My best friend is incredible. He's always there for me. If I'm down, he's happy to absorb some of my sadness. Last year when I had surgery he never left my side, except for the 36 hours I was in the hospital and that was pretty much because of hospital policy. See, despite his showing me much more love and attention than most of the humans I happen to know, this friend is not human. He's a cat.
So in order to travel away from home for four days, I had to arrange for someone to feed my friend, and let him outside for some fresh air and then back inside again, and maybe even spend some time with him. I would pay handsomely, of course. Many people have made it quite clear that they think it's stupid for me to care so much. After all, as my son said (and it was his cat in the first place as a new kitten, back when he was in college), "Don't make such a big deal about it. It's just a cat."
Yeah, but see, even though he's just a cat, he's my best friend. So it's troubling that the person I arranged for didn't quite get that I was paying him to show up to feed the cat sooner than twelve hours after I left this morning, and then let him out for some sunshine instead of being caged inside all day long, all alone.
Cats don't get the same respect as dogs, who think nothing of taking a shit on your carpet or peeing in the corner of your living room if you leave them alone too long. This forces you to actually show up and walk the damn things several times a day, or get someone else to do it. But cats, being fastidious, do nothing of the kind and thus are left to their own devices, with people convincing themselves that cats like it better that way, that they are, by nature, aloof. They say, "You can just dump a lot of food in a big bowl and leave plenty of water and go away for four days, and the cat doesn't care at all."
Maybe not. But the thing is, I do.
So in order to travel away from home for four days, I had to arrange for someone to feed my friend, and let him outside for some fresh air and then back inside again, and maybe even spend some time with him. I would pay handsomely, of course. Many people have made it quite clear that they think it's stupid for me to care so much. After all, as my son said (and it was his cat in the first place as a new kitten, back when he was in college), "Don't make such a big deal about it. It's just a cat."
Yeah, but see, even though he's just a cat, he's my best friend. So it's troubling that the person I arranged for didn't quite get that I was paying him to show up to feed the cat sooner than twelve hours after I left this morning, and then let him out for some sunshine instead of being caged inside all day long, all alone.Cats don't get the same respect as dogs, who think nothing of taking a shit on your carpet or peeing in the corner of your living room if you leave them alone too long. This forces you to actually show up and walk the damn things several times a day, or get someone else to do it. But cats, being fastidious, do nothing of the kind and thus are left to their own devices, with people convincing themselves that cats like it better that way, that they are, by nature, aloof. They say, "You can just dump a lot of food in a big bowl and leave plenty of water and go away for four days, and the cat doesn't care at all."
Maybe not. But the thing is, I do.
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