Poonam Kunwar’s Full House with Penny, Afro and Mr. Cat

The pug ignores Mr Cat and Penny completely. Penny thinks Cat is her baby. Cat generally relishes taking a swipe at Afro and mews loudly at everybody. Post 6 pm, you will hear a thud in the living room followed by a scratching in the bedroom and then a hurried pitter patter of paws all across.

And suddenly, Penny and Cat will wrestle on the living room floor in a tangle of white fur. Afro looks at the youngsters in disdain and walks off…

 

Poonam Kunwar’s home lights up to this masti, every day. “Before dawn, Cat needs to be fed. He won’t respect my sleep, he will bite me awake and meow me into giving him food,” says Poonam, an animal welfare volunteer and founder, Wag-A-Bond.

When her daughter Arshiya Kunwar is home then Poonam is less hassled. “Penny begins all her days by giving everybody good morning kisses, after cat bites us. Arshiya manages them all much better, even when Cat bites her awake rather rudely,” she says. Mother daughter have divided the walks and the clean-up and the meal times between them, so everything goes along smoothly.

Afro was got five years ago for Arshiya. Over a year ago, Poonam got a litter of pups from the street home because she was looking for homes for them. Penny didn’t get adopted so she stayed back. Afro didn’t like this intruder but he managed. Similarly, Cat was found in Poonam’s parking. “I thought I would find him a home but couldn’t and we adopted him. I was worried about how the dogs would like him but it has worked well,” says Poonam.

Clearly, Afro missed being the only baby at home since Penny came. And with Cat’s entry, he has given up on his humans.

Arshiya can’t flaw her pets and is very clear about their importance in her life. “I don’t mind anything they do, even if its cats wake up bites,” she grins. As for Poonam, who was very insistent on having things in THE RIGHT PLACE, Cat and Penny changed it all. “They have broken my crystals, torn slippers, bedsheets, chewed my sofa – in short, turned my house upside down. But I can’t imagine a day without their naughtiness. I’ve, been trained,” laughs Poonam.