My cat story from Hell
Several year’s ago I was asked to cat-sit for a family as they went on vacation for a few days. Somehow over my years in this town, I’ve become the pet-sitting guy as quite a few families ask me to care for their animals when they leave town.
Generally, people with pets will pay fairly well to care for their animals when they’re gone, so I don’t mind doing this at all. Besides, pets are a lot like children – they’re fun to play with, but at the end of the day, it’s nice to be able to give them back to their owners.
Anyway, this particular time, the family went to North Carolina to the beach and asked me to care for their two pets, a dog and a cat.
The first day went smoothly as I let the dog out to do his business and filled the cat’s food and water bowl as well as adding the cat’s medicine.
So Day Two arrives and again, I care for the dog and then feed the cat. I noticed there didn’t appear to be much food eaten by the cat, but I figured it had something to do with the fact that the owners were out of town. Cats are finicky to begin with, so I didn’t really think much of it.
When I arrive for Day Three, I see that the cat food is just as I’d left it. It’s also about this time I notice I haven’t seen the cat since Day One, again not something I was overly concerned with, but at the same time, if I’m caring for an animal, I’d at least like to see it every once in a while.
I begin looking for the elusive cat, searching the house, looking under tables and in corners, but can’t find the cat.
Finally, after about a half-hour of looking, I end up seeing the cat under the parent’s bed. I notice it’s lying motionless, but it doesn’t appear to be sleeping.
I go to pet the cat and it’s stiff as a James Bond drink. Apparently it had died on my watch, so I’m trying to think what I can tell the family and wondering if I need to call them while they’re away.
Eventually I decide the best thing to do would be to call them, so I muster up all the courage I can to tell these friends of mine that their beloved family pet had died on my watch and wondering if I’d be welcome in their home again.
But wait, it gets better.
When I finally get in touch with them and tell them the bad news, they ask me where the cat is. I tell them it’s still under the bed. It never occurred to me that I might need to do something with the cat, but what do you do with the remains of a dead cat that’s not even yours?
Well, apparently, the family wanted to have a proper burial for their family pet, so they ask me to get a garbage bag and place the cat in there.
(At this point, I have no idea what they’re going to ask me to do. I could be tossing it in the back yard or taking it to get stuffed so it could be mounted. It was a weird couple of seconds waiting to hear what was coming).
After placing the cat in the bag, they asked me to put the bag in their outdoor freezer (where they keep food, mind you) and leave it there and they’d do whatever they were going to do when they got back.
Fortunately, they weren’t mad and told me the cat was very old, but it still felt weird to take money from them for being on duty when their cat croaked.
What I’m Watching: Coupling on BBC America
What I’m Reading: Double Play by Robert Parker
On Deck: Why today's college students are smarter than just a few years ago.
Generally, people with pets will pay fairly well to care for their animals when they’re gone, so I don’t mind doing this at all. Besides, pets are a lot like children – they’re fun to play with, but at the end of the day, it’s nice to be able to give them back to their owners.
Anyway, this particular time, the family went to North Carolina to the beach and asked me to care for their two pets, a dog and a cat.
The first day went smoothly as I let the dog out to do his business and filled the cat’s food and water bowl as well as adding the cat’s medicine.
So Day Two arrives and again, I care for the dog and then feed the cat. I noticed there didn’t appear to be much food eaten by the cat, but I figured it had something to do with the fact that the owners were out of town. Cats are finicky to begin with, so I didn’t really think much of it.
When I arrive for Day Three, I see that the cat food is just as I’d left it. It’s also about this time I notice I haven’t seen the cat since Day One, again not something I was overly concerned with, but at the same time, if I’m caring for an animal, I’d at least like to see it every once in a while.
I begin looking for the elusive cat, searching the house, looking under tables and in corners, but can’t find the cat.
Finally, after about a half-hour of looking, I end up seeing the cat under the parent’s bed. I notice it’s lying motionless, but it doesn’t appear to be sleeping.
I go to pet the cat and it’s stiff as a James Bond drink. Apparently it had died on my watch, so I’m trying to think what I can tell the family and wondering if I need to call them while they’re away.
Eventually I decide the best thing to do would be to call them, so I muster up all the courage I can to tell these friends of mine that their beloved family pet had died on my watch and wondering if I’d be welcome in their home again.
But wait, it gets better.
When I finally get in touch with them and tell them the bad news, they ask me where the cat is. I tell them it’s still under the bed. It never occurred to me that I might need to do something with the cat, but what do you do with the remains of a dead cat that’s not even yours?
Well, apparently, the family wanted to have a proper burial for their family pet, so they ask me to get a garbage bag and place the cat in there.
(At this point, I have no idea what they’re going to ask me to do. I could be tossing it in the back yard or taking it to get stuffed so it could be mounted. It was a weird couple of seconds waiting to hear what was coming).
After placing the cat in the bag, they asked me to put the bag in their outdoor freezer (where they keep food, mind you) and leave it there and they’d do whatever they were going to do when they got back.
Fortunately, they weren’t mad and told me the cat was very old, but it still felt weird to take money from them for being on duty when their cat croaked.
What I’m Watching: Coupling on BBC America
What I’m Reading: Double Play by Robert Parker
On Deck: Why today's college students are smarter than just a few years ago.
posted by Luke at 8:35 PM
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