Yellow Lab and Cats

Our pets are such a huge part of our daily life! I wanted to write about them and share all the fun things that go on, as well as share little bits of advice or maybe get bits of advice from my readers.
Our Yellow Lab is eight years old and his name is Dakota - shown here with me in my profile picture. We have an orange cat, Jinx, who is five, and a fourteen year old grey and white cat, Kenya.

Our cat Jinx and Dakota are about the same color. She is not the least bit afraid of him, she cuddles up with him and pays attention to him when he feels neglected. Kenya is the opposite, she still won't accept that we own a dog. It's funny to watch her try to get up on my lap with Dakota lying in front of my chair. She will circle the entire room, going around him giving him a wide berth, evaluating the whole process and then find a way to get on my lap without making contact with him!
Almost two months ago now, Dakota was running and he slipped and fell and hurt his right hip. We cannot afford a vet treatment other than to get his routine shots, so we have nursed him along gradually.  The best thing we found was Cherry Flex for dogs, it has helped limber up his back leg area.  But we are still carrying him up our steps as need be, and he weighs 102 pounds.
We do struggle in these times to keep up with expenses in general and would never want our pets to go without. Sometimes I am sure we spend more money on food for them than ourselves!  I wish there were a way to get free animal food. So many people have to give up their pets but it would kill us to have to do that, we've had them all so long.
I can't imagine our life without our animals! If you have pets, you know what I mean. They have a way of removing our minds from worries and stress.
If you want to help us take care of our animals and buy pet food occcasinally for our local humane society as well, you can do so by going to and the send money tab, enter brbwhite@msn.com .  Our dog and cats will love you for it and we will be able to continue to pamper and spoil them daily with help from friends like you. We thank you in advance.
I'll be back here again soon, and looking forward to hearing from you all.