The last couple of
days I have been feeling a bit out of sorts about leaving our cat behind during
our road trip and move to Minnesota. Except Alto is not our cat. She was
Megan’s cat since adopted in July 2010. Alto stayed behind to live with Joe and
me when Megan moved to Minnesota two years ago. A Minnesota family member is
allergic to cats. Now here we are planning to move, and Alto cannot travel with
Joe and I around the country. Then we will be staying with Megan’s family for a
while once we get to Minnesota.
This all means Alto
will have a new human caretaker in the house she’s lived in for a while as a
kitten and then again for the past two years. Fortunately, our friend - Kim,
likes Alto and Alto likes her. We have an amazing cat-friendly backyard that
attracts a lot of birds and bugs to chase. Kim has two other cats so Alto will
have company.
While we are packing
Alto climbs in the boxes and gives me an evil eye look when I pull her out. I
am convinced she knows what all of the boxes mean, I fear we are traumatizing
her. Joe and I had opted out of pets as the kids left home. At one time we had
three kids, three cats, a dog, a rabbit, and a couple of fish ALL AT THE SAME
TIME. As each pet crossed the rainbow bridge, we made the conscious decision
not to get a replacement pet.
A year
ago someone offered to take Alto and raise her with their other cat and dog. At
first I was very excited but as the time grew nearer I decided Alto needed to
stay here where she could roam the backyard (except when it's raining or too
cold) to her heart’s content. At one point a neighbor asked Joe if Alto was
getting enough attention from us since she was outside so much and was not
friendly toward the neighbor. This cracked me up. The problem must be us
because our cat didn't like them.
When we
have company Alto either likes the person right away or has nothing to do with
them. Our dear friend, Babak loves to pick Alto up. Alto does not like to be
picked up by anyone. Still she lets him hold her for a few minutes before she
escapes. When people come to visit she likes to rub against their legs or
she will sit by the sliding glass door to the backyard until one of our guests
lets her out. She has all of us trained.
Alto
annoys the crap out of me most days. She rubs up against me for pets and then
bites me when she’s finished. Telling her, “We don’t bite grandma” has not
worked on her at all. She also likes to lay on top of me while I am sleeping.
Preferably with her tail in my face. She turns her nose up at certain foods.
Wants to be let outside and then right back in. Has let us know she does not
like the rain and expects us to have it stop. She can be very vocal when she
does not get her way. There are several cats from the neighborhood who like to
sit on the back step and taunt Alto when she is inside. After two or three
minutes this produces a god-awful yowling sound from Alto. Joe will usually
open the door and the offending cat will take off in a mad dash. Alto will lick
her paw, leave the room, find a cozy spot and take a nap now that the yard is
clear of other felines. She is bossy.
So why do
I feel sad about leaving her behind?
No comments:
Post a Comment