Category Archives: Animals

Animals

Brutus is my name but not my nature

January 24, 2011 – 1:17 pm

I received this email from a friend of my mother’s in Cape Town and I’m now in love with this beautiful dog. If I had a garden I’d adopt Brutus in a heartbeat. A house-trained and loving Lab who’s only three years old? Those don’t come along very often.

If you’re looking for a family dog and would like to skip the growing pains of a puppy, take a look at Brutus.

Harro

“Brutus, an almost 3 year old male, black Labrador lives next door to us in Somerset West. Over the past year we have come to know him as a wonderful character, with a lovely nature. Unfortunately his owners are not in the position to give him the attention and love he so deserves and he spends all week and most of the weekend alone with no company or stimulation.

Is it playtime?

From time to time we have taken Brutus on walks and even introduced him to some basic training and have found him to be most responsive to the attention. He has also demonstrated a real willingness to learn. He is excellent with people and is well behaved with other dogs. He also isn’t a big barker.

Although not yet neutered he is a gentle soul, who just needs lots of love, exercise and attention. Our neighbours realise that he needs a more suitable home and have agreed to his re-homing so that he can bring joy to a family who is willing to love and care for him.

Nom nom

So if you are looking for a friend for life and want to meet Brutus, please call us.”

Samantha 083 455 4115
Walter 083 299 3930

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Animals Johannesburg

Walk your own dog!

November 3, 2010 – 11:11 am

Lots of things have fascinated me about Joburg over the past three months. Nobody knowing how a traffic circle works, the ardent socialising, the near-perfect weather, the ginormous potholes… But nothing prepared me for dog-walking in the leafy suburbs.

For some reason, the middle and upper classes don’t walk their own dogs – they get their “staff” to do it.

Driving around Parktown North, Houghton, Sandton and Saxonwold, I’ll often witness a young guy in overalls being dragged along by two Golden Retrievers and a Jack Russell. 29 years in Cape Town and I’d never seen this before.

It blows my mind. Half the pleasure of having a dog is in exercising with them. It’s not like this is New York, where you need professional dogwalkers because you live in a 30th floor apartment. Even my grandparents, who lived in typical colonial Rhodesia, never asked their gardener to walk the dogs.

Even Justin Timberlake walks his own dog

It’s like the women who take their maids grocery shopping with them – another Joburg quirk that leaves me speechless. I mean, how lazy can you be?

I’m starting to love this city in many ways, but this is not one of them. Walk your own dogs people, seriously.

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Animals

The FAT cat sat on the mat

September 28, 2010 – 1:07 pm

The husband, Alistair, and I have had Boo for five years. A new neighbour took her in when her original family emigrated. He travelled a lot and soon she came over to our flat more and more, crying to be let inside. She really just chose us. Our neighbour didn’t mind. Besides, you can’t change a cat’s mind.

The husband didn’t grow up in an animal-mad family like I did, but he absolutely adores Boo. She’s an indoor cat who’s very relaxed and affectionate, which also means lazy and fond of food.

When she got sick a few years ago, she became thin and listless. We were panic-stricken. Luckily some antibiotics and Hill’s Science sorted her out.

Now she’s fat and happy, despite her traumatic trip to Joburg. And that’s the problem – she’s getting rather heavy.

For an 8-year-old cat to weigh nearly 8kg is a little worrying healthwise. I try to be strict and only give her a sachet every second night (she has dry food the rest of the time), but the husband doesn’t like to “deprive” her. It makes me think about how we’ll act when and if we have kids.

Alistair had a stricter and less spoilt upbringing than me. I got a car for my 21st birthday, he got books. Yet I’m the one who insists the cat we love go on diet. So I was pleasantly surprised when he said we should chat to the vet about putting Boo on a kitty diet. “Daddy” has finally realised I wasn’t trying to starve her, just save her from feline diabetes.

Pets may not be the same as children, but they definitely give you an indicator of what you’ll be like as parents. I recommend the dry-run.

Who you calling "fat"?

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Animals

Apology from kulula

July 29, 2010 – 10:31 am

Last week I wrote about our rather traumatic journey to the city of gold, thanks to kulula (once again) delaying then cancelling our flight. A few days later I received an apology from the airline and a discount on our next flights.

Whilst I appreciate the effort and will probably use the discount (I need a surf every six weeks or I’ll go crazy), they failed to answer the bigger questions of why these “technical problems” happen so often. This is not an isolated incident and it’s worrying enough that I’ll avoid flying kulula where possible.

Anyway, Boo seems to have recovered very well and is loving life in Joburg. She’s never experienced carpeted rooms or underfloor heating before. It’s rather amusing to watch her roll around on it.

No flying, only petting.

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