Hello all.  I felt like it was time to introduce myself and tell you a little about my family. My name is Tiana, I am one of the area managers for JenLovesPets. I’ve been working for JenLovePets for almost three years, and I have to say it is one of the most rewarding jobs I have ever had. Not to mention Jennifer, the owner of JenLovePets is the most amazing and compassionate boss out there. But before JLP, I lived in Georgia with my husband’s family. I lived with them as I waited for my husband, Michael, to graduate bootcamp. After he graduated bootcamp and finished his schoolhouses, we made our first big move to California. That was about six years ago. We absolutely love San Diego and are so lucky to have spent so much time here. We hope that our future allows us to call California home permanently.  We currently have six fur babies, two dogs and four cats. We consider our pets as our babies, since we do not have any actual children yet. Now, let me tell you more about our kiddos.

Teddy

When we moved to California, we had one pet which was Teddy. Teddy came into our lives when my husband and I were just about to graduate high school, our first real responsibility together as a couple. Teddy is a chihuahua/maltese mix, fluffy white fur with brown patches, pink nose, and hazel eyes. He loves his family but is unfortunately aggressive towards strangers and dogs he doesn’t know. He loves to cuddle with my husband and gravitates more to him than me. He also loves to nap and play with his toys. Teddy made the long trek with us across country to our new home of California. Although he didn’t love the road trip, he absolutely loved his new home.  As we settled, we knew teddy would benefit from having a friend. But isn’t he aggressive? Yes, which posed quite a challenge finding the right dog to add to our family. Especially one that would be good fit for us and of course Teddy, but that’s when we found our Roxy.

Roxy

We were originally looking for a German Shepard, but when we saw this sweet little brown dog, quiet, and shaking in her pen we just had this gut feeling, and knew she was the one for us. We had to do a meet and greet with Roxy and Teddy per the shelter’s rules in adoption. We were nervous as Teddy does not like dogs he doesn’t know, but Teddy surprisingly did great. That was validation she was indeed the right fit for us. Roxy then became Teddy’s new sibling. Roxy is a chihuahua mix, short brown fur, pink nose, with light brown eyes. She is a daddy’s girl and loves to follow my husband around. She loves to sunbathe and take a snooze here and there. She also loves to play with her toys and her feline siblings. She is a sweetheart and has a love for all people and dogs.

Elijah

A year went by and I saw this lady giving away kittens on Facebook. One she was giving away for free, because no one wanted him. He had run into a wax warmer and got wax all over his fur, to which is why no one wanted him. Mind you my husband is mildly allergic to cats (don’t worry he now has allergy medicine he takes), so it took some convincing. After some pleading, we went to see him and instantly fell in love. Here was this beautiful little tan baby, pink nose, yellow/green eyes, playful as ever needing a good home. So off we went with our newest addition, Elijah. He is the alpha cat and in charge of all the younger kids. He loves to play, open doors, talk to us, and of course his favorite thing ever, eat.  Our first cat but certainly not our last.

Kai

Another year goes by, my best friend is buying a kitten from this lady she knows. Of course, I wanted one too (Huge cat person here). Once the litter was old enough, we were able to visit and choose which one we wanted. As I am there, I see this little black and white kitten. He was just sitting and staring off into space. I thought what a little weirdo, and I knew he was the one for us. Teddy, Roxy, and Elijah became the best older siblings to little Kai. Kai Kai is a momma’s boy who never leaves my side, he loves to run around and jump onto things. He also loves his cat naps on the back of the couch and on the rug. He loves to conversate with me and jump into my arms. He loves to have his little bum patted like a baby and loves to curl up into momma’s arms and fall asleep, I’d say that’s his favorite napping spot of all time.

Bonnie

Yes, another year passes. My sister in law now lives in California with her husband who is also in the military. She had a cat who became pregnant (she is now fixed. phew), of course she offered to let us take one of the kittens and me being the cat lady I am, I just couldn’t resist. But the husband was hesitant as we already had four pets. The possibility of moving around due to the military this time was high but with conversations, weighing the pros and cons. We decided to move forward, we now added Bonnie to our ever-growing clan. Bonnie is a diluted tortoiseshell, which means she has grey, white, and tan fur, pink nose, and greenish eyes. Our first female cat and she is also our most independent cat. She does not like to cuddle much unless its on her terms and she scares easily. But she can be a sweetie who loves to cuddle with her big brother Elijah. Those two have an unbreakable bond. She has a motherly side and loves to groom all her kitty siblings and sometimes momma. She’s also a foodie like her big brother Elijah.

Elena

This time, about two years go by. We added the last and final member of our clan (maybe?). We adopted Elena at an adoption event at Petco. We certainly did not plan on adopting another cat that day. We had gone to Petco to grab cat litter and as soon as we walk in, we see all these beautiful kittens in need of a home. We were instantly drawn to this gorgeous tortoiseshell kitten; Regular tortoiseshells are black with white/tan and orange colorations. She also has beautiful orange eyes. Elena was scared but allowed us to hold her, and she just melted into us, and we knew she was ours. Elena is our wild, spontaneous child who keeps us on our toes constantly. She has quite the personality too but is a love bug when she’s ready to relax. She loves to jump around and chase her siblings. Elena loves her laser and string toys. She is full of energy and always makes us laugh with her silly antics.

All our babies acclimated perfectly to each other and get along great, but we do occasionally get a scuffle here and there with as many pets as we do under one roof. We wouldn’t have it any other way and are in love with our beautiful, big family. I’m sure once we have our permanent home and are all settled, we will add more to our family. Who knows maybe one day we will add a human baby in the mix, until then we are perfectly content.