When I first found Pet Talk it was through my brother-in-law sending me the Cat of the Day link and I quickly made it my home page. I joined Pet Talk as soon as it started and devoured all of the posts because here were people who loved their cats as much as I did!

At first I didn't read the dog posts because my last two dogs had been at the Rainbow Bridge for a couple of years. I think I probably didn't want to read anything that might stir an old memory or emotion because my husband and I had pretty much decided that our lives were just going to be the kitties and us from here on in.....no more dogs. The reason we sort of took this attitude is because of the grief at losing both of our dogs in two years' time (Whitney in '96 and Ashley in '98). My husband often said he just didn't think he wanted to open himself up to any more grief and it was honestly very hard on both of us. I have to admit that once I started reading the dog posts it did bring to the surface the feelings that I had tried to bury. The yearnings all came back and hubby and I finally were able to allow ourselves emotionally to take the plunge once again into dog ownership and Bella came into our lives and the rest is history! I feel quite certain that we would have eventually gotten another dog but I think maybe Pet Talk might have helped provide the gentle nudge that we needed.