SID Jan. 26, 1999

Class Menagerie

Picture a soap actress arriving home after a day of shopping. She's loaded down with bags from Gucci and Saks, right? Well, not exactly. Julie Pinson (Eve) tends to buy more down-to-earth items - like hamsters! "I was in the pet store looking for a cat dish," Pinson recalls of a recent spree. "All of a sudden, I look, and there's the cutest little teddy-bear hamster!" It turns out that is was love at first sigh. "She was asleep on her back, with her tummy up in the air and her little teeth showing," coos Pinson, who immediately took the hamster home and named it Tasha. Fortunately, the actress' other pets don't much mind the new addition. "My cats, Mikki and Mishka, are 9 years old. They couldn't care less." However, Pinson says, little Tasha is keeping them on their toes. "When she comes rolling toward them in her hamster ball, the cats run away. It's the funniest thing!"