TOY'S PUSSY PLAYMATES

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 43, 20 February 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

TOY'S PUSSY PLAYMATES

No. 1, Carrington Rd., New Plymouth. Dear Wendy,— Six years ago my uncle left a lovely purebred Pomeranian pup in our charge while he went away for a holiday. When he returned he took the puppy back to his place, but, alas, the dog would not stay and came all the way back to our place, nearly three miles. This he did again and again when uncle took him back.

At last he gave the darling doggy to us, so ftom then on he was ours. We called him Toy. He is ginger; you know, juet that lovely brownie ginger. He has a pretty little faee, with dark brown eyes and lovely brown ears. I like brown eyes, don't you Wendy? Around his eyes are darker lines, his eyebrows and eyelashes. He was dark around the mouth, but, just as we are all growing older, so is he, and consequently his whiskers are grey. He has the funniest bunniest-look-ing tail—just like a rabbit's—that curia up on his back. When he is frightened he hangs it between his legs and crawls inside under the table (when nobody is looking), but when he is pleased he wags it and pricks up his ears. He is a good watch dog and has taken a great dislike to boys, at whom he barks in funny little yaps as if to say, "What do you want?" He really is harmless, although he makes a great noise. If anyone says "Cats" he rushes away barking and sniffing the air, giving a growl now and again. To say "Sparrows" makes him rush out and leap in the air, barking the while. He pulled some feathers out of a poor little sparrow's tail one day. Wo have a black cat, too. She was running along in a gutter when we found her. She was only a. little kitten and now we have had her for about sixteen months. She has short, black fur and is very spoilt, like Toy is. We call her Mimi. It is strange but true that Toy wanted to make friends straight away, but Mimi spat and* scratched ferociously and it was only after much injury to ourselves that she calmed down. Then Toy wagged his tail and licked my hand. After a few days Mimi became used to her new home. They play and frolic together, the best of chums. I wish you could see Toy and Mimi playing together. She rolls over while he jumps playfully at her, ejacula,arP barks and then licking her. Suddenly she will spring up and begin stalking around just like a tiger. Toy stands stiffly a«ide, never once taking his eyes ofT her, Then she will spring •ad cling to his thick woolly fnr until she has rolled him over on to his back ,And what fun they have! His four legs ®tr*jght U p j„ th e air and Mimi | bites him under his forelegs, making htm grumble aaiif to say, "Please don't, that tickles, but still she continues

doing it. Another thing she likes doing is biting liis tail, his hind legs or his ear*, while he is on his back, on the floor. They have such fun and they don't hurt each other at all. But, sad to say, Toy ia rather old now and Mimi is only about two years old, therefore she is much more agile. Although Toy has Mimi for his friend he will not let another cat near the place and chases them with amazing quickness for his age. Over a year has passed and imr Mimi has four darling kittens, lovely little balls of soft fluffv fur. Toy is delighted. Would you believa it, but Toy saw Mimi licking them after I had touched them, and he started licking them too. He sleeps with Mimt and her kitten* in a barrel covered with sacks, with a nice bed of etraw inside it. Every morning when I pull the blind up he jumps out and Mimi comes out after him. Mimi and Toy have mincemeat every day and they drink their milk from the same saucer. Mimi lias. her share, then when she has finished she begins to wash her face. Toy thinks this is a sign she has finished so he quickly laps up the remainder —I suppose that Is doggy manners. Generally cats and dogs are enemies, juet as tigers and lions are, but Mimi and Toy will never be enemies. This proves that "Truth is stranger than Action," doesn't it Wendy? Your sincere Budgetite, Betty June Nixon.