Scooter and Shakespeare were raised together from puppies. Scooter was a 95 lb German Shepherd and Shakespeare was a purebred Cocker Spaniel. They both died of cancer… Scooter in 2002 and Shakespeare in 2005. Unfortunately, most of their years were spent eating kibble, getting annual vaccines and living in a household that used pesticides, herbicides and toxic cleaning products. This was before Stephanie and Sharon began their journey into “natural.” In fact, much of their belief system today stems from the knowledge they acquired while searching for ways to extend the quality of the lives of both of these wonderful family members.
Scooter was Stephanie’s most loyal companion for 11 years. Whenever Stephanie was around, he never left her side. She used to laugh about how he would even follow her when she got up to go to the restroom. He was always there. So his loss was extremely hard on Stephanie and, although it’s been several years since he passed, she misses him every single day… and he will forever be that one amazing dog against which Stephanie measures all other dogs.
Shakespeare’s nickname was Shakerdoodle. Because of her name, many people thought she was a boy, but Shakers was a girl. She loved to eat as much as Booger Bear, Stephanie’s black cat. A person could set their plate down on the coffee table and turn away and in a split second Shakespeare could slide a piece of bacon off, have it chewed and swallowed before that person could turn back. Often the plate would be picked up and the human’s eating resumed only to hear them say “hey I thought I had a piece of bacon left.” Shakerdoodle lived to be 15.
Lexus, Booger Bear and Joon (in order) have also gone on to the great Rainbow Bridge.
Stephanie always referred to Lexus as her beautiful green-eyed tabby. Lexus found Stephanie one day outside the gym where she went to work out. Stephanie couldn’t resist the adorable little kitten and took her home to meet Booger Bear. Booger took Lexus under her wing (she was 4 years older than Lexus) and the two became inseparable ever after. Lexus stopped eating in 2007 for a reason unknown to us at the time. She became very ill and died shortly thereafter. We are now convinced her passing was a direct result of the pet food recall / poisoning of 2007. She lived to be 15.
Booger Bear was Stephanie’s very first pet after moving away from her parents’ home and living out on her own. She got Booger as a kitten. Booger was a great hunter (she once brought Stephanie a dead snake and laid it right next to her while she slept in her bed) and boy did Booger Bear love to eat. She LOVED human food. Pancakes were possibly her favorite. Booger lived to be 19. She was actually still doing quite well until she suddenly became ill. As noted, Booger and Lexus were inseparable… even upon Lexus’ death, Booger was soon to follow. She died one week after Lexus died. We are also convinced her passing was a direct result of the pet food recall / poisoning of 2007.
Both Lexus and Booger Bear ate canned cat food. We fed them mainly the more “healthy” brands, but Lexus was so finicky in her older age that it got to where she would only eat certain foods. Although Booger loved to eat human food, as she got older it became more of a challenge to find cat foods that she would eat. So she was fed the canned foods too. Those foods were on the recall list. To die within a week of each other was more than indicative of a problem. Benny and Joon did not eat the canned cat food. Neither of them liked canned food. They would only eat dried cat food and the brand they were fed at the time was not on the recall list.
Joon was Benny’s evil sister (direct quote from Benny). Actually, Joon was a very sweet kitty to humans but there was not one single other cat that she got along with… including her brother Benny.
Benny and Joon were Sharon’s first pets as an adult. Once she was living on her own, she felt strongly about getting a pet, but not just one, she wanted to make sure that there was a companion kitty for the long hours when she was away at work. Sharon found Benny and Joon at a pet store. They were members of a litter that had been rescued. Sharon fell in love with them. Joon grew into the role of “the grumpy one” and Benny became known as “the love muffin”. Joon had the most beautiful “milk mustache” and would have been perfect for those “Got Milk?” commercials. She never adapted to living in a house full of other pets, however, and she developed behavioral problems over the years. She became sick in 2009 and the vet diagnosed her with Feline Cystitis , but she never really improved and finally stopped eating. She became so ill that we had her put to sleep. Joon was only 14 years old.
Thank you for coming to read about our beloved animals who have passed. These, of course, do not include the many wonderful companions we both had as kids. All of them are forever in our hearts and are missed dearly.
