Mount Pleasant Pets 2017

18 www.MountPleasant.pet | www.MPVets.pet | www.MTPleasant.pet G U I D E Glenn Garritano is nervous that someone will shoot his house cat, mistaking it for a jungle beast. His fear is not unwarranted. Zarathustra is an extraordinary feline, a Savannah cat as exotic as her name suggests. I met Glenn and “Zara” on a Sunday afternoon at Mount Pleasant’s Dog & Duck, where Zara was lounging in a patch of sunlight on the sidewalk, demurely ignoring the small crowd of brunchers hovering around her with their iPhones. “They said she’d be afraid of people,” laughed Garritano, who adopted Zara from a breeder two years ago, “right after she came out of her mama” as he put it. “She goes everywhere with me,” said Garritano. “She rides in my truck. Hell, she goes on my motorcycle with me!” He’s even designing a customized sidecar for his Can- Am motorcycle to give Zara a smooth ride. Zara saunters away from the mother-daughter duo cooing over her and jumps onto the hood of my Prius, hungrily eyeing the Porsche next to it. She is leashed to a tree, and Garritano keeps a close eye on her. Strapped to the back of her neon green harness, a mini GPS tracker transmits her whereabouts 24/7 to an app on Garritano’s smartphone. Savannahs are a hybrid of African servals and domestic cats, a cross popularized in the 1980s and lusted after by wealthy pet owners for its cheetah-like markings. Known for their dog-like qualities, Savannahs are loyal, playful, highly curious and social. They also cost tens of thousands of dollars. Domestic Savannahs are ranked by their serval lineage – basically, how close to wild they are, with F6 being the furthest removed and F1 the closest and most elusive. By Enid Spitz This Cat’s OUT OF THE BAG Meet Mount 3OHDVDQW V EXOTIC FELINE