All of the Furs

I'm an animal lover.  I grew up with cats, once had a gerbil for a couple of years, and generally become enthused by all beasts with fur or feathers.  (And pigs.  And the bald versions of cats and guinea pigs, even though they look kind of weird.)

Unfortunately, Ken is allergic to all such creatures.  The fuzziest thing I get to pat in my house is my African violet.

(Apologies to Reed's Greenhouse for using your photo, however no other photograph captures the fuzziness of African violet leaves as effectively as this one.)

Because I am chronically pet-deprived, I'm a sucker for any opportunity to interact with animals.  I restrain myself from interrupting dog-walkers on their rounds, but it's not easy.  Even more challenging, my closest cat-person friends have a gorgeous kitty with silky soft fur... who absolutely detests being touched by anyone other than her immediate family.  You can't put a hand anywhere near her without getting hissed at.  :-(

Imagine my irrepressible glee when I heard about the Canadian Pet Expo!  Not only do they offer displays of cats, dogs, rodents, birds, and reptiles, attendees are welcome to bring their own pets, so long as they sign a waiver at the door.

Of course, most people brought dogs.  There were literally hundreds of (leashed) dogs in the building, sniffing each others' bums and frequently piddling on the floor with excitement.  (There were staff designated specifically to deal with this.  They wandered around with paper towels and disinfectant, cleaning up piddle puddles.  What a job.  I saw one dog in the midst of a poop accident, to the chagrin of the piddle police.  What can you do?  Poop happens.)

One little girl, I'd say around nine years old, brought a small, black cat on a leash.  The cat wasn't freaking out, but it's also fair to say that it wasn't relaxed.  

Someone else brought a pet pig in a special stroller.  The pig was around the size of Babe, and had a similar Mona Lisa smile.

Within Toronto city limits it's not legal to keep a pig as a pet, so people were going nuts over the pig in the stroller.  The woman who was pushing it around couldn't stand still for more than five seconds without drawing a crowd of would-be pig-patters and selfie-seekers.  The pig didn't seem to mind.  The woman ignored the hangers-on, more or less.  If I had been in her shoes I would have been annoyed by all the attention, but to be fair you can't bring a pig to a pet expo and not expect to be followed around like the Pied Piper.  

And now, here are some photos that I didn't steal.

"I would like to smell your phone please."

Beautiful Bengal cat.

"Why would anyone want a skinny pig when they could have cutie pies like us?"

This guy had the softest ears.

Miss Fuzzy-Face here was very friendly.

*snorty breathing*

Bull mastiff; weighs more than me.

This young kangaroo was so done with humans.  I'm pretty sure I heard him mutter to one persistent woman "Eff you and your endless attempts to get a roo selfie, mate."

And there you have it!  My compulsive need to pat furry beasts has been satisfied... for now.