Putting Together a Book

Growing up, I had a black horse named Pepsi. I got him when I was 9 and we just lost him 2 years ago...19 years later at the age of 33. He was the coolest old man with lots of personality. He used to thump his bottom lip against his top lip when he was bored. It made a hollow thud sound that was so loud the neighbors could hear it.

Good luck with the book

I have a lab rottweiler mix named Goose because of his ear peircing bark that takes his breath away sometimes till he sounds just like a Goose. The animals I have fostered have been named Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, etc. along with a littler of kitties named Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Ginger, and a few others I can't remember. I think the funniest are the two female rats my aunt had named Lucy and Ethel.

Well, for what it's worth, long ago our family adopted a kitten from a litter of a cat owned by one of the children's friends. The children were teens, and there was so much difficulty coming up with a kitten-name that suited the whole family that I finally christened him Anonymous. The name worked so well and turned out to be so cute that my mother remarked, "If you ever take in another cat you'll have to name it Miscellaneous." So... when we found an abandoned older cat about a year later, we named her Miscellaneous (with Missy as her nickname). She's a story in herself, but I won't go into that here. A couple of years later we ended up with an orphaned four-week-old "marmalade cat," and what else could we name her but Et Cetera! Our oddly-named feline trio did well together. Missy has gone on to her reward, but Nonny (age 15) and Cetty (age 12) still run the house.

I had my iguana, Joanna, for 13 years. She was my best friend! She was actually quite affectionate (she would nuzzle up to my neck and bury her head in my hair). She would have been about 4 and a half feet long, but at one point a little girl picked er up by the end of her tail, which caused undue stress. The tail died, and I had to have most of it amputated, so she was only a little over a foot. I used to sneak her in to movies with me, go shopping with her, you name it! She was very well behaved (always just stayed on my shoulder. I really miss her!

We use to have a fish named Kong, for some reason my sister always called it Kong Pow... Don't know why she couldn't get it right.
We also had a ferret that my husband Robot Warrior. My sister once asked my husband why he named her that because she wasn't a Robot... he said "she's not a warrior either"...

We have a Jack Russell Terrier named Taxi. She is white with brown ears and a brown patch over her right eye. She also has several large, very semetrical brown spots on her sides and back.
She doesn't do many tricks, but the one thing she does do is "sit pretty". She sits with her bottom on the floor, and then sits up straight with her front paws in the air--begging style. SHe can sit there for several minutes!
We named her Taxi because we live in a rural town where there are no taxis, so it is funny to yell "Taxi" after her. It was less funny when we lived briefly in Portland, OR., where there actually ARE taxis!

We named our fish "Sushi". I don't like to eat seafood, so don't worry, ya'll! Sushi is safe in our home. =)

Hi C.,

I would get myself a Dogster/Catster account! You can browse through the pages and see all this info. They have thousands and thousands of members! If you get an account, find some you want to use, you can send them a message and explain what you are doing...I'm sure these people would be thrilled to be included!

:) Good luck and have fun.

We just adopted a cat in March. The shelter had named him Thumbs because he has 2 extra toes on each front paw. We still call him Thumbs, but also call him Mr. Thumbkins.

He is an orange tabby with a striped tail. He loves to play with his toys and sleeps stretched out on the back of one of the couches.

We used to have a three-legged dog named Yard. Get it...three feet equals a yard?

We have a cat named Meo (because my daughter could not say Meow and called her Meo instead). She is shy, not sure about our kids but steals their toys and hides them in the basement! She would purposely get a barbie dress out of the barbie box and walk right in front of my daughter and when my daughter saw her head right for the cat door and into the basement, almost like she was taunting her. She has stolen stuffed toys that were small, strings, small soft balls, you name it. It is a running joke around here if something is missing, a pony tail holder or whatever we need to see if Meo hid it! :) We have to make a sweep through the house at night to make sure nothing is on the floor she will steal!!!
She is a sweet kitty, we love her and she is beautiful, she is the one unfortunately due to having to move we have to find a home for! So I would say she is the perfect "cat burglar!"

Hi C., We had a little mixed terrier breed, white with brown spots. Curly, medium length fur that hung over her eyes. We named her "Twerp!" When I was very young we had a golden retriever named "Happy" Have fun! K. K.

We had 2 Texel guinea pigs (they are the real long haired curly types) that looked like walking wigs. My 5 year old at the time named his Jerry Springer and we still don't know why (he didn't even know who that was) but the name stuck...my 9 year old named his muffin. We also had a black English cocker spaniel named Kricket that was so old and had glaucoma and went blind and would bump into everything (very sad) but she also had this horrendous smell to her and we could never figure out why...so stinky blind Kricket...kinda funny.

What a great idea! I recently finished up a writing course for children and young adults and I wish everyday that I had the talent to draw!

My parents owned a pet store when I was growing up and I can't even begin to list all of the "characters" that I grew up with here. But I'll give you a few....

To Start:

I currently have a boxer/beagle/lab mix. His name is Eddie and he's 8 months old. My husband named him for Cousin Eddie from the "Vacation" movies, but I like to think of him as Mr. Ed because of his beagle personality. When he begs for food he "talks" quite loudly, coming out with something like...."Aaarrrrooohhh, grrrooooo, ra ra roo, ooooohhhhh!" He looks just like a small yellow lab, but with floppy beagle ears and sad hound dog eyes.

I also have an 18 year old persian mix cat. Her name is Pippen. She is long haired with a white belly and orange, black and brown splotches all over. She loves to wake me up (in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning) by tapping her cold, wet nose against mine and drooling all over my face. She drools more than my dog any time she's happy. She is not fond of Eddie and loves to tease him while he's sleeping by running her fluffy tail over his face and then running away when he wakes up. I've had her since I was 12 and she is spoiled rotten!

When we owned the pet store:

We had a blue and gold macaw named Merlin. He was my mother's baby and she would bring him home almost every night for sleepovers. He rode on her shoulder in the car, or on top of the steering wheel, or would simply cruise all over the car yelling at any passengers to make sure they knew he was boss! He also ate at the dinner table with us....walking from one end to the other, helping himself to whatever he felt like from everyones plate. And he slept in bed with my mom....right down under the covers....nipping at my dad any time he got too close.

There are too many for me to pick more at the moment, but if you'd like more suggestions feel free to message me. I should let you know that I am working on a middle grade novel featuring alot of these characters, but it sounds like yours will be something very different and I have no problem sharing. Good luck with your book and I look forward to seeing it on shelves someday!!

K.

What a wonderful idea! Our animals can be such a wonderful source of joy and laughter. Growing up on a farm we had tons of critters, all with their quirks and personalities, but one of my favorite quirks came from my guinea pig Stanley ( within a few months he was called just Piggy) He was a golden satin peruvian ( long hair, kind of a walking toupee) with a a white blaze on his nose and a white stripe of hair on top of his head that fell to both sides. He loved having his food pellets soaked in water till it was mush. So after I would fill it he would pull his bowl under the leaky water bottle. ( He would also flip the bowl in protest if it was empty) When I got tired of cleaning the goo out several times a day I bought him a wire bowl that I could tie at the other end of his cage. I filled it up and he pulled and pushed and finally after he figured it was not going to move he ran over to the water bottle, took a big drink then ran back to the bowl and spit out the water into the clean bowl of food. For the rest of his life I cleaned mushy food.

Because of our allergies, we do not have very many pet choices. I don't find fish exciting, so I bought a dwarf African frog, who is brown with brown spots. His body is about 1-1/4" long, and he is all legs! He is so cute - my husband and I enjoy watching him swim in his habitat. Some of the motions he does and positions he lands in are so adorable. His name is Leon, which is based on the cute little boy on the old Andy Griffith shows who dressed as a cowboy and was very willing to share his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Have fun with your project! D.