Mount Pleasant Pets 2017

19 www.MountPleasant.pet | www.MPVets.pet | www.MTPleasant.pet G U I D E As far as Savannahs go, Zara is the only one in the Charleston region. You might have to go as far as Florence or Lancaster to find another. It is arresting to see her, look- ing like a mixture between a minicheetah and a lynx, on the windshield of a white Prius parked in Mount Pleasant. As an F1 back-cross, Zara is more than 75-percent serval – about as close as you can legally get to a wild African cat. “She’s been checked out by all the animal controls,” said Garritano. “If you called them right now, they’d be like, ‘Yeah, that’s just Zara.’” She is more curious than vicious, and, while Garritano doesn’t recommend Savannahs as a pet for most people, Zara seems mostly harmless. Besides jumping on Porsches or nipping at one of the chickens Garritano keeps on his expansive property, Zara seems happy to sunbathe silently on patios while Garritano sips sweet tea. “I call and ask if places are pet friendly,” he said. “They say yeah and then I show up with her, and they’re like, ‘Oh! Do you want a dog bowl?’” This cat is not unlike a dog, filling the role of both companion and prized possession. Zara is house-trained; she sticks her head out the window of Garritano’s truck; she eats raw chicken thighs (bone-in) or canned food he buys online for “less than Friskies at Wal-Mart;” and she cuddles on the couch. “I don’t let her off the leash because she’ll see something and run, and then I’ve got to run and I hate running,” Garritano laughed. It’s rare to see one of them without the other, though who’s leading who is unclear.