Katzen

I have two Katzen (cats) that I received for my birthday here last year. Several friends here in town chipped in for the adoption and two cat carriers. They were about two months old when we brought them home from the Tierheim (animal home) or animal shelter. Animal shelters are different here, they don’t just take in and sell strays; you can buy expensive animals there too. You have to pay for what they’re worth. The cats are sisters and my German friends think their names are hilarious because I wanted to name them typical German names. One is called Ute (oo-tay) and the other, Natasha. Natasha is a somewhat typical name, maybe more European than German, but I like the name. German’s normally name their animals like we do, Blackie, Fluffy, Buster, etc., so these names are particularly funny to them.

I don’t know how much it costs in the States these days to adopt an animal, but here it was fairly expensive, about 100 Euros. Germany has very strict laws when it comes to animals and animal rights. They frown on leaving animals at home alone and told my husband they might stop by to check on them. Is that unreal or what? I wonder if they do that much for kids. They never did check on them.

The cats look like tiger cats, but with darker colors, black and brown. Natasha, the smaller one, is darker than her bigger sister and is more dominant. She’s a downright bully, but she’s the cuddler, so we cut her some slack. Ute doesn’t like to cuddle or be pet normally unless it’s bed time. Then she runs to the bed and allows you to pet her and rub her belly. They’re pretty amusing. Those of you who have pets know how it is; they’re like your kids.

They hid for about 2 weeks when we first brought them home. I was panicking. What if they never come out? Are we doing something wrong? They were just afraid; I think they were raised in the animal shelter. They’re still pretty skittish around people other than us. Normally, if we have anyone over, they hide and don’t come out until the guests ar gone, except for our friend Bernard. He has a cat himself, so maybe they think he smells safe or something.

We had to make an appointment with a vet right away to have the cats fixed. There is a vet center on one of the bases, but no vet at the time, none that did surgery anyway, so we had to bring them to a German vet. They spoke very good English and were wonderful with them. The cats were given their own little “passports” that contain their ID number and their medical records. Now there is a vet on base who is able to implant ID chips, but last year, this option wasn’t available, so while they were “under” getting fixed, the Dr. tattooed their ID #’s on their ears. I thought it was cool, just like their Mommy and Daddy (Daddy has 11 tattoos-hello, almost 20 years in the military; this is pretty common; Mommy has 2). Anyway, it’s painless and it works, so no harm done.

Other than their names, they’re just regular cats. They like to scratch on the carpet and steal my jewelry and they sound squeaky more then anything else when they “talk”. I wish we spoke German to them, that would have been interesting, but we don’t really speak German around the house, other than a few words here and there if the mood strikes or if our German friends are around. I forget about that when I visit German friends that have pets. I speak to them in English and then realize what I’m doing and change to German. They do understand what I’m saying in German; sit, come here, good dog, etc. so I guess my German isn’t all that bad!