So, by popular demand, here you have it. A little blog about my personal adventures in pet sitting. Since Sir Walter (or Walter White, or Wally Wallabee, or Walt, or Wallaroo) is the pet who prompted the most "You should write a blog"s, I think he's a good place to start.
Sir Walter is a British Longhair cat. He's mostly white with a bit of silvery gray. He's alright, as far as cats go. See, I'm a dog person. Very much a dog person. Not really a cat person. In fact, I am the furthest thing from a cat person. I am not fond of cats. Not even slightly. I used to say I HATE CATS, but hate is such a strong word, isn't it? So let's leave that out. We'll leave it at "Beccie doesn't do cats". Rather ironically, I live with one. My roommate has a cat named Melon. Melon is OK. See, that's how you know I am actually OK with a cat -- if they're "alright" or "OK" that's... pretty much as good as it's going to get. I also cat-sat a cat named Casey for my coach. Casey was a kitten full of energy, but Casey slept on my bed with me and his cockapoo sister while they stayed here. He woke me in the mornings, purring, and would lick my chin (with that really weird and creepy-feeling cat tongue!). So... Casey was also alright.
At this point, I've dealt with Casey, and then with a diabetic cat named Chicken (yep) who I had to inject with 4 units of insulin twice a day. Chicken was totally cool, but I think that my fondness for her stems from my sympathy (and guilt for sticking her with a needle twice a day). She was totally cool about it, too. So, my experience with cats isn't exactly vast at this point. Now that we've got that out of the way, on to Sir Walter.
As with all of my pet sits, I review the client's information for their home and their pets' information before showing up, so that I am more or less prepared for anything. Where is the alarm box, where are their cleaning supplies in case of accidents, where's the litter box, where are the food/treats, any medications I should be administering -- you know, that kind of thing. Well, as I'm reading about Walter White, I get to his specific information and there are a good bit of detailed notes. As your pet sitters, WE LOVE FOR YOU TO BE SPECIFIC, because it helps us care for your pet in the best way possible and sort of act as your surrogate while you're away. Every morsel of information is helpful. So I'm reading about how he has three litter boxes (all in the same room), and about how when he has diarrhea, he'll often drag his tail through it, and lots of other fun stuff, when I get to this: "Doesn't like to be photographed with belly up." .............Noted?
In addition to this, there is a very detailed list of places he doesn't like being pet, which could have been better summarized as "Just don't touch the cat unless it's on his head." Or perhaps for the sake of brevity, "No touch".
So, I leave for Walter's house and I'm chuckling to myself on the way.
[to be continued, WITH PICTURES! -- it's NAP TIME, and then i'm off to two blind basset hounds, one of which can barely walk.]
