The Shuffler

This has become Zeus' other name... The Shuffler... We give all, or at least most, of our loved ones nick names: Honey, Baby, Munchkin, Beaner, Muffin, Lover... The list goes on forever. These are terms of endearment we use for our spouses and our children. We also create nicknames for our pets - and these names are usually derived by the animal's name or personality and typical activities. Growing up we had a large cat whose name was McDuff, but we called him Dude because he was just so lovable and lazy and we had his sister whose name was O'Mailey and we called her Maggie - I think just because it was a cute name for a girl cat. But needless to say, we rarely called them by their real names.

Today I have 2 cats, Smokey and Mittzy, and Zeus. All 3 of our pets have nicknames. Smokey is a.k.a. Barf - because he throws up all the time. I swear he must be Bulimic. As a matter of fact, as I was writing this entry just now, at 4:30 am, I could hear him throwing up in the basement down below... I'm not kidding... Mittzy has a nickname also. Hers is Click - that's because she has a toe pad on her left front paw that is dead. It's hard and deformed so every step she takes with that paw, you can her a 'click' noise when the pad hits the floor. Zeus? Well, quite honestly, Zeus could have many nicknames and has had many nicknames at different times. It has changed as he's changed or gone through phases. We call him Sir Licks-alot because he loves licking his paws. He probably has the cleanest dog paws in Rochester! He's also been nicknamed Stinky... if you've read any of my earlier entries (about his anal gland issues) then there's no reason for me to say anything more... We've also called him Chewbacca - because when he's really trying to get our attention he lets out this whine/moan/whimper that sounds just like it came out of the Star Wars movie! But the best nickname for Zeus is The Shuffler. That's exactly what he does - he shuffles. When he walks, he picks up his front feet to step, but he drags his hind feet, shuffling them along the floor. He makes such a loud noise walking/shuffling through the house, even our guests have noticed it and commented. They find it fascinating. WE find it a little frustrating. He's got HUGE paws and we have hard floor surfaces in 5 rooms downstairs. Since he doesn't go upstairs or in the basement, his life is predominately spent on these 5 hard floor rooms. And he walks around ALOT! We can hear him shuffling around when we're in the basement and he's up above us, too. He even shuffles when he walks outside! I was amazed when I noticed that his paws were dragging on the sidewalk and on the streets! I thought for SURE he only shuffled in the house. I can't imagine it's very comfortable to drag his paws on the pavement, but he does it! You can see him shuffling along - he sort of shimmies his hips back and forth instead of picking up his feet like normal dogs... Although this gives him character, we've also noticed that his hind feet get raw spots and bleed often. We're thinking about getting him some leather boots or something like Converse High Tops to protect his hind paws. That would be so cute!