Q&A: Part II

From Elinor:
How long have you had pets? Since you were a kid? Or did you get them when you lived on your own?
I’ve had pets all my life, mostly cats, and most of them were orange tabbies. My first was a humongous fat orange cat who eventually died of feline leukemia. I cried my eyes out. I had at least 4 orange tabbies in succession after that. Each of them were named “Meow” (I was so creative), all were outdoor cats and all ran away/got hit/whereabouts became unknown. Then I entered the what is known as The Snowball Era. I had two white cats in succession, named Snowball I and Snowball II. Both barely entered adulthood when they met their demise. One was hit by our neighbor’s car, the other just never came home. I cried for weeks and determined that from now on, no remaining pets shall roam out of doors. That proved difficult to enforce. During the era of Snowball II there were two other cats, a long-haired named Pepper who had poor eyesight and respiratory problems and loved everyone, and Tammy who was a gray short-hair and shy and loved only me. In the house, Pepper was only called “xiao mao” (Little Cat in Mandarin) and Tammy was “da mao” (Big Cat).

AND during this period we adopted an older Pomeranian named Beau. We had him for only several years. He enjoyed coming and going via the cat door in the basement, would roam indiscriminately, never looked both ways before crossing the street…you’re seeing a horrible pattern here. Poor Beau. Soon after, we got another puppy, a Poodle mix that I named Candi (haha what a terrible name). Pepper and Tammy were still around. By now they had moved with us 3 times, across 2 different states. In fact they were the only pets that managed to stay with us for more than 3 years, and who did not die from violent or unknown circumstances. Both passed away from old age while I was in college. Candi wasn’t the only pet for long: while I was back from summer break I got the cutest apricot Poodle, just 8 weeks old, and named her Mocha. When I returned to school she officially became my mother’s dog. Candi and Mocha were pals with a new scrawny cat named Mouse that my dad brought home, until Candi died of kidney failure at age 10.

The only quiet period in pet ownership was when I was in college. But as soon as I graduated and settled into my own place in Boston, the first thing I did was to visit shelters for my next pet. Eventually I took in two cats named Sam and Pumpkin.

Mocha is 12 now and currently in Beijing, where my parents are living these days. It’s so strange to think of her there. Mouse has gotten really fat and is still in Altanta, given to the neighbor next door. Sam and Pumpkin are Baxter and VanBuren, aka Bunny and Veebs, and both are doing very well. As 100% indoor cats, I’m hoping they’ll stay with me for quite awhile.

From Guin:
If you could photograph an animal in any setting, what would it be?
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE.

From Cirilia:
When you meet new animals, what do you do? Kneel down to their level? Talk to them in high-pitched baby talk? Extend your hand for their sniffing purposes? Basically, how do you Dolittle it up?
Yes, all those things. Plus treats, if the owner has any on hand. I never attempt to pat a dog unless the owner tells me it’s OK, and then I don’t do it until the dog tells me it’s OK, through the ritual of kneeling down, letting them sniff my hand, talking to them in a high-pitched – but soft – baby voice. I’m not really sure if baby talk actually puts a dog at ease. I do it because hi! it’s impossible NOT to.

Sometimes the body language is very clear. Take this Bernese Mtn Dog (love!) for example:

Not the dog in the middle with the soft brown eyes, but her sibling in the back, looking as if she’s just seen a ghost.

She’s standing as far back as her leash would allow, with so much worry in her eyes. No amount of introductory baby talk or sniffing of hands was going to put her at ease.

I don’t baby talk to cats. No wait, that’s a lie. I make this “tseh-tseh-tseh” sound first to get their attention, and then I baby talk. And I just now spent 15 minutes trying to decide how to spell tseh-tseh-tseh. It’s a soft clicking sound, and all cats seem to respond in one way or another by either looking at or coming towards you. When I make that sound to Veebs from across the room, he comes flying over. It’s very cute.

From Amber:
If Veebs and Bunny had cameras (and opposable thumbs, AND the interest in photographing you) what aspect of your personality do you think that they would try to capture?
This isn’t so much as a personality rather than an event. I’d like them to capture the expression on our faces when we’re playing Mario Kart on the Wii. It gets very, very intense when the MK is fired up. They love our laps, and so it greatly disturbs them when they’re sitting there and suddenly they’re getting jostled about, or whacked in the head with controllers. And then there’s all the screaming, cursing, punching. I won’t lie. I hit Dan sometimes. I’d like to see what that whole scene looks like.