We’ve had Mouse for almost a month and it’s make or break time.
On the one hand she is a pleasure to have around the house. She’s settled in well. She keeps me company. And she tends to chill me out between interviews and stories. Sofie likes her. And I’m confident if those mice make a reappearance they won’t stand a chance. She is a mouse machine.
On the other hand, she requires a good deal of attention. I feel guilty if I don’t play with her at least once, usually twice a day to give her some exercise. Also, I fear I may have a mild allergy. It’s hard to tell with all the pollen floating around at the moment, but she has very fine fur and it gets everywhere. And finally, she is quite a responsibility. We travel a lot and after seeing how she reacted when Simon cruelly left her with us I’m not keen on putting her through the same trauma three times a year while we are on our extended travels in Europe.
Simon’s brother-in-law will happily take her off our hands. What do we do?
Mild allergy? You know what must be done.
Oh, did I mention that Mouse is not too popular with a certain allergy-prone petphobe called William?
Mouse needs a stable family, as they say in the adoption community “a family for life”. Animals are truly emotional beings and it’s very hard for them to be shuffled about from one family to another. This is why they can be irratable, frightened or anti-social during the first several months to a year in a new home. If you don’t have intentions of keeping Mouse for her life span you should find a home for her with someone who will.
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, we wanted to keep her.
What do we do when we go away for a month to sort visas? Get someone to come in and feed her every day so that she isn’t taken out of her environment? Or give her to friends and then take her back?
Or is just going away for one month cruel?
feed her to the dogs !!!!!!
Going away for a month is fine! Best possible solution is to get someone to stay in your apartment while you are away. Second best, hire a cat sitter. Third best, send her to your friends apartment. If you think you and Sophie will wub her forever, keep her. If not, send her Simon’s brother-in-law and begone with her! But don’t worry about your month long getaways. They can get over that and are always thrilled at your return.
She’s got a nice face, which is reason enough to keep her. Just like the main cat of my childhood, Butch, who mysteriously disappeared when I once went on holiday with my parents (but siblings remained at home). I’m asthmatic (too), so it may have been a ploy to get rid of him on the quiet. I’m still not over it. It’s only been 24 years. Hopefully you’ll fall in love with her and she’ll stay. And she’ll cope with the occasional absences (you cruel, heartless pair. I’ll remind you of her constantly in Berlin, suffering all alone in a big city).