January 1, 2004

Pets of the Week: Dumbo and Girly

It began as an all too common cat tale. A cozy greenhouse, feral cats, and voila! Jasmine White was knee-deep in wild kittens.

“I live close to the corner of Almaden and Coleman and the feral cats kept having litters in my greenhouse,” describes White. “At one time I had 15 cats —now I’m down to five, but Dumbo and Girly are the ones we wanted to keep. The others are just because I have a big heart.”

The feline siblings are about 2 1/2 years old. Dumbo, the gray male cat, is closest to White’s heart. “When we brought him in, he just sat there and kind of cocked his head, like that RCA dog, with a ‘duh’ expression on his face, so it was Dumbo after that.”

White explains that as much as Dumbo is her cat, Girly, the black female, belongs to her boyfriend. “I first named her Chewy after the Star Wars character Chewbacca. Her fur looked just like Chewy’s. But then my boyfriend started calling her Girly and it stuck.”

Just like regular brother and sisters, the two cats have their ups and downs. Good friends one day, they can play rough and hiss at each other the next. But, according to White, they always do everything together. “One will come along and just move the other out of the way to get a comfortable spot,” describes White. “Sleep, play, run, or roughhouse, they do it together. Just like siblings.”

For White, who admits to loving all types of animals, the choice of cats as her only pets wasn’t hers alone. “I just fell into this,” she says. “The cats adopted me just as I adopted them.”
Although somewhat leery of White’s 9-year-old son as a playmate, the cats like the low-key company of adults, but like most felines, on their terms. “Dumbo is a lover,” says White. “But if I take too long getting his food, he’ll give me little nips. Girly, on the other hand, is very moody, just like a teenaged girl. You never know which Girly you’re going to get. She’ll let you love her, but only if she’s in the right mood. It’s a cat thing”

Despite their changing moods, White loves having Dumbo and Girly as pets, having raised them from feral kittens. “I was lucky because I rescued them early enough.”

White solved her feral cat problem by capturing the females and taking them to the Humane Society. Now, all that’s left is an old feral tom that roams around. “All of my cats are fixed,” stresses White. Although the feral cats are mostly gone, it’s still not unusual to see a few assorted cats perched around her yard, sunning them and just taking it easy. After all, she’s still the mother of five felines.

Send us an email ( Julie@timesmediainc.com ) or a letter describing your pet (name, age, breed–where applicable) and where you obtained your pet (animal shelter, breeder, friend, etc.) and any funny stories or interesting information about your pet. Include your name, phone number, and the names of anyone else in the household. If there are children in the household give their ages too. Then send us a jpeg digital picture of your pet or a ‘real' print through the mail.