A perk of owning only one cat? By definition it makes one a cat OWNER, not a crazy cat lady. (or so I maintain...) I know I made the right decision many years ago when I opted for a cat rather than a dog. My family had dogs growing up, so I never considered that I would ever choose a cat. My main rationale at the time: my selfish lifestyle and me wanting to come and go as I pleased. In my opinion, a dog is a two-person job at the very least. I didn't want to have to plan my social life around my dog's schedule or feel guilty when I had to run home and let him out and then watch his sad eyes as I slowly tried to sneak out the door again. I soon learned that I would feel just as guilty about leaving my cat at home alone and that he would look at me with those same "What? You're leaving again?" eyes. I have to say that I sufficiently projected many dog-like qualities onto Cameron. He greets me at the door when I come in, he goes outside on a harness/leash thingy, he licks my face when I wake up in the morning, and he begs for anything fish or poultry related. He hasn't quite graduated to eating salad like
Abby's cat, but he sure does sit and beg for treats out of the cabinet well.
Not to mention his human-like qualities...he texts?!?
Lately I'm just feeling really guilty about leaving my little guy behind. Well, he's not so little anymore, that's part of the problem since he is now 11! I know cats live a long time but I worry about him adjusting to life at my parent's house so much that he won't re-adjust well to living with me again, (I'm pretty sure he loves their place more than mine anyway) or that I won't come back to the US in a year and I'll have to ask them to keep him, or put him in a crate and ship him to Chile...
I think I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but I can't help but worry about the changes to his lifestyle. I'm not sure, how many people bring their pets with them to other countries when they permanently move? For those of you that have acquired pets in Chile and may return to the US at some point, do you just pack up the crate and say "Hold on to your fur, we're taking a little trip!?!"
I think it's horribly irresponsible to get a pet knowing you have an international lifestyle unless you're committed to bringing that pet with you on any permanent moves. Something like your situation, where you plan to be away for a specific period of time, is different because it might be more stressful for your animal to fly (and potentially be quarantined depending on the countries) twice in a relatively short time span. But when I get e-mails from expats who're moving back home and oops, we forgot when we got our dog three years ago that we'd have to move her too? Drives me crazy.
ReplyDeleteSo to answer your last question, yes, we will do just that!
Yeah I was going to say if you were staying for a really long time, bring him with you, but otherwise, I think leaving him behind is probably the right idea.
ReplyDeleteAnd ditto to what Emily said.
I would never leave Obi behind. I figure the short trip in the crate will be awful, yes, but not as awful as not having us around for more than few months. Not sure if that's irresponsible of me or sweet of me... either way, I'll own it.
ReplyDeleteThanks ladies. It's good to hear that there are a lot of people out there that are truly committed to their pets since all I seem to hear about is people who end up fostering/adopting animals from families who moved abroad and left their pets behind.
ReplyDeleteAndrea, you bring up the point that I was struggling with...the line between what I think is best for him or best for me!
Being a pet owner is a total pain in the arse, the amount of things I haven't done and trips I haven't taken because of my two cats (from Argentina) and now two dogs...but I love them to bits and would never leave any of them behind if I ever moved again...(unless they were better off like that). Although since one of them has just stolen half a roast chicken from the kitchen counter, I am having second thoughts about this responsible dog ownership.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who has left my cat behind several times, it was okay. He still loves me. He still follows me around the house with that dopey expression of kitty love.
ReplyDeleteOh my cat eats a kitty salad when I make myself a people one. His diet is a little lacking in greens and he knows it. Either that or he has body image problems, which we haven´t discarded.
What do you mean that you won't come back to the US in a year??? I never agreed to that. That wasn't part of the deal with you leaving us again!
ReplyDeleteI'm super behind on your blog, but Charlie's coming with me when I move back to the US, no question about it. I'm like you, had dogs growing up but now for practical reasons have a cat. He begs for food, meets me at the door, meows when he wants something and most of the time even comes when he's called! Haha.
ReplyDeletePS. When you're missing Cam you can totally come visit Charlie. He'll probably even share his salad with you. Haha.