My First Four Days with a Cat

I’ve never had a real pet. I’ve had five fish in my lifetime: Fishy, Flipper, Nike, Bob and I think Fishy again. Or was his name George? I can’t remember.

Ever since I was little, my parents have pulled the, “Mom’s allergic to cats, Dad’s allergic to dogs” trick and so anything that required something other than a bowl to swim in was forbidden. Even getting Bob the Goldfish was tough to do.

“You can pet the dogs in other people’s houses,” my Dad often told me as a kid. “But in my house, I won’t have no pets.”

And then there was FiFi.

FiFi enjoys drinking milk out of an espresso cup.

FiFi loves to play hide and seek underneath tables, couches, beds… You name it and FiFi will play!

FiFi could spend an eternity watching the birds and squirrels outside.

FiFi belongs to my Dad’s youngest sister who is away on vacation for the next little bit. We were asked to take care of her beloved cat on the condition that my Dad not throw her on the BBQ, let her out of the house (for FiFi is an indoor cat) and get in the way of anything the darling animal should need.

So far, so good.

FiFi arrived on Saturday morning and by early evening she began to notice that she wasn’t in her normal atmosphere. Exploring my house from upstairs to the basement, FiFi found her favourite hiding spots (behind the couch in the family room is number one) and her favourite places to watch the animal activity outside (by the back and front doors).

Though she’s still getting used to her surroundings and her temporary guardians, FiFi is eating, using her litter, playing, napping and being absolutely adorable. She sometimes cries at night when everyone has gone to sleep, meowing for someone to come show her some love. Once she realizes we’ve all closed our lights, she begins to talk to her toy monkey. Yes, FiFi has a best friend and he is a red, stuffed monkey with long arms and legs.

The first night FiFi spent with us, she brought her friend the monkey to the bottom of the staircase going to the second floor of my house and talked to him until 3:30am. Who knows what they discussed.

We have FiFi until July 15 and I really don’t want her to leave. She’s so easy to take care of. The hardest part is trying to find her during a discovery expedition and holding her still so I can brush her. Other than that, she’s the sweetest and softest ball of fur I’ve ever met.

I keep my door open at night, hoping that FiFi will find her way onto my bed to snuggle. That hasn’t happened, yet. However, she has come into my room to hide under my bed and check out the dust bunnies under my desk. Pretty good for only four days, no?

I’m a big cat lover and have had to accept that there will be no cat permanently at my home address as long as I’m roomin’ with my rents. Despite that, I looked up cat adoption centres in my area today. Big mistake. Now looking for a cat I’ll never get to keep might have become an addiction.

Have you ever cat-sitted?

xo