People

By Guy D. Garcia

Other Presidents have had their Falas and King Timahoes. But since well before their 688-acre ranch became the Western White House, the pet-loving Reagans have been opening their gates and arms to just about anything that barks, meows, whinnies or quacks. The most recent additions to the First Couple's ranch menagerie are three kittens that Caretakers Courtney Trisler and Barney Barnett found wandering outside a Santa Barbara, Calif., supermarket last month. Confident that the Reagans would be happy to shelter the unfortunate felines, Trisler and Barnett toted them up the mountain. Nancy welcomed the cats and, after consulting with the President, named them Cleo, Sara and Morris -- "because he looks like Morris" the TV star, she explained.

The trio of tabbies joined six horses, five dogs, four ducks and two rabbits. The impressive collection of critters has evolved more or less spontaneously. Two of the most senior Reagan pets are dogs that date back to his days as an ex-Governor and a President-in-waitin g. Millie, a Labrador- setter mix, came in the '70s with Lee Clearwater, a caretaker of Rancho del Cielo who died last year; next Taka, a purebred Husky, was given to the Reagans by friends. During the 1980 presidential race, an admiring Wisconsin couple presented the Reagans with Victory, a golden retriever. (Later that year they gave Victory's brother to George and Barbara Bush during the G.O.P. Convention in Detroit. His name: Veep.) Then came Freebo, a Doberman-retriever mix that originally belonged to Daughter Patti. When her itinerant life-style made it impossible for Patti to care for him, Mom and Dad came to the rescue. Probably the most renowned canine in the Reagan menagerie is Lucky, the Bouvier des Flandres sheep dog who arrived as a Christmas present from the March of Dimes girl a year and a half ago. Despite the dog's charms, Lucky proved too rambunctious for the presidential mansion and was shipped off to permanent exile last Thanksgiving. After her final flight aboard Air Force One, Lucky stormed down the gangway in full view of TV cameras and, characteristically, relieved herself on the Point Mugu Naval Air Station tarmac.

The President also loves horses. His personal favorite is the Anglo-Arabian El Alamain, a gift from former Mexican President Jose Lopez-Portillo, and during the just ended Reagan vacation, the First Rider and his mount were out daily. Nancy is partial to a quarter horse named No Strings. The stable sextet is rounded out by Gwalianko, a retired Arabian; two younger Arabians, Catalina and El Saraff; and Dormita, another quarter horse. As for the unnamed ducklings, they were a recent purchase by Caretakers Trisler and Barnett. (Somebody hold those fellows back.) The rabbits started showing up intermittently this summer, prompting the First Lady to feed them, and prompting them to show up all the more regularly.

In this peaceable presidential kingdom, dogs and cats all but lie down with the ducks and the bunnies. "The amazing thing is how well they get along with each other," the President remarked recently to an aide. Unflattering comparisons with less cooperative members of the White House assemblage were left unmade.

With reporting by Barrett Seaman/Santa Barbara