Real Pets: Ginger Cat and Boston Terrier

I have another wonderful Real Pets feature for you today, and this time it is of both the feline and canine variety. Wedding photographer Derryn Semple tells us all about how the fact that she worked from home led her to gain her two pets, Mongo the ginger cat and Luna the Boston terrier. I’m sure you will agree both animals are gorgeous!

I’ll pass you over to Derryn………..

I am a wedding photographer who works from home. I went through a stage not long ago where I would get incredible lonely and bored during the day and quite unproductive. My fiancé Mark finally agreed to us getting a pet. We visited a few shelters and pet stores, but didn’t find an animal that felt like ‘home’. One day, a friend posted a picture on Facebook of the tiniest ginger kitten I have ever seen, that had been rescued from a drain and brought to the local vet. I sent Mark a picture, and by that afternoon we brought our little kitty home. Mongo had been found alone at 2 weeks old in a drain, his paws were swollen and his claws couldn’t retract. We thought that once the swelling went down, they’d come right. But to this day, he has the most adorably deformed toes. Being only 2 weeks old, he became very attached to me, sleeping in my shirt against my chest, and not leaving me for a second. It wouldn’t be uncommon if you walked past my window and heard conversations between us. He cheered me up and I quickly got back into my routine at work. Having a little fur ball purring on my lap made a world of difference.

A year later, we moved further out of the city and decided it was time for a puppy. While Mark was over seas for business, I managed to find the CUTEST Boston terriers in the world. I surprised him on the way home from the airport and let him choose our new baby. He bonded straight away with the smallest girl in the litter. We were going to name her Indie, but as her personality started surfacing, we realised that she was a better Luna. As in Lunatic. Luna comes with us everywhere, gets very over excited when she plays with other dogs, loves to dig and stick her snout in the sandy hole. She snores and farts A LOT. She has started to get some manners now – she sits for her food and stays when told. But she is CRAZY! Just as attached to her Mommy as Mongo was as a kitten, but far more needy.

Luna thinks that Mongo is the most wonderful furry toy – and chases him around the house, eventually pinning him to the ground and chewing his ears. Mongo doesn’t enjoy this and for some reason hasn’t learnt to fight back. He just spends less and less time at home which makes me very sad. I am hoping that as Luna grows out of her energetic puppy phase, she learns to be a bit calmer around Mongo, and that Mongo starts to spend more time at home with us.