Our Household

As I mentioned in earlier posts, Mr. Aardvark and I live together. However, we do not live alone. We have a constant chaperon/dependent/fur baby. Ladies and gentlemen of the internet, meet Kitty or Fuzzy Aardvark:

Personal Photo

I apologize for the poor quality photo, but that look of contempt on her face is due to the camera's presents. She is not very photogenic, but that is beside the point. The point is that she lives in our house. How that came to be is a story unto itself. A story I will now tell.

In my sophomore year of school, I was living with Bridesmaid Red. (You will meet all of the bridesmaids shortly I promise.) She had a friend who was unable to keep her childhood pet and was desperately looking for a loving home. Red's parents live in the country and have a whole collection of barn cats and offered to take this one in too.

The plan was, she would stay with us for a week and then go to Red's parents'.  Well... when she came to us, she had been staying at a "foster" home and the stress of all the moving had made her thin, and weak. Not to mention she was already about eleven years old at the time.

Now, to be totally honest I am more of a dog person, but had a few cats growing up and am a sucker for pretty much any kind of animal. This poor Fuzzy Aardvark was too little and too weak to be living in a barn!

Long story short she never made it to the barn. And when Red transferred schools, Kitty stayed with me. Having always had pets growing up, it was nice to have a little furry friend around especially when I moved to a new state all by my self.

Mr. Aardvark had never had any pets. Well, that may be a bit of an over statement, he did have some fish when we started dating... Growing up his brother had lots of allergies so no cats or dogs for them.  When he moved in with Kitty and I, it was a large adjustment for him. Besides the obvious, couple-moving-in type changes, he had for the first time a fuzzy pet.

Both Mr. Aardvark and Kitty have had to learn to adapt to each other in this new household. She has had to get used to not being the center of my attention. He had to get used to the shedding, the hair balls, the late night attempts at "hunting", and numerous other pet owner joys . It has not always been easy (on either of them) but there has been progress and they are generally moving forward in their relationship. Every once in a while there is a regression, but over all they have come to peace with each other.

I am very pleased with this and think it is really laying the ground work for someday adopting a puppy!

(Photo from Greg Ellison.com)

Well... Maybe not quite yet....

Did you have any furry family members that were part of your household before your significant other? Was there an adjustment period for either or both of them?