Cats and Dogs

My traditional vacation in Croatian countryside was not so isolated as it could have been, thanks to neighbour's pets.
Long ago, this little village house was full of people - nine people lived here - but they all either passed away or moved to big cities, no one is interested to live in countryside anymore. Stables and basements that once bursted with goods are deserted now and most of the houses are either completely ruined, for sale or just used for occasional weekend getaway. So much for village life.

For years even this weekend house had not one, but two dogs - typical village dogs used to "protect the house" and they were fed around until weekend when my friends would come along. Like most of country-born people, they are not specially affectionate towards pets and probably see them as something decorative and annoying around the house. Unfortunately both of these dogs had died long ago. The older one was quite large old gentleman called "Medo" and when we first met he was already living his last years, following me around suspiciously and I remember charming him with cookies. He didn't quite understand what am I doing here but he accepted me as a visitor who tries to protect him from winter cold and I would lock him in just to have to let him out in the middle of the night as he wanted to go out and bark with other village dogs.

"Gina" was found abandoned somewhere near by - people just probably dropped her out of the car - and found a home living with "Medo". He accepted her and she followed him around, living quite comfortably and in fact she was small but demanding about her habits - I had to open the doors all the time to get her in and out because she had her favourite chair. Since both of these dogs were not used to cuddling, I simply let them be. And spoiled them with peanuts and other things they loved. Both of them are gone now and naturally I missed them sometimes because as much as I enjoy being alone, these dogs were company.

A young neighbour has a cat that came along last year - she was very cuddly and affectionate, so naturally she was my welcome guest and often ate, cuddled and slept here in my kitchen. I even went so far that I started buying canned food specially for her, though I always made a point of feeding whoever came along as there are many other animals around and all the doggies and cats occasionally popped in for a taste - "my cat" was very possessive about her territory and was always very unhappy and protective about "her house" which I found very funny.

Not long ago I was very distressed about the destiny of a little homeless dog from animal shelter and begged my neighbour to take him - he refused, saying that he works a lot and can't take the responsibility for a dog. Fine. But now suddenly his girlfriend convinced him to take a small puppy (month and a half, just a baby) to have "something to play with" and naturally this turned out completely irresponsible because animal is not just a toy to be played with - little baby is cold, lonely and hungry the whole time when he is at work (and he is absent almost the whole day) so what to do, I took the baby in my kitchen. It is a girl and she is so small, cuddly, playful and unprotected that I don't understand how can anybody think that having a dog is just a matter of occasional feeding and playing - she demands absolute attention and is unhappy even if I leave the house for a moment. It started so that I am taking her in the morning to spend the day in the warm place, but it seems the owner is more than happy to leave her with me so he can be free and she slept at my place last night. Of course I am thrilled to have this puppy around and she is lovely - but when I leave her destiny is not very happy because I can tell she will be neglected as most of these village dogs are. Unfortunately the above mentioned cat has to stay outside (meowing angrily) because she is so jealous that she had even attacked the puppy, so as much as it is unfair, she is on her own now.