Pet retrospective... wait, shouldn't that be "Petrospective"?

The other day, I got reminiscing about pets gone by. I think a few of these photos are already on my blog somewhere, but if I can't remember them, you probably can't either!

Chelsea was the first dog that I considered "mine." I grew up with a parade of English Setters, but they were all really my Mum's dogs, at least until the last one, Tara, whom I ended up inheriting! But Chelsea I picked out myself, at the Pickering-Ajax-Whitby animal shelter. She was just a wee pup in December 1987, approximately seven weeks old, and her little face reminded me of a Chelsea bun, hence the name.

1989 was a hard year for me, but Chelsea was always by my side! She loved to help me rake leaves...

She was a Lab-Collie-Pointer mix, affectionately known as a "Collabointer."

And here she is in the last winter of her life, letting me know she's had enough of the snow.

Chelsea had severe hip dysplasia and arthritis from a very young age, not that she ever let that slow her down. She adored swimming and was very happy when we moved to Nova Scotia, where we had a house on the ocean and she could swim as often as she liked.

By August 2003, Chelsea was nearly 16 and she was getting very tired. The day before the vet came to the house to put Chelsea to sleep, we all spent a little time on the beach together.

Her passing left us in tears, but Tara did her best to keep us amused! I inherited her after my mother died in 1997. She was born on St. Patrick's day, 1992, and was always good-natured and full of mischief.

"I know I'm not allowed on the furniture, but really, is this deck chair technically furniture? It's made of plastic, for Dog's sake!"

Me whispering sweet nothings to Tara in British Columbia. She was due for a trim!

In December 2003, we moved from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, cramming three cats, the aforementioned English Setter, and a leopard gecko into our Mazda Protege 5. Here's car at a pit stop somewhere in northern Ontario:

The little sign in the rear window said "BC or bust!"

The pets were extraordinarily good in the car, sleeping all day and enjoying the pet-friendly Comfort Inns at night! Here is Mashka, who was a lovely blue-grey kitty we adopted from the Toronto Humane Society in 1995:

When we arrived at the hotel each night, we would immediately put the litter box in the motel bathroom. The cats would literally line up and perform their business while we finished unloading all our crap from the car.

In 2003, poor Tara did not have a lot of space in the back of the car! She did manage to curl up comfortably for a long snooze, though.

The amusing bit of this photo? Mashka is actually sleeping on top of the plastic box the gecko travelled in, which was well-wrapped and topped with a pillow!

Julius looks more than a little peeved.

Mashka loathed crates, so she always got to free-range while the other two cat were confined.

Another day, another hotel room -- 2006, on the move from BC to Quebec! Gordon was stretching out his tootsies in the foreground. The drawers and other stuff are piled up against the bed to prevent the cats getting under there. Until we figured out this system, Julius and Zoë would, like clockwork, neatly rip a hole in the boxspring bottom and crawl in while we slept at night! After shaking cats out of a boxspring for two nights in a row, we figured out a solution. We also found a selection of girlie mags under one motel bed (eeeyuw!)

Mashka sleeping comfortably on top of her kitty siblings. More like "lording it over" her kitty siblings. She was the BOSS.

On both trans-Canada moves, like this one in 2003, Mashka would migrate to my lap every day in the late afternoon. She would position herself parallel to my thighs, drop her head down between my knees, and go to sleep.

We drove through the Rockies when we moved from NS to BC, and had a pit stop at beautiful, snowy Rogers Pass. A busload of Japanese tourists pulled in at the same time, and they were fascinated by Tara! Everyone wanted to have their photo taken with the exotic dog.

She was always such a diva. Someone in Japan has this photo in his album!

After the photo shoot, Gordon took Tara for a walk in the snow. Tara had to be put to sleep in 2006 at the age of 14-1/2. But she has a pretty darn good life with lots of adventures!

Zoë was my striped tabby heart-kitty. I got her as mangy, ringworm-ridden itty bitty kitty, sent to me from Seattle when I lived in Toronto. A chain of volunteers handed her off to each other, and she arrived at the Toronto airport being carried by the boss of a lovely woman named Jude who was involved in senior dog rescue. This kind man, a total stranger to me, brought Zoë to Toronto on a business trip as a favour to Jude, carrying her in the cabin of the plane in her tiny blue crate.

Zoë showed her gratitude by promptly infecting me and Gordon with ringworm, despite our best precautions. My vet at the time said she was the ugliest kitten he'd ever see, but ate his words a year later when he called her "beautiful."

In 2006, she and Mashka enjoyed a snooze on a warm Gordon.

My Zoë died suddenly in 2007 at the age of ten, the day I arrived in Scotland on a trip with my friend. It was heartbreaking not being able to be with her in her hour of need. The vet suspected a tumour on her heart. I still miss that cat!

Sweet Mashka left us before that, on December 18th, 2006. She was 16 or 17 years old, and suffering from kidney failure. Here's a photo of her on her last day. She was Gordon's heart-kitty and had such character!

When we moved to Quebec from BC in 2006, the cats had more room in the car as Tara left us that year. Here is Mashka, rudely flaunting her freedom as she sleeps in front of Zoë and Julius' crates:

Julius the orange tabby is of course still with us. He was born in Nova Scotia and has lived in four provinces: NS, British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario. He is now nine years old and we hope he'll be with us for a long time yet.

Pets.... they bring so much joy to our lives, but it sure hurts when they leave us. I raise a toast to all our beloved furry friends who are no longer with us.