we’ve been madly flying about trying to get everything sorted before we head away to england tomorrow, and the other day we sat down and said, “what about the cat?”

What about the cat, indeed. Usually we would drive him down to west cork for a revitalizing weekend by the sea. It’s cat heaven, really, so many things to chase and trees to climb. But it’s a long drive, tom’s busy finishing a journal paper, and I still haven’t got enough confidence behind the wheel to make the journey by myself. So we went through the options, which included:

- riding down on the bus with the cat in his box on my lap, mewing for the entire 2hr journey. Not pleasant, especially given his tendency to become carsick.

- leaving him outside, putting a blanket in the greenhouse or the garage and asking a friend to call by and put food in his dish every day or so. Louis would probably get by, but I would worry about him being cold, the rats or other cats eating his food, and the possibility of him wandering off when we didn’t come back in a day or so.

- attaching a note to his collar asking the owner of the hand cream scent he comes home with every now and then if they wouldn’t mind watching him. Possible, but unreliable. And we would have had to do something about it before now. So not really an option at this stage.

- leaving him inside and asking a friend to come by and feed him every day or so. he’d be safe, but bored to a dangerous state of cat insanity. we may come home to find the wallpaper peeled off in claw-sized strips.

- taking him to the cattery at the vet’s. he’d be safe, fed, taken care of, and probably only mildly bored/pissed off/trapped. it’s a bit expensive, but pretty much guaranteed. and there would be other cats to play with.

I think we’ll take him to the cattery tonight. But still, i worry. will he hate me when we return? will he catch a nasty disease from one of the other cats? will he have to sit in a cage for several hours each day? Ach, i’m still pretty torn. But overall, i think it’s probably the best option.

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