Last week I was helping someone housesit the other day b/c they were away for that night. I had to feed the cat, clean the cat litter, empty the dehumidifier, water plants, etc. It was a house just down the street from mine, and the family had been away for about 2 weeks.

When I got to the front porch at around 8 PM after work the entire house was dark. As soon as I opened the door the cat was meowing and coming towards me—she was starving!! I quickly turned on the lights and went to the kitchen where there was some canned cat food ready to be opened. The cat was so anxious it placed its head over in the empty bowl while I put food in. I could barely put the food into the bowl!

My insides gorged with guilt as 20/20 hindsight filled my head: “I should have come earlier! / Why didn’t I come before work? / I should have let the cat out in the morning”..

The thoughts suddenly shifted to questioning the official house sitter’s competence: “Has the cat been left alone for a long time?" "Was the cat ever let out?" "Did she play with her?" "Has the cat been left in the dark the entire time?"

After the waves of paranoia, anger, guilt, contempt and sadness (in no particular order) subsided, I quickly got all the other chores done. After the cat scarfed down the food, she came over and started to give me the big sob eye (see example photo). To top it off, she started to nestle on my hand and snuggle around me. It was too much—the poor cat was lonely!

Don’t people realize that cats and dogs have feelings? Leaving them in a dark house for weeks doesn’t do anyone-nor any animal-any good. YES, I know, cat’s are independent and self serving and blah blah, but hey, that doesn’t mean total isolation is their dream come true. Perhaps those setereotypes are there just to make humans feel better when they abandon their pet for a few weeks while they’re at Disney Land or vising the in-laws. Who knows! It just bothers me that we can’t seem to realize that cats have any emotions or feelings; They know they’re left alone. C'mon here people!!

Just like humans, Cats can develop disorders. Par example, a smaller cat born in a large litter can be traumatized from starving for food because s/he can’t beat out the other bigger kittens from feeding on the mother. An eating disorder can develop and even when it gets older, the cat will eat ANYTHING you give them. They’re so paranoid they’ll starve as they did in their younger years. So as an owner you have to make sure you a) regulate it’s eating b) monitor the quantity of food you’re providing or else the cat will become obese.

Of course, it does take a professionally trained vet to diagnose any of these sorts of things, and I don’t think this cat had anything wrong with it besides lonliness.. It looked very old because it moved in slow, lethargic steps and it’s meow sounded tired.

Ah well. I ended up coming back to play with the cat again later that night, and thankfully the owners were coming back home the next day. I just hope that people realize that cats, dogs and other domesticated animals can’t be "put away on the shelf" when they don’t feel like taking care of them!

Take care,

RE

“eat drink and be merry”