As the colder months of the year approach and Grinnellians finish up F1, our furry and feathery friends have become a comfort within the remote learning experience. Whether it’s the family dog peeking into the WebEx meeting or the brand-new kitten from the local litter, this week students shared anecdotes of their quarantine pets.

Grace Clawson ’21 with her dogs Conan, Babette and Oscar (left to right)

Hastings, Nebraska

“[Babette] likes to eat bugs. Like, she will go out into the yard and if she sees a cricket, she will like pounce and eat it. She also just likes rolling around in dirt, like she’s honestly just a little pig. … The brownish dog, his name is Conan and we call him the director of security because he is very — he’s not really defensive but he’s very protective of the other dogs. He’s always scoping with [his] ears like he’s listening for things. … And then Oscar is just kind of like … my mom likes to call him the Nebraska land manatee cause he’s really, really big, but he’s really gentle.”

Kelly Page ’21 with their cat Willa Ursuline Cat-ther

Grinnell, Iowa

“Her name is Willa Cat-ther. … I also kind of decided her middle name is Ursuline. … She’s a black short hair-Bombay mix. … There’s a flock of them that live in Grinnell and I think live on a porch on Main St. And Willa, when I adopted her, it said on her adoption forms that she was a stray living on a porch. I think she was one of those cats and I see those cats outside my apartment all the time and one time they were all kind of cuddled up out front and I think that they sense that Willa is here.”

Camilla Hasslar ’22 with her rabbit, Tiago, and dog, Luka

Naperville, Illinois

“[Tiago] is very calm and stuff like that. He kind of just like sits in the den that we have downstairs and just he sits there. He’s like very old, so he just sits there and just kind of enjoys life as it goes by. And then my miniature schnauzer —he’s just crazy and he barks at everything. … One time [Tiago] bit the dog [Luka] and so since then they just kind of ignore each other. They just kind of live together in peace and just try not to interact with each other.”

Yesenia Mozo ’22 with her chickens

West New York, New Jersey

“They’re actually really easy to take care of! When they first arrived we took them to shower, you know with like warm water, soap. We buy food from the same poultry shop, and just water—they drink water. And they just like doing their own thing. They love dust bathing. They love just sunbathing. Yeah, they do their own thing. They like cleaning themselves up. Yeah, they’re pretty self-care pets, and they like wandering around. They’re pretty smart actually.”