My dog & cat

[Bev Coates (Now Walker)]

Does anyone remeber my pets that i had to leave behind.
Dog called Wolf ,who i think went to live with the family of the butcher...dont remember his name, but i cant remeber what happened to the cat, Smokey. from nov 1966

[Michael Alexander]

Outta curiosity , what kinda dog is that, a cross alsatian with ?

???

[Bev Coates (Now Walker)]

Not sure Mike, we came from the traasval (witbank) where he was roaming wild, he used to follow us home, where we would then feed him, when we decided to move to O/M we brought him with us
I think he was just alsation crossed with a mongrel.....he was a lovely dog.........we thought he looked like a wolf....hence the name.

[SandyB]

My  old  dog blackie  similar   history to  Bevs  " wolf "  my  Mom and dad  were in  Germiston  before  coming to  O'mund ..  the next  door  neighbours  just  moved out and abandoned  him  on  the  property   .. so  he was  taken in  and  also  moved  with  family  to  the desert ...

[darryl weidemann]

I remember we had a st bernard great big slobbering oaf of a dog. The Damn thing used to get out the gate and calmly trot off to school and walk straight into the assembly hall . My brother and sister would quickly hide and i would have to walk him home 

[Michael Alexander]

Was there a vet here in the mid 70's?

I think Gavin Gregg put our dog down.....

:'(

[Debby Opperman (Biccard)]

As far as I remember, a vet used to come up from Cape Town once or twice a year. Does anyone remember the building where the vet would see his patients? I seem to remember somewhere near the cricket club??

[Michael Alexander]

Debby, that same building is still being used by the Vet, who comes here , I think once a week from Rosh Pinah.... We also have Doy Van Zyl who runs things in between and off course Mile''s daughter Sweta who is leaving for Serbia with her dad in a few days.....   :-\

[SandyB]

Rex  Barnes   used  to  be  our unofficial  vet  years  ago ...  when  my  dog  Scampy  got  his  leg  broken  first  time  he  splinted  it  and  it healed  nicely .. second  time  round  his  leg  got broken too  high  up  and  Rex  organised  the  whole  trip  for  Scampy to  be  flown to  CT  Blue  Cross  Vet  hospital .. and  then  helped  again  with  his  healing   when  he  returned ..   A  kind  and  remarkable  man ..

[SandyB]

Further  on  Dogs  and  cats ...  what about  your  other  pets .. ??   We had  a whole  menagerie  ..  Part  of  the  menagerie ...  watching  on  TV last  night .. " be  the creature "  Meerkats   brought back  my  memory .. we  had  a meerkat  as  a  pet ..  my  dad  brought  home  this  abandoned  baby from  central  fields  workshop area  ...  he  was  raised  with   the  rest  of  the  animals  in  the  home   . Scampy ..  blackie  the  cat  who  moved  across  from  the barrats  house  next  door ...   Whenever  the  heater  was  on  you  had  this  squabble for prime position .. Krickie  as  he  was  called (  ate crickets )   would  sit  in  the  classical  on  his  haunches  position , he would  stand  his  ground  against  the  dog ..   his diet  consisted  of  raw  eggs  , raw  mince   and  whatever  garden  pests  he  could  rake up  from  the  ground  or  on  plants .. only  problem was  he   within a week  would  start  smelling  rather  high .. ( I suppose  the  acceptable  scent  for  them ...a  cross  between  blue  cheese  and other  unimaginables )  so  Michael  or  Rastus  had  to  bath  him once  a week .. a  humiliation  he  submitted  to   cos he knew he  would  be banished  from  the  comfort  of  the  house  otherwise ..   He  was  eventually  set  free again  cos  as  he  got  older he  despite  his  liking  for  the  soft life  also  started  to  wander  a  bit   too  much .. obviously  looking  for  a mate ...  he would  have  been  in danger  in  the  town .. so dad  took  him  out  to  the  area  he  found  him  and  let  him  free ... we were  sad  to  see him  go  but  it seems  it  was  what  he  wanted  cos  there  must  have  been  more  of them  in  the  area  ..cos  he  hesitated  a  bit  sniffed  the  air  and  then  just  took  off never to  be seeen  again . 

[Delia]

does anyone remember dr barnes (us olivier kids saw him as the resident vet) - his wife i think was a sister at the hospital (in my minds eye i can see her in a nurses uniform) - he lived down 8th avenue (east side) and whenever we found a bird mauled by one our cats, or one of our cats run over by a car, off we'd go down the road to Dr Barnes with the bird/cat wrapped in a towel.  as you walked into his garden he had these huge cages with hundreds of birds (okay, maybe not hundreds, but to a kid it seemed like it). he was such a gentle, kind man whom the animals seemed to trust.  they would totally relax while he looked at them and he always promised to do his best to fix them up. to this day i don't know what his job actually was in town.  can anyone tell me? was he an actual vet?

[SandyB]

  Hi  Delia  ,, No  .. Rex  was  not  a  doctor  .. His  wife  Monica  was  the  Matron  of  the  Hospital  .. Rex  was  a  registered male  nurse  to  the  best  of  my  knowlege   and  he  used  to work  at  the  hostel  infirmary ...   that  was  however  no  limit  to  his  wide  knowlege  and   abilities ..  as  we  witnessed  with  his  having  the   desire  to  help  treat animals  as  well ... read  my  earlier posting  on him ..  and  yes  in our   eyes  he  was  the  resident  vet ..

[Debby Opperman (Biccard)]

Right Sandy, Rex was the chief medical officer for the mine and his wife was Matron for many years. She always reminded me of Nurse Ratchet from "One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest ", though she was nothing like Nurse Ratchet, she was much kinder.
They were both devout Catholics and I remember an incident concerning Father Eckerstoffer. Remember him? The crazy priest. He was a good friend of the family. Came from Austrian  nobility. Loved his photography and one Christmas he was seen hanging from the steeple of the Community Church playing his trumpet. He was also often seen around town with his water diviner.
Shame, he got sent to Marien Hill in Natal coz he was a naughty boy. Last I heard of him he was in Kamieskroon which was just up his alley as he could then go wild with his photography. As a family we adored him. Another great Oranjemund character. 

[barb (Fry)]

Rex was the driver of ambulance and other assorted jobs of medical nature unofficially.  I don't believe he was a qualified doctor, but a nurse with immense ability.

[Delia]

thanks sandy, debby, barbs - that's cleared that one up for me about dr barnes.  he was such a honey.