I had to give back the cat and I miss him
My sister's friend, who I have known for years, was looking for someone to take care of his cat back in December, when he was moving out of his apartment and traveling for awhile. My apartment allowed animals so I agreed to help out. I was very excited to be able to take care of the cat, Whiskey, because I love cats and never had one before. He is a wonderful, funny, energetic cat and he gave me so much joy.
I knew that I would be giving Whiskey back after awhile, but I never realized how hard it would be. The friend did ask me if I'd like Whiskey to stay with me, since he'd been here for 6 months and thought it would be best not to shuffle him around too much. But he really did want him back and I wasn't sure that I was ready to have a cat when I don't know where I'll be or what I'll be doing in a year.
So yesterday I gave Whiskey back and now I miss him like crazy. I can visit him when I want to, but it's so hard not having him around. The problem is, I'm moving in a few weeks and I won't be able to have a cat in the new place where I'll be living, so I can't just go out and adopt a new cat. Now I wish I were moving to a place where I could have a cat, or at least a place where cats already lived! Hopefully my sadness will lift soon.
Whiskey :)>>>
My cat, Cat, died on July 6, so I know how empty a place feels without the energy of a cat. It gets better, but it sucks. I think it's good to acknowledge when you're can't be in the market for a cat. In the meantime, do what pk does and obsessively make friends with the neighborhood animals.
my apartment doesn't allow cats, and i have 2.
couldn't live happily without em. so i just have to be sneaky. or not so much since they sit on my sunporch all the time and i know my landlord's seen them... but he hasn't said anything to me about it. so oh well.
i'm just saying, rules like that are stupid. cats don't fuck up apartments like i'd imagine a dog doing. they pee in a box. they sleep all day. they tear up furniture, but it's my furniture, so who cares? i just don't understand the prejudice against cats in apartments.
A lot of landlords are afraid that 1 or 2 cats will mushroom into 17 and the apartment will smell...particularly if a) they are un-fixed males or b) the apt has carpet.
A couple of college friends rescued a kitten on campus and actually kept it in their dorm room until Easter, when one of them took it home! Fortunately they didn't have a Miss Priss living in their house. Everybody in their hall was like "yay! Saved the kitty!" They found him in a ventilation duct below street level, on a winter's day. They figured out how to raise the grille and get him out. I don't know how he got in there.
I miss my kitty, too. I think DH secretly does, too...but in this land of poorly socialised cats, he's afraid we'll never find one as sweet as my beloved Saul.
HH, I'm so sorry about the loss of your Cat. Here I am being all sad about Whiskey leaving, when I can still go and see him, when it must be 100 times harder for you. Are there other cats in your home or do you think you will adopt another one? I know that it's impossible to just "replace" a cat when they all have such unique personalities, but still there is something about cats in general that is just so wonderful.
I guess it's true that this isn't really a good time to have a cat, but AP, with your comment I'm getting pretty tempted to try it. It's so true that they're harmless. And if I move somewhere else in a year it wouldn't be so hard to bring a cat along with me. But what if they do find out you're keeping a cat against the rules and they make you leave? It would be such a pain to have to move again... aghhh. I dunno, I guess I'll just wait until it's a better time.
ah yabbit, that's a good point. but if you adopt cats you need to get them spayed or neutered so maybe if you can prove that they have been it's okay. and in apartments with hardwood floors... well there's really no excuse. But yeah, I can see where there could be a problem with carpeting. It seems like the kind of thing that should just be negotiable, looked at according to the situation.
That's awesome about the rescued college kitty. Yay! I've always thought that colleges should have some dorms where they allow animals so that people with allergies don't have to live there but people who have dear animals can keep them there. I guess the problem would be people who decide to have an animal during college and then they leave for the summer and abandon it.
For me, one of the very few good things about owning a house is that you can have animals if you like and you don't have to pay a pet deposit.
Like AP I lived in a few apartments that didn't allow animals. We snuck our cat in and brought home litter and food in paper bags so that nobody would see. We were lucky in that maintenance always made an appointment before coming so we'd just take Mirrya to my mom's for the day.