Cat Caregiving

Jackson the Cat is 21 years old. Over the years he (and until 2019 his brother Pepper) has had a variety of caretakers when Hubby Tony and I were away.

• When Son Donald was living at home and working full time there was nothing to think about. We just relayed our schedule and he took care of the rest.

• Eventually Donald moved out, but one of his good friends still lived two blocks away at his parent's house. Good Friend had a flexible work schedule and was usually available at the drop of a hat.

• When Good Friend moved to the other side of the city. We relied on Across the Street Neighbor Boy and then Next Door Neighbor Boy.

• We moved into our condo right before COVID shut things down. When they started opening back up and we were able to travel Donald would come and stay here.

• However, Donald eventually acquired two dogs when his roommate had to relocate. He couldn't bring the dogs here, so we started looking for alternatives.

• Since the building is apartment-style I didn't want to give the key to some random person from Nextdoor or Facebook. We used a couple of pet-sitting websites until we found a one-person local company. We are so comfortable with the person that they have their own key. All we have to do is text or email and get on the schedule.

• A couple of months ago a new neighbor moved in. In our building if someone sees a delivered package sitting in the foyer we bring it in and place at the person's door. One day I retrieved a box of cat litter for New Neighbor. Eventually I ran into them and found out they love cats, have two of their own, and if the timing was right they would be interested in watching Jackson for us.

• Tony and I will be attending an organization business meeting out of town in the not too-distant future, so I reached out to New Neighbor to ask if they were available for that weekend. They were. Today they (the neighbor and their middle school aged child) came by for a meet and greet with Jackson. As cats do, at first he snubbed the attention, but as they were getting ready to leave he lumbered up to them, smelled their outstretched hands, and offered a friendly head butt.