have all successfully hibernated this year; bedding down on October 27th 1997 and waking up on April 2nd 1998. They each lost between 100g-150g in weight during hibernation, which they should soon make up (once the weather warms up). Slowcoach tortoise site is an excellent site about tortoises.

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Charlie the Cockatiel
	Charlie flew into Culworth one day and never went away. He wasn't actually found by us, but by someone else in the village. However he was in severe danger of being eaten by a cat. Why he ended up with us was I suppose because Emily was well known for taking care of waifs and strays. Anyway he arrived, biting and squawking and generally being bad tempered. We put him in an unused hamster cage whilst we made enquiries as to who he might belong to. Total blank. All cockatiels in the village were present and correct. We put notices up in the village shop and in our window, sent word up to the school to ask in surrounding villages.........still nothing. We don't like caged birds but there seemed no option; with cats and climate, charlie's chances of survival in the wild were not good. So we went out and bought a proper cage, invested heavily in millet (one of the few words he shouts when he's run out) and have had Charlie for the past couple of years.
He wolf whistles at anyone walking past the window - much to their surprise and he says the usual 'who's a pretty boy then' and 'give us a kiss' but refuses to say 'daft old bat' to my mother-in-law. He will one day.

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Ben and Stimpy

above - Stimpy's first day

Ben the dog has been with us 5 years - another rescue animal. He was 6 months old, and had been left outside a police station. He's a cross Collie and German Shepherd. After Lisa and Wolfie, we didn't want another dog for a while but after a year we decided we missed the company. This time we thought we'd go for something bigger. Stimpy came to us at 6 weeks old, the day after we found Tigger dead. We weren't planning on another cat, but he was the last of a litter being re-homed before the owners went on holiday. His owners-to-be changed their minds which left him homeless - so we took him in. We eventually named him Stimpy as he is such a double act with Ben. (Get it? The Ben & Stimpy Show).

Ben is the softest dog I've come across, he is so gentle. The top picture is of him with Stimpy as a 6 week old kitten, the day he arrived. Stimpy seemed to think Ben was his mum and was trying to suckle. Ben didn't seem to mind - and even took to carrying Stimpy around in his mouth, though nowadays that's a bit difficult as Stimpy is a fully grown cat as you can see in the next picture. Why is it that some cats and dogs fight and other don't? Bista scratches Ben, but Stimpy cleans his face.

Being a strong, large dog, it was important than Ben was properly trained, so he was taken to classes in the next village. This involved a very long walk as he was more than a little reluctant to get in the car, though of course he wasn't complaining about that. (Even now it's a struggle to get him in a car - one of those things we shall never know about I guess). Emily was only 12 at the time, and the instructor thought he'd never see the day that Ben would obey her - everyone else he'd do anything for, but not her - then all at once, he finally realised that Emily was in charge and has been great ever since. She and Ben then went on to gain the their Good Citizens certificate and rosette, getting their picture in the South Northants Council Newsletter.

Adopting a rescue pet ? See the RSPCA & The Blue Cross sites

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Poppy & Herbert

This is a picture of Poppy (the tortoiseshell) and Herbert, the kittens. We got Poppy at eight weeks old at the beginning of July - (supposedly our last cat!) and is now 9 months old. The same night we bought her back from the vet's after being spayed at the end of November, someone appeared with a stray - ginger and white tom, about 12 weeks old. Herbert has been with us ever since and nobody has claimed him yet - so another addition. Both Stimpy and Ben get on with them - quite often there is a heap of three cats and a dog in front of the fire - or on the bed! As Bista doesn't really like other animals she only puts up with them if they don't get too close, otherwise it's a hiss and a wallop!

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An absolute must to visit is Laurie's Guide To The Reality Of Pets which I've only just discovered, it's so true.......

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This Page

Tinky the Cat : Lisa & Wolfie the dogs : Tigger & Bista more cats : Hamsters,Guinea Pigs & Rabbits

Tropical Frogs : Tortoises : Charlie the cockatiel : Ben & Stimpy more dogs & cats

Poppy & Herbert the kittens

Back to Animals Page

Go To:

Tink : About Us : Cross Stitch : Animals : Pets : Chickens : Foxes : Allotments : Links

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