Frettchen vs. the Donkey
Tristan Miller
For a while now my little Frettchen and I had been planning on
visiting the free cat store (the Tierheim, or "Animal Shelter") to see
if we could pick out a friend for her. So accordingly on Saturday we
bought a train ticket to the next town and had a short fifteen-minute
walk from the station to the Tierheim, which is located in the forest.
Since the climate is mild here, all the animals except the bunnies and
guinea pigs are kept in large outdoor cages, most of which have lots
of room to run around.
The first animals we came to were the barnyard animals. There was a
black pony, a furry donkey, and a few goats and sheep. They were all
eating hay at the other end of the corral and wouldn't come when I
called them, so we moved on to the big dog cages. There were
(predictably) lots of German shepherds and rottweilers and dobermans.
Most of them were friendly but way too big to live in my apartment.
Then we came to the puppy cage, which had about ten puppies which were
imported Greek strays. We weren't allowed to go inside, but the
puppies all flocked to the fence see Frettchen. I set Frettchen down
to let her examine the dogs and she stuck her little nose through the
fence, whereupon it was mercilessly licked by a dozen yapping dogs.
Too bad we weren't allowed in to play.
Next came the cats, which was what I had in mind for a friend for
Frettchen. Unfortunately, they had only four at the time. As with
the puppies, I set Frettchen down on the ground so that she could
interact with the kitties. The first cat was a whitish one with short
hair and a very thin face. It didn't bother coming out of its little
cat house to say hello. The next one was a medium-sized black cat
which seemed scared of Frettchen. It did come up to smell her, but
quickly stepped back and hissed. The third cat was a brown tabby. It
absolutely loved Frettchen and spent about ten minutes sniffing her
and rubbing up against the cage. I think the cat was too big, though,
so I didn't get it. The last cat was mostly white with some black
patches. It was also interested in Frettchen, but not so
affectionate. I think it had a respiratory problem because its
breathing was very loud and heavy.
We walked back towards the barnyard animals, which were still sitting
at the far end of the corral, apparently uninterested in me. Then I
got the idea to pick Frettchen up. The donkey and the pony were
absolutely enthralled and came trotting over to inspect her. The
donkey was very cute -- it was small and had long furry grey hair and
a soft velvety nose that it liked to be petted. The pony was a bit
skittish and wouldn't let me touch it, but it was very interested in
Frettchen and smelled her when I held her next to the fence.
Frettchen was equally fascinated and tried to climb onto the pony.
Being skittish, though, the pony stepped back as soon as it felt
Frettchen's paws on her nose, though it kept coming back to smell her.
The donkey was Frettchen's favourite, though. I guess most of you
know how much ferrets love to hide things, and about how they have no
concept of their own size. Well, after checking out the donkey and
deciding that it was something she just /had/ to have, she grabbed its
velvety nose in her mouth and tried to drag it away! The donkey was
very obliging and let its head be dragged a few centimetres closer to
the fence, but unfortunately for Frettchen it couldn't fit through the
mesh. After a few more minutes of play I told Frettchen it was time
to go and took her away. The donkey followed us as far as it could and
Frettchen wouldn't sit still in my arms. I put her leash on her and
set her down on the ground, and she tried to make a beeline for the
donkey again. I guess they're best friends now; maybe we'll come back
to visit the donkey next weekend.
Regards,
Tristan
--
_
_V.-o Tristan Miller [en,(fr,de,ia)] >< Space is limited
/ |`-' -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= <> In a haiku, so it's hard
(7_\\ http://www.nothingisreal.com/ >< To finish what you
Nanny
One question though: did you think the tabby was too large for Frettchen or
too large for you ?
Nanny
"Tristan Miller" <psych...@nothingisreal.com> schreef in bericht
news:2440131.x...@ID-187157.News.Individual.NET...
Tristan Miller
In article <405ece02$0$14237$4a44...@news.euronet.nl>, Nanny wrote:
> Great story !
> One question though: did you think the tabby was too large for Frettchen
> or too large for you ?
Yes, too big for me and too big for my apartment. My grandfather has a
little tiny black cat, so I was hoping I could get something similar.
Lin
Looks like you'll have to find somewhere to put a donkey! ;-)
Lin, Ariel, Oberon, & Max
"Tristan Miller" <psych...@nothingisreal.com> wrote in message
news:2440131.x...@ID-187157.News.Individual.NET...