• Sam Simon
• Sarah DeSilvey, 43, with kids Norah, 12, and Ewan, 16
  Animals, left to right: Nova, Helen the Third, Bunny

Tell us about your pets! In what order did they arrive?

Sarah: Well, Fuzzy the cat was first. When we moved back to Vermont from Montana (when the kids were young), I wanted an exact replica of my childhood cat, a white Maine Coon from the hills of Rutland. So I searched Craigslist and rescues and pet sites until I found him. He's 8.

Norah: Next was Bunny, for Ewan. We have this thing in our family; when you turn 10, you get an animal.

And Ewan wanted a bunny?

Sarah: We visited a sweet place called Good Time Farm to find him. He was a tiny baby bunny, and he just hopped right over to Ewan and into his lap. It was really kind of magical.

Ewan: We also call him El Frijolito, Little Bean, Mr. Bun and Foo Foo.

Sarah: Next came Nova, Norah's kitten. And then came Annie, the dog. She's a rescue — our sweet little trauma dog.

And the chickens?

Norah: We've always had chickens, but these are all new. We got them about seven weeks ago. The last ones were eaten by possums. Now we have a new possum-proof coop.

This is a lot of animals to take care of. How do you split up the work?

Sarah: The thing about taking care of pets, really, is just having systems. I don't think it takes a particularly large amount of time. You know, we just love them all so much.