There is one creature residing in our humble abode that never gets any face time and has only been mentioned by name up until today. We know him as "Big R", "The Cougar", "Ki-ten", "The Nator" (short for Rosco-nator), and a myriad of four-letter names that come out when he's clawing the couch, picking on Hunter, or stinking up the utility room with what seems like his fourth or fifth "dook" of the day.

Amidst all the tragedy he's brought to our house (did I mention the couch scratching?), we love him...or at least I love him. He was a shelter rescue and a seemingly mellow, loving cat when we picked him out to become part of our family. He even fell asleep in my arms his first night home. Unbeknown to us, that first night home was a result of him being quite sick...a feline upper respiratory infection. Once the vet got a few "feel good" drugs pumped into him, he turned into a completely different cat. Translation...a cat we probably wouldn't have brought home with us. He rarely snuggled, had regular fits of wildness, and ate EVERYTHING in sight...literally. See...he was a stray and was used to eating when he had the chance. To this day, he never assumes his next meal is a done deal, so he snarfs up whatever he can in the interim. The first few days we had him, he ate a tater tot that fell on the floor. Awww...how cute, you say. But no...it's not all that adorable. Especially when you catch him ripping into the plastic covering your Papa Murphy's pizza and attacking raw pizza dough and delectable toppings. Or...knocking over the Cheetos bag to devour the tastiest of fake cheese products.

There have been times I've questioned his place in this house and whether or not it was time for him to find a new home (this was probably soon after he latched onto my arm in a death grip/piranha chomp action when I'd been holding and petting him for a mere .25 seconds). However, we've stuck it out and he's turning out to be a really great cat.

As with all of our animals, we can't concentrate on the negative (ahem...couch scratching), but must focus on all the good they bring to our home and daily lives. We'd wander aimless without them. The love we indulge them with would be wasted - evaporating into the air around us without ever reaching the priceless recipients we call our pets.

And in all honesty, we'd be down-right bored without moments like these to look forward to...