A pet adoption day is a special event. Six years ago yesterday, Karma-Kat arrived, the day before Seren-Kitty’s birthday. Seren would have been 23 years old today!

And today it’s also BRAVO-DAWG’s birthday! He’s two years young. So I’m re-running last year’s blog post–with a few updates, of course.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEREN-Angel!

When a kitten was discovered asleep in a flower pot on a friend’s back porch about the first week of June, my friend called me for help. You see, her four-year-old daughter REALLY wanted this kitten, but my friend was allergic yet didn’t want to take the baby to the shelter. So it was Amy-To-The-Rescue.

As soon as I walked into her kitchen, this tiny baby with blue-jean-color eyes raced across the floor and climbed up my pant leg, put her paws around my neck, and it was all over. I was smitten. I wrote about this in Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover’s Soul. The veterinarian judged her to be about five months old, so we counted backward to give Seren a February 1st birthday–which also happens to be my Mom’s birthday.

So in honor of Seren-Kitty and Karma-Kat, purr-haps you’d like to share kitty love by gifting a cat-loving friend with my latest book CAT LIFE. It’s available on Kindle, and both softcover and hardback is here.

I think the book makes a great Valentine’s gift for cat-moms. Just saying. 🙂 Karma-Kat’s picture is in the book.

KARMA’S GOTCHA DAY

Five years ago today, we prepped for a horrible ice and snow storm set to shut down North Texas for several days. On Friday January 31st, Magical-Dawg(RB) saw “something” dash across the back patio. A hungry, not-so-tiny kitten with blue-jean-color eyes came to the window and paw-clawed to get inside, never mind that a big black doggy face stared and wagged back at him.

He wore a collar, too, so I thought he must belong to the new neighbor. When I opened the door, he ran–I followed, and called for him. He kept running until I meowed at him. He stopped, mewed back, and then can running back to me. And a week later I blogged about him when knew that Karma was home for good.

The veterinarian guestimated Karma to be about 7-8 months old, so we counted backward and–holy cats!–assigned his birthday in July on the same day as Magical-Dawg’s birthday. Ya can’t make some of this stuff up!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRAVO-DAWG!

What a blessing our 34-pound puppy turned out to be. I’ve shared how I consider Bravo a Magical-Dawg legacy in this post.  

At first, Karma wasn’t too sure about him. But within only a few short days, Karma had taken his assignment to train this newcomer pup correctly, and today they are best friends, tag-buddies, and nap companions.

Today, Bravo tips the scales at 120 pounds. Like Magic, he’s death on squeaker toys, but has his own individual quirks. While Magic ignored them, Bravo has declared war on all squirrels. And his massive presence has expanded our hearts even more.

WHAT’S YOUR PET’S BEST GIFT EVER?

So what do YOU think? Was there some really kewl karma and serendipity and magic happening here? For Karma arrived just in time for Seren’s birthday when, frankly, my old lady cat had been so ill that I feared her days were numbered. I know Seren would’ve argued that SHE never asked for a kitten for her birthday, but Karma certainly turned back the clock and gave Seren much needed new energy when he arrived.

I have no doubt that Seren-Kitty lived to be almost 22 years old (passing the end of November 2017) because Karma gave her an extra 4 years of energy to get that aggravating @#$%^YU! man-cat out of here! but at last, she fell in love with him, and he with her.

Having Karma around meant Magic suddenly discovered the joys of a kitty playmate that ADORED him. Sadly for Karma, that love affair ended in September 2017 when Magic also moved on to his next adventure beyond Rainbow Bridge.

In honor of Magical-Dawg’s legacy, purr-haps you’d like to share puppy love by gifting a dog-loving friend with my latest book DOG LIFE. It’s available on Kindle, and both softcover and hardback is here.

Have you ever had new furry wonders arrive at JUST the right time in some weird-and-wonderful coincidence? What’s the best birthday or gotcha-day gifts your fur-kids ever got? Do tell!

In the play STRAYS, THE MUSICAL we included a very short, funny but poignant scene called INAPPROPRIATE PET GIFTS, in which a puppy asks an older dog about the best and worst gifts he ever received. Worst gifts include a hotdog costume for Halloween, and the puppy’s best gift was an old shoe that smelled like the owner–“Heaven!”

“What’s the best gift you ever got?” asks Puppy.

Old Dog answers with two words. “A home.”

So today, as I celebrate the happy accident and magic of pets past, and of Karma-Kat and Bravo-Dawg present, I know that there will be a pet future. I’m just waiting for that next paw-step to enter my world.

I love hearing from you, so please share comments and questions. Do you have an ASK AMY question you’d like answered? Do you have a new kitten and need answers? NOTE: Some links to books or other products may be to affiliates, from which I may earn a small percentage of sales, but I do not recommend anything unless I feel it would benefit readers. Stay up to date on all the latest just subscribe the blog, “like” me on Facebook, and sign up for Pet Peeves newsletter. Stay up to date with the latest book give-aways and appearances related to my September Day pet-centric THRILLERS WITH BITE!