ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 26, 1995 TAG: 9512260047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on Dec. 27.
Correction
Dr. Jitendra Desai, medical director of Lewis-Gale Psychiatric
Center, was incorrectly identified in a story Tuesday.
Kiki, a poodle named for a famous Chanel model, found a faux leopard fur coat and an Irish wool sweater under the Christmas tree.
For the holidays, Brandy, a Siamese cat, received a fancy carrier and a three-story Georgian townhouse made of a packing carton.
Legacy, whose friends call him Legs, is sporting a turquoise horse blanket. He also is eating apples and carrots from his stocking.
Danny, a 10-year-old schnauzer, is enjoying a new toy and a box of flavored snacks.
In short, Christmas isn't just for people; it's for the animals, too.
Dr. Bridget Quatmann, a veterinarian at Roanoke Animal Hospital, understands this phenomenon perfectly. "My pets are my children in a way," she says.
Quatmann says her parents, who are "in dire need of grandchildren," lavish even more gifts on her animals than she does.
Some people, especially retired people and the young without children, "really genuinely live for their animals," Quatmann says.
Pets, she points out, are members of the family. It is natural to give them gifts as one would anyone else in the family.
Take Kiki, who is owned by Zosia Umbarger of Roanoke.
Kiki was sporting a red ribbon collar with the words "Ho ho ho." Back in October, she had an orange outfit for Halloween. "Orange is very good for Madame," Umbarger recalled.
The poodle, age 7, has a wardrobe that includes a black wool outfit with a pearl collar for after-5 occasions, a red velvet coat with a fur collar from last Christmas, and a coat with a badge from the security guard at Brandon Oaks.
"Yes, Kiki loves the clothes," Umbarger says.
But Kiki doesn't like her raincoat, perhaps because it's plastic, Umbarger says. The coat keeps her warm when she and Umbarger take long walks.
Kiki also has a basket of toys, including a teddy bear nearly as big as she is. "She's big on bears.
"She deserves it," Umbarger says of Kiki's wardrobe. "She's such a good girl."
Umbarger emphasizes that she's not just a pet lover. In addition to supporting the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, she also endorses St. Jude hospital and other charities for humans.
"I don't go wild just on dogs."
Brandy, 8 1/2 months old, shares an apartment with Peggy-Ann Neumann, who retired three years ago as director of career counseling at Hollins College.
"An affectionate, sweet fellow," Brandy recently took the place of Neumann's longtime cat companion, Holly.
The cat-carrying case, one of Brandy's gifts, is made of plastic that is tinted to block the sun's rays. The case has slots for a car's seat belt and a thick cushion for comfortable riding.
However, its weakness was exposed when a photographer's flash went off. Brandy popped through its closed door - which gave under pressure - and darted down the hallway.
Brandy's Georgian house was made by Neumann's friend Bill Chester, a retired architect.
Legs is 10 and has given rides for six years to Ellen Aiken of Roanoke.
"I always give him a Christmas gift," Aiken says. This year, Aiken has a second horse, a filly named Dana, who received a new harness.
Aiken's Christmas shopping list included a new tack trunk, "but that's more for me."
Aiken worried that the presents she ordered wouldn't arrive in time for Christmas. She says her friends told her that Legs and Dana wouldn't know that their gifts missed the important date. "Well, I'll know," Aiken told them.
Millie Gabbert says she gives Danny presents "because he's a member of the family. ... They're so much company."
Danny, she says, is "very possessive of his toys, his bed and his sweaters.
"He knows it's his stocking," Gabbert says as Danny does his best to seize it and chew it open. Danny was wearing a red and green collar from a Christmas past, and he had a red and white sweater with holiday bells.
But pets don't just receive gifts for the holiday. They give gifts as well.
"We have animals bring us gifts," veterinarian Quatmann says. "They are not from the owners; they are from the cats and dogs."
Shops around the Roanoke Valley reported selling lots of Christmas gifts for pets. Yuppie Puppie, Warehouse for Pets and Clip & Dip all offered food treats and chewy toys such as bones made of rawhide.
The Pet Place of Daleville stocked a larger variety of Christmas gifts. Tina Bachmann, an employee, says customers responded well to the stuffed animals, rawhide candy canes, Christmas collars with red and green bells, and sweaters with snowmen.
The Pet Place also sold lots of Christmas cards that horses, dogs and cats could sign and mail to their human friends, Bachmann says.
C.R. Cat of New York, publisher of a catalog called In the Company of Dogs, has had a hot season selling clothes and furnishings for pets.
Ann Counts, president of the catalog company, says faux fur coats and matching beds led the way in popularity.
So did a Christmas treetop angel with a doggie head. Counts says the company stocked the item in 50 different breeds.
The catalog also touted a velvet coat with a matching pillbox hat - very much the "Jackie O." look for fashionable dogs, Counts says.
Counts says the response of dog lovers to a four-poster bed with a tapestry print cover was exciting. And the list goes on.
Pet owners "are very consumed with the doggie world," Counts says. "We have a strong following all over the country," with people in wintry states buying faux fur, and residents in the Sun Belt opting for fish-net sweaters.
Dr. Jitendra Desai, a psychiatrist at Lewis-Gale Clinic, is not a pet owner, but he appreciates that "from the human behavior standpoint, people get very close to pets." Pets, he says, "become an extension of oneself."
To their owners, "pets become people," Desai says. Dogs and cats give owners a sense of being needed and loved. The job of taking care of the pet's needs also gives owners a perception of mission.
"A tremendous bonding takes place," he says. "Lots of people feel more comfortable with their pets than with other people." And when they lose a pet, people grieve for months or even years.
People's tendency to get into the Christmas spirit naturally extends to their pets, he says.
LENGTH: Long : 137 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. 1. Legacy, whose friendsby CNBcall him Legs, received a new turquoise blanket as a Christmas
present. 2. At right, Kiki the poodle gives her owner, Zosia
Umbarger, a kiss of appreciation for the faux leopard fur coat. "She
deserves it," Umbarger says. "She's such a good girl." color. 3.
Danny, a 10-year-old schnauzer, jumps for joy as he receives his
Christmas toys. Owner Millie Gabbert says she gives Danny presents
``because he's a member of the family....'' 4. Peggy-Ann Neumann
prepares Brandy, 8 1/2 months, for a tour of the Siamese cat's new
three-story Georgian townhouse, which is made of a packing carton.