More About Me …

Filed Under Uncategorized |

Danielle ChonodyI thought it was time to tell you a little more about myself and my history loving pets. I was born in Adelaide, Australia which is a large city with a population of just under one million on the south eastern Australian coast. Compared to Melbourne or Sydney, the more well known cities of Australia, Adelaide is considered pretty small and I always thought of it that way.

My parents emigrated to Adelaide from London in their early twenties to start a new life - my dad had secured a job as a civil engineer with the highways department. I came a long a few years later.

Growing up I was an only child, I loved to read and sew, and I always wanted a cat. Unfortunately my parents were not so eager to have a cat in the family so as a child I had both a mouse and rabbits as pets. They were a poor replacements - but I loved them just the same.

Finally when I was 9 my parents decided I was ready for a cat. To my great disappointment the first several pet stores that we called told us that it wasn’t kitten season. We finally found a shop that had several kittens and when we visited my new cat Oscar jumped right out of the cage and into my arm, I knew he was the one I had to have.

Not long after we brought Oscar home, a stray that the neighbors had taken in decided that he would rather come live with us. He was a fluffy black and white cat that they had already named Guido. From there we just couldn’t stop at two and we adopted an orange tabby from the shelter called Marmalade and then finally bought a grey Persian from a breeder and named his Boswell. Some might say we developed cat co-dependence - but I thought it was great to have so many pets! I’ve never had so many since - but maybe one day…

I lived with my parents and our cats through high school and college.  In high school I found I enjoyed math and science but wasn’t too sure how I wanted to apply these to a career. I considered a science degree but decided that was too vague and ended up studying Chemical Engineering at the University of Adelaide.  It wasn’t a good job market for engineers when I graduated in 1996 but I did finally secure a job with an oilfield company in Melbourne.

Moving to Melbourne meant leaving my family and my cats. I missed them all terribly but enjoyed the big city activities of Melbourne and made some friends though work.  Renting in Australia is a bit different to what I’ve found in the US - more landlords will not allow any pets so for almost 3 years I had to rely on visits back to Adelaide to see the furry family. It was probably just as well as I did travel and spend several months working on an offshore oil rig - I wouldn’t have provided a very stable home!

Finally in 1999 I moved to a unit and was able to get another cat.  I found my Burmese cat Bouie and brought him home to be adored.  When I transferred to the US in 2000 there was nothing to be done except to bring Bouie with me to Dallas Ft Worth. He travelled with a pet care company “Jet Pets” who boarded him for 2 weeks after my departure and then sent him on to me - clearing him through customs and the medical exams. They did a great job, he arrived safe and sound and immediately ready to sniff out his new environs.

To be continued…..



Did you enjoy this article? Click here to subscribe to recieve email or RSS updates

Comments

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind