CAT SITTING

I am currently cat sitting for a friend while he and his girlfriend are on vacation in Mexico. I really don’t mind doing this for several reasons. First, I like cats as they’re one of the most interesting domesticated animals on this planet. Second, my friend lives in my building so it’s very convenient for me. Third, I have a lot of free time on my hands.

This cat, named Mika, requires just three things from me: food, water, and a little bit of attention. I was told I didn’t have to attend to Mika on a daily basis and that checking up on her every other day would be fine. Since it takes me about two minutes to get to my friend’s apartment, it’s really no big deal for me to spend some time with Mika every day.

When I open the door to the apartment, Mika is usually there to greet me. At this point, about a day has passed since she’s interacted with another human being. She meows for like a minute or so, the only time she really meows while I’m there. I immediately go and refill her water dish and her dry food dish. I then get some wet cat food from the fridge and give her some.

At this point, I could just go back to my apartment but since it’s taken less than ten minutes to do all of this, I usually stick around. As a bonus, my buddy’s cable TV selection is about 10x better than mine, so I wind up just watching a bit of TV.

While I’m examining the schedule to see what’s on, Mika is usually eating the wet cat food I’ve set out for her. It doesn’t take her very long to finish it. When she’s done, she’ll come by the couch where I’m sitting and paces a bit in front of me. Soon she’ll decide to jump up onto the couch and on my lap. She’ll then proceed to rub her face on both my hands. Mika will also headbutt me in the face a few times as well. It’s at this point that things can get painful. Mika will then try to put both her front paws on my chest and sorta kneads all over. This would be slightly endearing except for the fact that she’s got her claws out. The first time she did this I just had a t-shirt on and it hurt like a sumbitch. I now ensure I have a heavy-duty hoodie zipped up when I’m on the couch now.

When she’s done the kneading, she’ll settle down and just rest on my lap. At this point, I can comfortably go back to watching TV. Once in a while, I’ll give her a little rub between her ears on her head. When I’m done watching Jersey Shore, it’s time for me to go. Before I leave, I give Mika a little treat in the form of some catnip.

The whole process then repeats itself the next day.