Furbabies

Today is Month 2 for flea and tick prevention for Mr. Marley!

He's not impressed. AT ALL. See that stink eye he's giving me?! 

Unfortunately, my husband and I learned the hard way when it comes to flea and tick prevention for our animals. In fact I'm going to go as far as saying that we were very uneducated about how important it is to protect our furbabies.

Before I met my husband I was bribed into taking 2 of the most adorable kittens. Yes, I said bribed. I was 23 at the time, living in a apartment,never cared for another living thing in my life, and struggling to make ends meet. The last thing I needed were two kittens. One of my mom's best friends, Shana, her mothers cat had these kittens and they were the last to be adopted. She wanted me to meet her and my mom at my mom's house to talk about whether or not I would want to adopt these kittens. I already had my mind made up. " I am NOT going to take these kittens. I can't. I won't" -I was telling myself. I was prepared and ready to say "NO" which is actually really hard for me to do the way it is. Once I got there, I walked into my mom's room and there they were. 2 sweet white kittens playing on the bed. Shana says ," What do you think?! Aren't they adorable??" Yes, they were so cute, but I knew I couldn't take them. I told her and my mom my little speech that I was practicing on my way over there and of course, they didn't buy it. Shana then says, "if you take them, I’ll give you $200, I’ll neuter them, I’ll pay for their shots, I’ll have them de-clawed, and I’ll give you toys, cat litter, cat box, and food." Everyone can guess what I did, right? :) I took them home and I fell completely in love with my kittens.

Welcome Home! Boston (left) and Marley (right)

 Everyone asks me why chose those names. Well, Its simple. Marley was named after a dog in a movie called, Marley and Me. Marley the dog was a little rambunctious trouble maker. And I felt like that fit him quite nicely. I chose Boston because it sounds great with Marley! So, Marley and Boston it was. :)

Baby Marley saying Hi <3

They grew so fast! Aren't they adorable?

I took this after Marley felt the need to eat my flowers. ;)

My animals for the last 5 years have been my life. They were the only things that were actually solid, they were with me through the worst times, the good times, they kept my grounded, and lastly they taught me responsibility.

After I got married, my husband claimed to be a "dog" guy. That quickly changed when he met my cats. They aren't any typical cat. They love to cuddle, they greet us when we come home, they loved to be held, Boston would roll over on his back when he wanted attention, Marley can sit on command, they knew when we were sad and tried their best to comfort us. They are literally one in a million.. or would it be two in a million? ;)

My world came crumbling down when we returned home from a weekend trip and noticed Boston looked different... he didn't look like himself. At the time, my husband and I weren't really sure if he was sick or if he was just in some sort of funk. Boston had never been sick, we have always taken him and Marley to the Vet for check-ups, routine shots, and they were just always healthy... there has never been a problem with either of them. So I decided to wait until the next day to see if he got any better.. and he didn't. I took him into the Vet the very next day I was not prepared to hear what the Vet would tell me. " We think he has Bobcat fever. We're going to run a few test just to make sure." What?! Boston was mostly an inside cat.. he hated going outside.. how in the world would he have Bobcat fever?! I was devastated. I didn't know what to do.

Boston was in the Animal Hospital for almost a week. He fought hard and he beat the fever, but it wasn't good enough. We kept trying and trying... I was NOT going to give up on him that quickly. The one thing that I kept asking our vet was if he was in pain... and the vets assured us that he wasn't. So we kept trying. I mean, he beat the fever... we have to keep trying. I talked my best, best friend in the whole world about this situation and she and I agreed that if Boston wasn't ready to give up, then neither am I. When Boston decides to leave this world on his own.. then that was his decision. My husband also thought this was the best plan and so we ran with it. And I would have the peace of mind knowing that I did everything I could for my little guy.

At the Animal Hospital, they made a note that said, " any bad news call James." James ( my husband) has an amazing ability to take bad news and present them to me in a very healthy way. Its hard to describe, but he's so gentile when he does have to tell me something of that sort. So on September 27th, James got a phone call from our vet and he told James that Boston was about to pass away. As soon as I got off the phone with him, I got dressed, called my mom, was maybe on the phone with her for 3 minutes, I started walking towards the door, and I got a phone call from James. Boston passed away. I fell in my living room, onto the floor and cried.I wasn't there.... I wasn't there with Boston when he left this world. I was devastated.

After Boston passed away, my main concern was Marley. They were best buds... they have literally been together their entire lives. I didn't know how he was going to handle Boston not coming home. At first Marley was fine... I really don't think he really understood what was going on. Then when a few days passed he started looking around the house, looking into all the room meowing for Boston. At night he would do the same. Over a month has passed, so he's better now, but I still don't know if he remembers him or not.

Its sad to say that it took Boston getting sick for us to understand how important it is to protect our animals from fleas and ticks. Prevention can save their lives and its up to us to protect them.

Boston wanting attention <3

Boston had the best cuddles <3

Miss you Boss <3