Daddy's Girls

It is with a clenched smile that I announce that most of the animal companions in our happy and fur-laden home seem to favor my husband. Yes, I rescued all of them, yes I am the one that had to convince my husband to let more paws in the house. I am the one that nurses them back to health, gets their chakras aligned, cleans their ears and knows how to mix their food ratio just the right way. I scrub the litter boxes. I give them their medicine. I brush out the matts. Me. Yet they adore him way more than me. I know I shouldn't complain since I just wrote an entry praising my husband's animal-loving. But the recent defection of Brody our 2 year old cat has hit me hard. Brody has recently decided that Alex is the best thing since canned tuna and can't get enough of him. Sure she loves me and shows me affection, but her enthusiasm for Alex is unrivaled. Her most recent display is to follow him up to bed every evening and give him kitty snuggles complete with purring and head butting. When I get in bed she could care less and sometimes eyeballs me as if to say "Umm Lady, this spot is taken." The irony is the spot is taken...not by me, but by Caelan our 5 yr. old Irish Setter. Caelan has been a Daddy's Girl since puppy hood. I can pinpoint the exact moment I became sloppy seconds in her brown little eyes. She was 12 weeks old and a scrawny puppy mill rescue and we were "fostering" her - I was being very level headed and logical mind you, caring for her every need but not getting over attached. I mentioned to my husband an email I received about a prospective home in Wisconsin I was going to email back. With a look of horror he clutched her close to his chest and said "We can't give her to another family! I love her!" Caelan looked at me with such contempt cradled in his arms. A look I would grow familiar with over the years. Well, I knew she was home for good at that point. Since that day Daddy is all she loves best. She is the first of any of our dogs to sleep in the bed and she lays on my side trying to force me out all night long while keeping watch over her Daddy. When he gets up very early in the morning she leaves the warmth of our bed because apparently it's not as comfortable without him. Sure she acts happy when I come home after an outing, but when Daddy comes home it's a celebration! There is fetching of favorite toys and vocalizations and general jubilation. I can't compete.

Our oldest cat Henri, our matriarch at 14 also loves him more. Sure I rescued her before we even married and she lived alone with me in my New York apartment in her formative years, but once Alex and I joined as one she jumped ship and decided she was "his" cat, not mine. Our first dog Fergus? The dog I wanted so badly and fought for when my husband thought any dog would do. The dog I felt a feeling in my gut was "the puppy", the dog I trained through puppyhood while Alex was out to sea with the Navy? Yup - he loved Alex best. As that dog took his last breath after 11 years with us he stared adoringly at Alex. I sat behind his head with my hand on his heart and let his last moment with us be about the person he loved most.

Oh, I know they love me. I know I'm being petty. But honestly...I would just like one of them to love me best! There has to be some validation for cleaning up their vomit and bathing them after they roll in dead animal. Perhaps Sully will be the one... Sully is still young enough to mold into a Mama's Boy. Yes, I have my sights set on him.