i dont even know where to begin. As the years have gone on some people say we started an animal collection, but i call it an animal family. With seven animals many people, friends and family alike asked us if we had lost our minds, but I feel that you can never have enough animals. It all began in April when Meeko (coconut cream pie-don't ask me why) went outside like he had done so many times before. Only this time instead of heading for the roof like he usually did he headed for the road. My great hunter probably never say the car. I was the one who found him already gone and broke the news to my girls. It was a terrible day for all of us. We buried him under a favourite tree and talked about what life would be like without him. It still isn't the same, but we had six other animals to care for and love. Then tradegy struck again. On May 5 I had to make the hardest call of my life( or so I thought at the time) to our vet and ask them to come put my beautiful prince Barclay out of his misery. The medication for his arthritis was not working and I thought maybe he might be in heart failure as he was looking a little blotted and had been coughing for a couple of days. I had just started a new job so the task had fallen to my husband. If you have ever tried to keep your children away from the eutanasia of a dear pet to protect them think again as it was impossible for me to keep my children away from the last minutes of their faithful and loving friend. Just shy of his tenth birthday we had to say goodbye to a big hearted beauty. Our rottweiller Barclay. And I'm still not over him. So now we are down two family members and the days of summer are coming and we miss them and we think about them and we pay more attention to the other animals to help get over the loss and the pain left by the departure of the others. And then the unthinkable happens. I mean when you have as many animals as I do it is hard to say you have a favourite, because they are all an important part of your family. But I did have a favourite, he was the first and the only one of all of our pets who I could say was mine and mine alone. Tigger came to me as a four week old kitten when I was pregnant with my first daughter and from the first day he was my cat. Not a night went by for fourteen years that I didnt fall asleep listening to his gentle purr or feel his soft footpads dig in to find a comfortable plae to sleep (as long as it was on me or near enough to me that he could touch me simply by stretching out his paws). He had a first seizure and seemed to recover quickly. The bloodwork gave no indication of something major being wrong so I thought I was in the clear. Then about a week later he started vomiting and upon taking him back to the vet I discovered that he had lost a pound and a half. The news was not good and so the decision was made to end his suffering. How was I to know that mine would continue for so long. And so that day we laid another of our wonderful dedicated friends to rest in the ground. The number now totalled three. Christmas came and went and the new year and although I think about my sweethearts on a daily basis I am now coming to grips with the loss. Then three weeks ago on January 20 we lost our sweet gentle highly comical dalmation Dice to liver failure. He is waiting to join the others that were his friends and companions once spring come. Please take care of our four legged friends. They were put here for a purpose and while it is hard to believe the pain will end and losing them is just about the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with not having known and loved them at all would have been an even greater loss. Cherish them now and remember them always. Thank-you for taking the time to read this. Writing it has helped to deal with some of my feelings of loss and reading what many of you have written has made me realize that I am not alone.