Older dogs, like my Paddington, tend to suffer from the same problems as us humans. Their joints start to creak and groan, and they look uncomfortable trying to get out of bed of a morning. Funnily enough, some of the best pain-relief for them is exactly the same as it is for us humans. Paddington has been on a course of daily cod liver oil tablets and devil's claw supplements (available from all good health-food shops) with his dinner and after a fortnight the change is noticeable. He even jumps over fallen trees where he used to have to walk around them.

My Cat is called Humbug or Flump (short for Fat Lump) She is my best friend and my companion.
She's a sandwich short of a picnic but very sweet and loves to curl up next to me in bed.
She's not a very friendly cat as far as strangers are concerned. She's even been known to 'growl' at visitors and when a boyfriend decided to give her a kiss she showed her disgust by hissing at him. He was not amused.
She's only a moggy but I think she has a bit of pedigree in her as her fur in very silky and dense.
She's my best mate and is sat on my computer table watching me type this.
She's a real sweetie and I love her to bits. Meeow, Purrr.

A Doctor was addressing a large audience in Tampa. "The material we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here, years ago. Red meat is awful. Soft drinks corrode your stomach lining. Chinese food is loaded with MSG. High fat diets can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water. But there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and we all have, or will, eat it . Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?"

After several seconds of quiet, a 75-year-old man in the front row raised his hand, and softly said, "Wedding Cake."

An etching of my Newfoundland when he was about 3 or 4 years old.

He originally belonged to Jan, a family friend, along with his brother from a previous litter, Hudson. Hudson passed away at the age of 9 years, which is about average for a Newfie, I understand, leaving just Paddy, Jan and her husband Alf living in a two-bedroom flat. The dogs were more than just pets to Jan, they were her babies. Unfortunately Jan died of cancer a few years ago leaving Alf to look after the Padster. We'd look after him whenever Alf went on holiday.
Alf was taken ill four years ago and had to go into hospital, so naturally we looked after Paddy for the duration. Alf asked that if the worst should happen could we take him on as we already have had dogs before and have taken good care of Paddy in the past. We said that it probably wouldn't come to that, but yes we would do willingly.
Unfortunately, the worst did happen and Alf passed away and we've taken Paddy on as one of our family since then. That was four years ago and Paddy's still going strong at the ripe old age of 13 and a half years. We must be doing something right, though he still looks at you occasionally with a look that says "When am I going home?" Poor old sod.

Any other strange pet 'friends'?

We have two kitties that we adopted (in October 2007) from a kitten shelter...
Their names are Shadow and El Bandita...
They are the cutest kitties ever!

This is our cat Mya as a kitten. She took to sitting in the water bowl to show that it was empty. She has now progressed to the mixing bowl. Do any of you have animals that like to sit in strange places?

Fozy was born in Brasil. The baby of a lovely family who happened to have only 21 poodles at home
At the age of 4 months he moved to our house, in the condition that he would come back to visit his parents, brothers, sisters, cousins , aunties, etc...
Fozy is a very happy dog, a black small poodle, very friendly who loves eating pants

When he was 3 years old, we decided to move and we went back to Portugal. Obviously, and although we were not swimming in money, we made all the effort to bring him with us. The trouble we had to go through was unbelivable, all the paperwork and everything. And also we had to pay for a plain ticket as if he was a person, around $800 that was.

The poor litle thing had to take pills to fly because he is claustophobic as his dad, bless... but he was fine...

After a few months in Portugal it was time for our new venture to come to England.

Now, I think some of you may know what happened, right?

After 300 phone calls and visits to all the possible places, the outcome was: Fozy cannot enter the UK

I remember the day I left him with my sister, we came to England in a van, so we could bring some of our stuff. As we open the door of the van he jumped in, and stayed there in his "place" all happy 'cause he loves traveling
And so we had to leave him, and he cried so much, and we all cried so much. I was so devasted, not just for me but also for my little girls.
It was like leaving a son behind, the girls didn't stop crying till I don't know...France or something .It was absolutely devasting.

Luckily I have a family who takes care of him and I know he is okay, but don't get me wrong, I started hating England right there

I swore to myslef I wouldn't have a dog again...ever!!
I'm still too traumatised, but our Mon now has a westie, I'm a grandma and life goes on.

Woof woof

xx

Hans doesn't seem right he isn't even a year old yet so it can't be his age. He keeps stopping what he is doing and either crouching into a little ball or almost laying on his side, and having a bit of a nap. How daft does that sound? But I am his mummy and I know something is not right. Oh I love my Hans so much, I don't want him to be ill

I think I'll get him a tissue box. He likes those:

EDIT: Sympathy over, Hans, stop dragging my pyjamas into your cage and eating them! Feeling better are we?!

So this little monster is my dog called Ignaz. He is -of course- the best dog ever BUT is humping people's legs way too often which can be very embarassing at times and he farts A LOT.
But besides that he is the best buddy and also really funny.

Many people know I am obsessed with my pets. I am positively thrilled to have an outlet for this. I keep going "HA!" about it. Brilliant.

My darling, Super Hans, looking so soft and sleepy. He likes to escape, all the time, which makes me love him even more:

My naughty gerbils, Amber and Twist. Amber is bigger and more sandy than little grey Twist, although you probably think they look the same they love each other but have proper scraps over sunflower seeds. I think they're gay:

GOLDFISH. Pride and joy. They have just had 70 babies. The middle one in Juliet - inappropriately named, for he is the dad. The orange one is Alan. She's a mum, along with Maddy who is GORGEOUS (to me), so so yellow. Babies will be pretty, I hope:

I also have a tank of white cloud mountain minnows, only three now as two died this morning and I have no idea why. I also have a loach called Dyson who sulks more than any other creature in this world, apart from when he can't see you looking, and then he sucks bogwood and ripples happily.

I am desperate for two guinea pigs, and a large tank of tropical fish, but as I'm planning to move soon I think it may be best to wait.

This is my lovely baby, Caspar. Some of you might have seen him already =P

Anyway, just wanted to say that in my opinion, he is the cutest thing ever! EVER! And he's MINE! ALL MINE! MUAHAHHAAH!

Anyone dare challenge me? eh? EH! =P

-Mahima

Ohmigodliek.

You Gods of Awesomeness.

Best, group, evah!

There's nothing more rewarding than coming home after a hard day's work to be greeted by that hairy/scaly/feathery little guy or guys who will always love you unconditionally.

Why don't you tell us about your pet? Post pictures, tell us a story or give hints and tips on how best to care for it.

Who knows? You might even find him a little husband or wife...