Animal quiz

[quizling]

The answer to this question is a cryptic animal, can anyone help please.

Animals retreating into long grass. ( sorry numbers of letters not given)

The best we can do is - Snake - and that's not quite in the animal category, so would be grateful if anyone can improve on it.

Thanks

[lynbrown]

Animals retreating means you have to think of a word like "stac" (Cats backwards ie retreating) inside a word that means long grass.

[pandabear]

possibly STEPPE

the animals being pets reversed to step(pe)

Steppe

A vast semiarid grass-covered plain, as found in southeast Europe, Siberia, and central North America

[quizling]

Thanks lynbrown and pandabear, but I don't think that's quite what I want. All the others are ordinary animals. I had thought of the backwards part and wondered if it would begin with S with animals being plural, but will keep looking.

[Dinkypuzzled]

(Reed)s.

[quizling]

Thanks, thanks Dinkypuzzled. Of course all plurals don't have to have an S and Deer just fits the bill. That's the last one.