Mutual of Omaha Kitty Kingdom

Growing up, I only ever had one dog: Muffin. He was with us from when I was 5 until well after I went off to college. Muffin was a brown mutt of a dog--a terrier-beagle type with a sweet, loving, playful nature - he had to be to deal with three little girls and a practical joker of a father who loved to pretend to throw things and send poor Muffin running.

The late great Petunia. Look how fierce and kitteny!
Petunia was with my husband and me for 18 years. A loving cat &
fabulous high jumper we were greatly attached to.

They always say to not photograph pets looking up at you from the floor, because it is unflattering, but that is how Muffin was in every picture, the quintessential brown medium-sized brown-eyed, slightly overweight dog looking dolefully up at the camera. What a good boy and a perfect family dog!!

When I run around the city lakes, I love seeing Muffin type dogs. It makes me feel happy to see dogs that look like Muffin. Sometimes I dither on which Muffin-type dog I see is most like our Muffin.

One of Muffin's most distinctive markings was a pattern on his behind which, as we kids gleefully pointed out frequently, looked like a gorilla. So, no dog is truly a Muffin look-a-like unless they have the anus gorilla pattern, which surprisingly, many dogs do.

I am including pictures of pets present. Doesn't it suck
that so many pets of Christmas past  pics aren't
digitized? I need to get scanning! This is me and Oblio.
He is awesome, and has supernatural naughtiness abilities.

As an adult, I have moved to being a cat lover and owner. Not that I don't love dogs, but you have to have a certain settled life to be a dog owner. There was the gray cat, Skeletor, adopted by my friend Rachel and me, then JJ, brought to the family by my husband, then Little Ratty and Petunia. My husband and I have had as many as four cats at a time. We love dogs, too. If we ever find a dog wandering, we are always the people who are trying to catch it and get it out of traffic. We then bring  it home and search for their owners, but when we have them at home, we sort of pretend they are ours and walk them and stuff. We love dogs, too. Right now we have two cats.

Tiberius. She weighs about 3 pounds, but thanks to
expert fighting moves she shares with a certain
Federation starship captain, can often best Oblio.

Being childless artistic types, my husband and I have greatly doted on our cats over the years. Naturally we make them their own food. A sample menu item might be raw chicken, raw rabbit or raw bison we get frozen at the pet store, served with pureed organic veggies, mashed up, perhaps with a light frisson of squash or sweet potato. Does that sound like a joke? It's not.

I love animals. I can't imagine a childhood without animals, or a home without animals.