Linked 2013 - (Furry) Faces

It's amazing the things animal lovers will put up with to share their space with furballs.

hair
slobber
bad breath
drool
snot
sneezing
weeping eyes
cauliflower ears
chronic ear infections
growling
litterbox cleaning
sampling from the litter box
poop pick-up
emergency vet bills
greyhound teeth (syndrome)
cuddles
warmth
friendship
walking buddy
smiles
kisses
barking...nonstop
incontinence
puking
hairballs
garden digging
dirt
wet dog smell
cat toenails - ouch

I can't remember a time when there wasn't at least one furball sharing my space, except for a short time when I lived in an apartment.

This is Annie Belle, an eight year old rough coat collie with one blue eye, one brown eye and a very long snout, longer than what is normal I think. She has this habit of staring at me, just like the picture above. Every evening, she sits in front of my husband and stares at him, while Oliver, our orange tabby with the snotty, sneezing nose, that showed up in our yard three years ago, lies on his chest. He likes to have his face nearly touching our face and he uses his paw to touch our face and mouth (the yucky part, because I Know where those paws have been). He absolutely will Not just quietly lay on my lap, that is simply way too far away from my face, and I won't put up with him being that close to my face, but my husband and sons will, so he doesn't pester me as much, and I don't mind, because that's just a little too much fur, a little too close.

These two have a very strange relationship, we think, for a cat and dog. They groom each other's faces and necks. Oliver uses his paw to get Annie's face into the position he wants, then proceeds to lick her snout. Annie uses her long snout to be able to get into the nooks and crannies of Oliver's neck, gently biting his neck. He rubs his face all over hers, and when they notice us watching them, the looks on their faces is just a little guilty, like they were caught doing something they weren't supposed to.
Honestly, you'd have to see it to believe me. I've even felt a little uncomfortable at times.

 

Now, while Annie is officially My dog (got her for my 48th birthday), and my son considers Little-Bit, below, his cat, he's really mine. Every night he saunters over to me, meows in a certain way that means he wants to jump up on my lap and I automatically grab the blanket. I Always have a blanket on my lap when he wants to lay on me because he's been know to get startled and jump off quickly, using his toenails to help - Ouch!
Bitty has a very expressive face, he'll have his eyes 1/2 closed and if one of us asks him a question, he'll nod at us us.
He is sooo warm and sooo soft. I love the color of his nose and his long white whiskers, and I like to play with his ears as long as he'll let me.
We just realized he is 13 years old, three years older than any of my furballs have ever lived.

More of the "couple"
Photo overload, but you can just skip over them.

Check out my friends view of Faces...


Amanda, Carla, Hanne, Heather, Heidi, Jenn, Kristin, Rhonda, Tracey and Tracy