We here at AAHA are honored to read the stories that you, the visitors to our website, share about your pets. Every day you show us how dear your pets are to you, and what an integral part of your family they are.

Below are some of the stories that have made us laugh or touched our hearts. If you haven’t yet told us about your animal family, please tell us about your pet.

Snowball, a deaf cat

My cat Snowball is so spoiled! I always carry him to bed every night. I had to have surgery on my foot and had a cast on it, so I had to hop up 16 steps every night to bed. He sat down at the bottom of the steps for at least 10 minutes every night and cried like a little baby. He would finally give up and walk upstairs and get into bed himself. We went through this every night for six weeks until the cast came off.

Auggie the beagle

Walking our dog has become a laughing matter. We have a double stroller, one spot occupied by my three-year-old daughter Bernadette, and the other by my ultra-lazy beagle, Auggie. Imagine the looks we get from motorists and other walkers!

Minnow the cat

Minnow had one canine tooth extracted, and her lip gets caught on the other canine. She looks like an Elvis kitty.

Bandit, Smoky, Tasha, Abby, and Cassidy, cats

My cats are your typical house cats: they eat, sleep, play, and basically ignore anything human. When my father passed away several months ago, I came home from the hospital and sat down on my bed. Suddenly, I found myself wishing for a bigger lap, because every single cat wanted to cuddle. Somehow they knew, and none of them left my side for two days.

Ripley Ann, a dog

She would always make us laugh when she rolled on something that smelled really good. She loved when I would wash my hair, she would follow me around until I would lie on the floor so she could roll on me. She just adored fresh laundry on the line-she would pull everything off the line and pull it into a big pile so she could lie in it.

One time we gave her orange peels. She arranged them in a line and rolled in them, and she was terribly proud of how she smelled. She always got quite loud when she did this. I miss this the most about her.

Zora, a very confident Samoyed

We live near and walk in a park that is sometimes frequented by moose. When Zora was younger, I was able to trust her off leash (which is rare in Sammies). Once I was walking with Zora off the leash, and suddenly we saw a huge bull moose. Just as I tried to get a leash on Zora, she tore off toward the moose.

I called her wildly to come back, sure she would be stomped on. What happened then amazed me. My normally confident, non-submissive girl stopped just a few feet in front of the moose and rolled on her back. How the moose understood the dog body language is still a mystery to me, but he casually walked up to Zora, sniffed her while she lay still (at this point I thought for sure she would die and I was useless to help!), and then walked off. Zora got up and came to me, grinning as though what she did was the most natural thing in the world.

Bear, a rottweiler

My older dog Bear is quite the character. He is a huge sweetheart and he loves to snuggle. I just have to be in bed and say the word "snuggle," and he runs from wherever he is in the house, jumps up on the bed, and curls right up next to me.

Raven, a rescued black Lab

I originally met Raven at a pet store where I work that was holding an adoption fair. She was a full-blooded black Lab, but very thin. She had been at the shelter for two weeks, but no one had shown an interest in her, so she was slated for euthanasia in a couple of days. The adoption fair was her last chance. I fell in love with her and immediately adopted her. She was young and still had a lot of puppy in her, so it was rough going at first. After a little training and a lot of love, she blossomed into a magnificent dog.

Because Raven is so well behaved, I use her as a PR dog for our veterinary clinic. I love the way people flock to her and ask me if they can pet her. Little children hug her and give her kisses, and she licks their hands and faces. She has been wonderful, especially for children who are scared of dogs. She is so mild mannered that they will eventually begin to pet her, and they even ask to see her when they visit next.

She wears a little backpack with our clinic name on it, and she carries brochures and handouts that I give to people whenever I walk around the pet store. I take her to fundraisers and adopt-a-thons in our area, and we distribute leaflets on spaying and neutering, training, and preventative care. We even have a group of handicapped adults and children who come into our store, and Raven is especially happy to see them. They always call her by name and love to visit with her. I think the next step in Raven’s career will be to get her Canine Good Citizen certification and then begin working toward becoming a therapy dog. Not bad for an unwanted former shelter dog who only had a few days left to live!

Bingo, a beagle

Bingo likes to go into my woods and chase the rabbits and birds, but she never hurts them. When I see her come home with her head down, I know she’s found a new "baby." She runs straight to her bed and very carefully arranges her blankets and tucks in her baby bunny. She gently cleans the bunny and frets over it for hours on end. She watches me like a hawk while I bottle feed all the bunnies she’s brought home. When they’re done eating, she cleans them and takes them back to her basket. Over the years, she’s used her mothering skills to raise potbellied piglets, lambs, and baby goats.

April, a cat

I am 18, and she’s 14. We grew up together! She was coming out of her mother (my grandparents’ cat) backwards, and both mother and kitten were in horrible pain. It was very late at night and everyone in the house was asleep. I wandered into the laundry room where their basket was and saw the difficulties. I was four and fearless. I reached in and pulled out the struggling kitten. She and I have been together since that day! Over the years she has watched me grow up and I have watched her grow old. She has been the one and only thing in my life that has remained with me no matter what.

Sam, a dog

Sam loves people and other pets. If you come into our home, he does not want you to leave. He’ll throw a fit and grab your shoes or pants and hold on for dear life. It gets pretty embarrassing sometimes.

Lou, a dog with built-in GPS

I feel his directional ability is exceptional. We drove down to New York City area and returned via a different route. After stopping for gas I got back on the highway heading east instead of west and HE KNEW! He fussed and fussed and tried to get on my lap and I thought he was just glad to be out of his crate. I continued going the wrong way for a good 45 minutes. But it was the instant that I turned onto the cloverleaf heading in the right direction that he settled down and didn’t fuss till we got home! Maybe best of all, Lou helps me to make friends and stay in touch with my world. He helped me settle into my new neighborhood after I moved, because he’s so friendly that everyone knows him and wants to stop to greet him every day.