Come and Get Me!

I am the primary pet sitter for one of the long time clients of my service, a woman who had two cats that I first met when both were past ten years old. I saw both through their final days.

I had a visit with the male, a big dramatic long haired black with green eyes, hours before the owner had to make the hard choice. It was a tough visit. I cleaned up things as well as I could and lied a little in my note about what I had found. The owner was only away for an overnight, and the state of things was going to be as obvious to her as it was to me. His kidneys were completely unable to do their work.

The other cat, a long haired black female with white markings, faded away more gradually. She finally stopped eating for the last time and forced the decision. The owner had been through every idea to stimulate her appetite - changing the food daily, rounds of baby food and finally warmed up baby food in an eye dropper. But there came a time when they stopped working. The owner was staying home more so I didn't see this cat so close to the end.

The household is now down to one much younger cat, a short haired black cat named Willie. He arrived not long after the death of the older male cat to be company for the female. That never worked out, so each had their own portion of the apartment. The owner watched television in two places each night so each had petting time. Willie has the whole place now, but like all of our cats has claimed the bedroom as the prize.

This last weekend was my first round of visits with just Willie at home. Instead of being underfoot as he had been in his separate space, he decided to play hard to get. He still liked petting when I got to him, but I had to lie down to coax him out from under the bed and sweet talk him to eat while I was there. Owning the whole condo may have gone to his head, at least temporarily.

It didn't last. By the last visit of the weekend he was back to his old self. He came out to greet me, weaved between my legs and got right to chowing down with me standing nearby. I may have to please his highness to pet him again, or he may forget about it now with me. It's never easy to tell with cats. But their cunning extends to humans as well as prey.