Hello again, and welcome back to another blog post! You guys must somewhat be enjoying the blog if you're back again, reading another :). So, this blog post will purely be about my dog Joey and my cat Little Man; I am aware naming a cat Little Man sounds odd but there is a meaning behind it, it is a bit sad but more on that later.
But, before we get into both Little Man & Joey's stories, let me answer one question first...
Do Joey and Little Man Get Along?
Well, lets just say its a love hate kinda relationship between them... One day they can be the best of friends and actually lay together, another day then can hate each other and either it's Little Man giving Joey a whack on the face or it could be Joey chasing Little Man round the house.
However, to actually answer the question, yes they do get along, neither of them has actually ever hurt the other and on occasions we have found them laying together without someone, like myself, laying with them.They both co-exist in the same household and during the days that my step dad is at home, both Joey & Little Man do tend to spend their time in the conservatory with him; and even sometimes, they are laying together on the sofa.
Okay, so let's start with the oldest of the pair....
Little Man
Little Man is our black and white cat that I have had since I was about 10/11 years old, which makes him about 11 or 12 years old now. Like most cats, Little Man's favourite thing to do in the whole world is..... Cat nap! Quite literally, he spends the majority of the day either in the conservatory lazying around in there or in one of our rooms, fast asleep on a bed; on the off chance he is outside, we normally find him in his little cat box snuggled up with his blanket.
The Meaning Behind Little Man's Name & His Story
So, I am sure you are all wondering "what is this meaning of his name?", and I shall tell you now, however, it is a bit upsetting in the beginning as he was quite a poorly kitten... When we first saw Little Man, he was this very tiny and frail kitten, who had been neglected by the people who owned his mum; they were not very nice people and not long after we took Little Man away from them, they had a visit from the RSPCA and the other animals in the household were seized.
The first time we saw Little Man was when the owner was walking around our road, knocking on doors, asking people if they wanted him as he was the runt and they didn't want him... Please bare in mind, at the time she was walking round with him, it was pouring down with rain and all he had to protect himself and keep himself warm was his short fur coat. At first, my mum wasn't sure on owning this kitten as the lady was trying to sell him for £50... in the end my mum literally just took him off the woman and closed the door and we never heard from her again...
Baring in mind at the time it was just me and my mum at home, we had to think of how we were going to get this kitten food and vet checked as at the time we didn't have a cat carrier. So, we opted for a small cardboard box with a blanket inside and went to Tesco to get him some food; the local vet was closed and not open till the following day so we had to wait to get him seen. Once at Tesco, we had to figure out what to do as my mum couldnt leave neither me or Little Man in the car; so we ended up taking him in with us, hidden in between my coat to keep him warm. We purchased some kitten milk, flea treatment, kitten food and some toys for him to play with.
Once back at home, we had a proper good look at him; he had gunky eyes and a very blocked up nose, his fur was full of fleas, and bits of poo were stuck to the backs of his legs, but other than that, he was safe. Mum gave him some special kitten milk and food (he literally wolfed down the food so quick) and then flea'd him and she actually had to cut the bits of poo out of his fur due to how badly it was stuck... We cleaned his eyes and nose up as best as we could and wrapped him up warm.
Below are a few photos of him on his first night being with us. As you can see, he did look quite poorly, however he was so playful.
The next day we took him to the vets and well, this is where it does get a bit sad and at the time, myself and my mum were very upset... The vet told us he had a heart murmur along with something else (I can't remember the name but it was something to do with his respiratory system) and they said he may not live longer then a year due to the conditions he had... This was heartbreaking for me and my mum as we had fallen in love with this little kitten that we had rescued and couldn't even think of losing him. The vet provided him with the appropriate vaccinations. She told us that he was actually too young to be away from his mother, however given the circumstances, we couldn't exactly take him back so the vet provided us with some information one how to keep him as healthy and nourished as possible.
Once the vet visit was over we took him home and tried to come up with a name that suited him. At the time we had, quite literally, just been calling him Little Man as he was so little and considering he was a boy, it was quite fitting; especially since we didn't think he'd ever get to be a fully grown adult cat consdiering what the vet told us. He did have other names that we considered, but in the end Little Man just stuck and now, 11/12 years later and he is still with us, perfectly healthy and full of life. He does have quite the personality too, from being fast asleep on the sofa enjoying cuddles, to suddenly attacking your arm to say his had enough, to then running around the house, being scared of his own shadow.
He is, and I know I'm being bias, the best cat ever, from what he went through to now, is incredible. He is a right character and we love him dearly, the house would not be the same without him. Below are some photos I thought I'd share of him when he was a young adult to him now, along with some photos (well, quite a lot actually lmao) of him snuggled up in his favourite thing that he has loved since he was a kitten; a blanket. There is also a photo of him in the 'Cone of Shame' and as you can see, he is not happy about it lol.
And that's it, that is Little Man's story. We are so thankful to have him in our lives and as part of our family, he truly is a miracle little man.
Now, lets's move on to the icon himself...
Joey
Joey's full name is actually Joey Essex, which for a period of time was what he went by at the vets (which I think he now does at our new one); trust me, the faces of people when the vet receptionist would call out "Joey Essex, Joey Essex" and people thought it was the TOWIE star and then Joey Essex, the Shih Tzu would walk into the vet office. Now, lets get onto Joeys story.
Joey's Story
Now, Joey's story isn't as upsetting as Little Mans, he came from a pedigree breeder in Essex and was a birthday present to me when I turned 12 years old. When we actually arrived at the breeders house, originally I wasn't actually looking at getting Joey, as he was the only brown and white puppy out of the male puppies and I was looking at the grey and white ones; we thought at the time he had already been sold and was awaiting collection. The whole time I was in with the puppies, the only puppy who came up to me was Joey, and you know what they say; "the dog chooses the owner, not the owner chooses the dog" and in this instance that couldn't be more true. Once we learned that Joey was also waiting for his forever home, we instantly said we would take him.
Now, Joey never had any medical conditions when he was little or anything we had to worry about; however as his got older, he has got a condition with his hip - it isn't hip dysplasia but I can never remember the name of it. This condition does not affect him majorly and if we find he is struggling, we have medication that he can take when needed. I feel a bit bad that Joey's story isn't as long as Little Man's but Joey hasn't had anything traumatic happen to him; apart from when we lost my grandad to cancer, who Joey had grown quite close too before my grandads passing. Joey actually attended my grandads funeral as Joey was apart of my grandads life and it wouldn't have been right not to have had him there.
Anyway, moving on from that, Joey is now 10 nearly 11 years old; yes he is only a year or so younger then Little Man. Below I have attached quite a few cute and funny photos of Joey, as you can see just like Little Man, he loves a blanket.
I also forgot to add that Joey actually has had to have an operation before; among the photos below, there is one of him also wearing a 'Cone of Shame'. Thankfully it wasn't major surgery and just a small procedure to help remove a single grass seed from between his toes on his front paws. The unfortunate part of this is that it has made him very upset whenever someone tries to check his paws; as he associates someone touching his paw with a pain from both the procedure and when the vet had to touch his paws to feel if it was definitely a grass seed that was in his paw. Thankfully, he now lets us somewhat touch his paws but more on his terms and we can only do it for a short period of time.
And that's kinda it on Joey, there isn't much more to tell. He is our special little pup who I adore so much and have so many funny memories with, especially the car journeys we have been on with him as my co-pilot (don't worry, he has his own doggy seatbelt).
If you have any questions on the pair, please feel free to comment and I will answer any there. I will post some updates of them both, or at least photos of them with what they have been up to; although they both mainly sleep lmao.
I hope you have enjoyed this post,
Lou xox