Baxter in the Sky

After much anxiety and a chronic upset tummy about being a terrible pet owner, I've made the decision to bring Baxter back to Wisconsin. Poor Bax. He rode the sixteen hours to NYC with me in a rented PT Cruiser two and a half years ago and now he is making the journey back. (Sigh). It's not that I didn't have a very sweet offer to leave him here with my roomies. It's just that Roomie #1 has a cat herself that she needs to retrieve and without seeing how the two felines do with one another before I leave...well, quite frankly, it makes me nervous as hell. The two could be at one another's kitty throats and I could go down as the shittiest subletter in history, known for not only leaving her kitchen supplies behind but a live, breathing (and perhaps unhappy) being as well.

So I've decided to take up my friend's offer to take care of him indefinitely back in Milwaukee. She is currently unemployed and therefore, up to the task. She and her husband have a cat as well but considering her free time these days, she feels that she'll be able to follow all the rules about proper kitty introductions.

After making the decision to return him to his hometown, the next issue was figuring out how to get him there. I drove last time, partly due to my crap load of belongings but also because I was terrified of the thought of putting him on a plane. I couldn't fathom the idea of sticking him in cargo and then if I had chosen the cabin, I feared that he'd be like the howling, teething baby. Except that people feel sympathy for a baby, not so much for a cat.

But considering that I only have three weeks left and would rather not spend any of that, farting around with car rentals, not to mention the cost of that, I took a deep breath and booked a flight for myself and Baxter the Cat. As a ridiculously emotional person and a pretty severe lover of the feline species, I can't help but feel super guilty as I type this, watching him sleep silently next to me on his little red blanket. You have no idea what you are in for, Bax, I keep thinking which makes me feel like the cruelest person on earth.

A friend reminded me that a cat's brain is about the size of a walnut so his trauma of being stuck in a kitty carrier for a few hours is not going to affect him for long. Yet, it's not just about the flight. It's then introducing him to a new home, new people, another cat(!), and then...leaving him.

Ugh. Upset tummy is back. For most of you pet lovers, I think you know what I'm talking about. Your pet's a huge part of your family. I'm certainly not looking forward to saying goodbye, especially not knowing when/if I will be back for him. But it certainly helps to know he'll be in the most loving hands. And since they know me well, I'm sure they'll have the tissue ready.