It was the sigh that did it!

[glowing]

I just love your funny cat gift stories even though they make me shudder and feel yuk. I can stand anything with humans but am a terrible wuss where animals are concerned. I was once traumatised when witnessing a cat running across a road having misjudged the speed of an oncoming car. The car clipped the side of the cat's head. I won't go into detail as it was too horrific but I cannot bear to see an animal dying or dead. My husband found an address on the cat's collar and I said it was only fair to tell the owners. A passer by stopped and asked what was wrong. I was too busy sobbing to talk so my husband told the woman about the speeding car, which was long gone by that time. The woman said she was a neighbour of the owners and would get them to come out and I could explain how I had accidently run over their cat. No matter what we said they didn't believe us. I asked them why they thought I would lie as we weren't even legally obliged to tell them (which was the case at the time - don't know if it still is) but we thought it kinder to let them know. The two women looked daggers at me and the neighbour said "Nobody cries that much unless they're guilty."

Hi Malcolm. Thank you for telling me about your mother-in-law. Mum has actually got one of those trollies but won't use it because of a tiny step between her lounge and kitchen. She said it bumps and spills the tea. She also has a walking stick that I and her daughters on various occasions have tried to train her use correctly. She mostly carries it under one arm to avoid it tripping her up when she isn't concentrating. If she concentrates on walking with the stick then she forgets the reason she was walking with it to the other room.
Mum has phoned to report what the carers are like and what they do for her and thankfully she seems reasonably happy to let them help her. Two of her daughters who live near her are also popping in each day. In her mind this is a temporary arrangement, just until she gets back on her feet, so to speak.
Glowing

[liz2mac]

Thank you for continuing to make me laugh and shudder at the same time! I knew there was a reason I have dogs and not cats! lol
Liz

[dianesistern]

stick to dogs they just give you gifts of molted hair everywhere, muddy footprints, a hole in your bank account (£800 a few months bacl for leg injury) awful smells arising when they lay close, but sooooo much love and devotion it is worth all this and more they have been my valium through alot of turmoil and i just burst with love when i look at them Diane

[glowing]

Hi Diane.
I agree with you about dogs. The awful smell can be from both ends when they're old. Mine used to shred the mail between them until we put a cover over the letter box. It's true what they say about a dog being your best friend.
Glowing

[s162216]

I had a job delivering the weekly local paper for about 5 years, and I 'met' a few dogs over those years:

• One house where the dog would start literally shaking the door and yapping as it knew I was coming, when I put the paper through there would be the sound of what I can only describe as shredding. One day the person who lived there opened the door to stop this and I actually then saw the dog for the first time. It was a tiny little Terrier, which I would not believe could have done all the banging and shredding I had had before.
  
• One house had a massive black, quite aggressive Labrador which would immediately come running to eat the paper and bark loudly the moment it heard me. One day though the owner decided to come out and start shouting at me for his paper getting shredded by HIS dog. When I replied that I didn't have to deliver him one and it was his responsibility to keep his dog from shredding the paper, he suddenly turned quite nasty and threatened to set the dog (which he was holding onto and was trying to get out of his grasp!) on me if I ever spoke to him like that again. I just picked up my paper trolley and ran back home, my Mum was horrified and rang the newspaper who told me not to deliver him one again as his behaviour was unacceptable.
  
• The last one's quite amusing though, another house had an even bigger black Labrador which would come running but unlike the other one it would 'stand guard' over the paper on the mat and bark the house down until the owner came and retrieved the paper, probably the biggest softie ever as he would never bark etc ... until someone came to the door and delivered something which he would guard until his 'master' came, even if it was for several hours as sometimes he could be seen just standing there until the owner came home!
  

Sam

[glowing]

Oh that is so sweet. It's nice to have a loyal dog - most of the time. My uncle was a police dog trainer and was visiting our home for the weekend with his huge alsation. He wanted to take us all out so my dad offered to stay at home with the dog. When we left the last thing my Uncle said was 'bye' to my dad and 'stay' to the dog. When we arrived home about five hours later my dad was still sitting in the same spot and was dying to go to the toilet. The dog wouldn't let him move and hadn't taken his eyes off my dad from the moment my Uncle said 'stay.' We all laughed but my dad wasn't amused.
Glowing