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doggies and two cats were highly aggrieved at the sudden
ban on their entry into the bedroom, and were constantly
at the door, begging to be let in. It was time to introduce
Pit-Pat to the rest of his family. At first he was petrified
by this sudden barrage of huge, unknown animals sniffing
him all over and even turning him upside down to inspect
him fully! Then Wendy, our German Spitz, took him
under her wing and they were soon inseparable
companions. As he grew, Pit-Pat became boisterous in his
games, which Wendy found difficult to cope with, and so
he slowly became friendly with the rest of his four-legged
family. But however much he played around, time and
again he would look for me, climbing onto my shoulders
and affectionately nibbling my ears. If he didn’t see me,
there would be an onslaught of high pitched calls, which
I answered in my own imitation of his voice, and he would
quieten down once he found me. All this while he was
growing at a furious rate and soon developed the
customary black stripes on his body and tail, and those
long canines which he would occasionally bare at the
bungalow help should they dare to stop him entering the
bedroom! Another favourite pastime of his was to snap at
the bare toes of the helpers and one would often see them
dancing around the house with this tiny chap busily
nipping at those tempting toes.
Pit-Pat was very affectionate towards his three human
family members, sitting on our laps or sleeping on our
stomachs. He loved being around us. He also loved
napping in a corner of the ceiling of the verandah, with
his long tail dangling down.Well, we’ve had many a visitor
beating a hasty retreat, deeming it to be a snake! And
we’ve also had others running away from behind a closed
gate when they perceived a motley group of dogs, cats and
a civet cat, barking and mewing, all running towards them
on hearing the gate being opened! Perhaps Pit-Pat had an
identity crisis then!!! Often when I would be gardening,
he would pounce on my fingers. The first time this
happened, I fell backwards in shock in the most ungainly
manner and that too, right in front of the ‘malis’. I did
suffer from a bruised ego for a few days! And of course,
the bungalow always inevitably looked like a hurricane had
worked its way through it, with the furniture all askew and
clothes, magazines, etcetera, thrown all over. This was the
result of the hide-and-seek games that were regularly
indulged in by all our pets, with our daughter and me
joining in the melee most times! Those were fun days
indeed. But our little Pit-Pat had suddenly matured over
the year and he now had the characteristic smell of civet
cats.We
would be compelled to change our clothes when
he rubbed himself against us, since the smell was
overpowering.Then too, he would take off during the day
into the tea bushes and reappear in the evening or
sometimes not at all.The frequency of his disappearances
increased, until he left home altogether. No, we did not
call for him for it was Nature who had claimed her own.
We missed him terribly as did our doggies. And so we
were left with another set of paw prints imprinted forever
in our hearts…