# Hi!



## AmberD (Dec 29, 2003)

Hi all! My name’s Amber, and I’ve been checking this place out for a while, but I haven’t posted yet. I've finally been inspired to register, so here I am. As far as introductions go, I’m a graduate of Michigan State University, with a degree in English. Don’t ask what I’m going to do with my degree, because I’m not sure yet  Still working on how to go into an animal related field with an English degree. Anyway, for now I’m at home with my dog, five cats, and several fish.

Since it’s a cat forum, I’ll introduce my cats first:









Spaz is the eldest of my cats at 5 years of age. She came from the Humane Society as a Christmas present to me :? , and she’s very deserving of her name. She plays fetch and “goalie” very well, and generally likes to hang out by herself.









Blue is only a few months younger than Spaz, and came from my mom’s good friend who is a Siamese (and Tonk) breeder who’d we’d gotten a Siamese from before. He’s the nurturer of the group… and he loves to sun bathe 









CryBaby is going to be 4 in a few months, and he was an “accidental” acquisition from the Humane Society’s visit to the grocery store. He almost died a year ago when his kidneys failed him, and so he’s now living with 25% of his kidneys, but he remains king of his domain.









Scooter is a little over 4 months old now, and the sweetest creature on Earth (in my humble opinion of course ). He and his mom came calling for food outside in October, and a couple weeks later, when the weather started getting bad, we had to bring them in. We caught Scoot the first night, but it took us another month to get his mom…









Sophie is estimated by the vet to be about 2 years old. She showed up one day out of the blue, and a week or two later, she started bringing her kitten with her. Because of her love for affection and general sweetness, the best assumption we can make is that she used to be a housecat but was dumped either when she was discovered to be pregnant, or she was dumped with the kitten. 









This is Sasha, my mutt. She was also a stray who hung around long enough and was sweet enough that we just couldn’t resist her. Actually, we didn’t have much of a choice since she was dropped off at the pound and had to be adopted or else. She was quite a case to rehabilitate, since she’d been abused, but 6 years later, she’s doing great.









I have 7 Siamese Fighting Fish (a.k.a. Betta fish), who are all great little pets. I’m not going to post all 7 here, but I’ll share a picture of Psychedelic, my favorite and the one I’ve had the longest (since October 02). He’s an awesome little guy with a rock star personality. In February, he developed cancer, in the form of a tumor, and I had to take him to the vet (_that_ was quite the experience), but he got better and has inspired a house full of bettas (10 total).

That's it - unless you want 9 more betta pictures, which I can do 

Amber


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## Kimmyboo (Dec 29, 2003)

Welcome Amber!
I'm also new here. Your animals are all very very pretty. It's almost like you have a zoo. lol I think it's great that you got them from the Humane Society as alot of people don't want those animals cuz they think they are bad. But if only people knew I think there'd be alot more adopted animals. I too have a Betta fish. It's name is Dummy. lol I had a Black Moor fish with one boogly eye but he went to fishy heaven today. He was 5 yrs old so he did his time. He was the best fish ever. I named him "One Eyed Willie" (like from the Goonies movie) since he only had one big eye. He wasn't swimming right anymore but was breathing so we flushed him so he wasn't suffering anymore. Poor little guy! I miss him already! Even though he was "just a fish" I think deep down he really liked me. My niece was sad cuz he was her first fish and she told us she wanted us to flush him to fish heaven cuz he looked like he's suffering. Imagine a little 8 yr old saying that. It was sad! Welcome again to the forum and keep us posted about your animals. Take care!!


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## Ioana (Jul 12, 2003)

Hello Amber and welcome. I loved the stories of each one of your pets. You are not only a good story teller but your stories have happy endings - so it got even better. Your pets are beautiful...looking forward to hearing more from you !

ps kimmyboo - I am sorry about One Eyed Willie. I am sure you had a very special spot in his heart. You were his mommie


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## kitkat (Sep 22, 2003)

Welcome to the forum.

All of your babies are very adorable and I'm happy to hear you've taken in some animals you didnt have to. Do they all get along really well?


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## Padunk (Oct 20, 2003)

Blue is so handsome :!:


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## Bean (Mar 10, 2003)

beautiful pictures.


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## stormy (Dec 7, 2003)

hi amber and welcome!!!!
your kitties are all so beautiful, so is your pup!!!!
sophie though.... :)


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## 2sillycats (Jan 1, 2004)

*too cute!!*

All your critters are adorable but, Scooter has my heart! :) What a face! I can totally understand how you couldn't resist him. Kudos to you for adopting shelter cats! 

Another betta fish fan here, too! I had 3 but lost them all to cotton wool disease not to long ago. Including Wallace, who I had had for 3 years. Very sad!


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## maymariya (Sep 27, 2003)

Welcome! all of your babies are so cute Just 1 question. Is Scooter Sophie's kitten?


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## AmberD (Dec 29, 2003)

Thanks everyone for the welcomes!



Kimmyboo said:


> Your animals are all very very pretty. It's almost like you have a zoo. lol


Well, few months ago, we had another dog and a rabbit, so it was really a zoo then  Although... Sophie and Scooter put the total right back up there, I guess. And sorry about your fishy 

kitkat - they all get along except for Baby and Sophie. That's proving to be a long process...

2sillycats - sorry about your fish, too. Are you going to get any more? Oh, and Scooter has my heart, too  He's absolutely precious.

maymariya - Scooter is Sophie's kitten, yes  Here's a picture of them when they were still living outside:










He looks so tiny there, and he's a fine, strapping young kitty now :)


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## kitkat (Sep 22, 2003)

Looking at the last picture of the cats outside Im so happy that you decided to take them in, kudos to you! They look really adorable too :)


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## Padunk (Oct 20, 2003)

Hey AmberD,

I didn't notice you are from Flint, I'm in Mt Pleasant. But originally from the Detroit area.

You mentioned you know a Tonk breeder in the area? My mom wanted one a year or so ago so I did some research and only found them in Lansing and one in Fraser. (suburb of Detroit). Just curious where the breeder is located.


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## 2sillycats (Jan 1, 2004)

> 2sillycats - sorry about your fish, too. Are you going to get any more?


I do have another one now. Haven't name him yet. I am afraid to get to attached until I know if he is going to make it! 

Give that Scooter a head scratch for me! The pic of him with his mum is so cute! What a precious baby!


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## AmberD (Dec 29, 2003)

Padunk said:


> You mentioned you know a Tonk breeder in the area? My mom wanted one a year or so ago so I did some research and only found them in Lansing and one in Fraser. (suburb of Detroit). Just curious where the breeder is located.


She's in Flint, too. She's been breeding Siamese, Tonk, and a similar white breed (forgot the name) cats for a long time. When I was little, we got a Siamese and a Tonk from her, but the Tonk had an accident not too long after  After we got Spaz in 98, we decided she needed a friend and went to my mom's friend for a new kitten.

When my mom visited last week, she hasda male Tonk kitten there. Actually, I was just told that her kitties don't have papers. I never new that, because we've never been paper people, lol.


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

Amber. what a beautiful menagerie! We're happy to have all of you with us. Enjoy the forum and post often.


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## Lori (Jun 8, 2003)

Amber, your pets are so beautiful!! That is one of the prettiest Betta fish I have ever seen, what cool colors. 
My name is Lori and I have one cat named Velvet. We also have a saltwater aquarium.
Welcome!


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## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

Your cats all look so happy and healthy. That's so cute and funny that you got one at the grocery store. If the humane society here did that at my grocery store while I was there, I'd be hopeless!! I wanted every kitty I saw when I went looking for new kids. And...Sophie is absolutely beautiful. They all are -- but she just took my breath away. I can't believe someone didn't want her.


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## AmberD (Dec 29, 2003)

Lori - thanks  Psych is gorgeous, indeed. But don't feed his ego. He already thinks he's the coolest fish ever. (Of course, I kind of agree with him )

ForJazz - Luckily, I wasn't at the store... I would've melted. But I melted anyway, when I swung open the back door thinking they'd need help carrying groceries in, and I ended up staring into the prettiest blue eyes ever... 

And Sophie? I'll never understand how she end up where she was, but I'm awfully glad she found her way to us.


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## Aonir (Aug 18, 2003)

Oh my goodness! I just noticed I didn't welcome you 

Welcome AmberD, and Sophie is MINE! :twisted:


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## Jeanie (Jun 18, 2003)

Not if I get there first! :wink:


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## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

By the way, I have a betta too. His name is Steve and he refuses to die. He's old as dirt. Last fall I thought he was finally going to go to fishy heaven -- he started kind of turning white and floating weird. I moved him to a different area of the house and he got better. Then I got my kitties and they kept trying to eat him, so he had to move again. He's still kickin'.


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## AmberD (Dec 29, 2003)

Aonir said:


> Oh my goodness! I just noticed I didn't welcome you
> 
> Welcome AmberD, and Sophie is MINE! :twisted:


Lol, too busy playing Sims, huh?


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## kristi (Sep 19, 2003)

Welcome! Your family is gorgeous!! I love Crybaby's coloring.


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