If you're bored one day and would like to change up your life…maybe add some adventure, try this:
Grab your kitten of six months, pack everything she owns, e.g., three different varieties of cat beds, fifteen different toys, dry cat food, canned cat food (both prescription diet because she might be a little high maintenance), cat treats (organic, of course, because her digestive system is also high maintenance), her kitty litter, her litter box, her car carrier, and don't forget her food bowl and water bowl. Once you’ve gathered the items listed above, stuff your feline into her small cage—the cage in which she NEVER hangs out—and put her in your car to go on a road trip. For six hours.
You and your cat. Six hours. Try it. I dare you. Want to kick your drug habit? Want to begin one? Wish you could drink alcohol while driving long distances? Follow this simple plan. Take your CAT in your CAR and let her roam free for six hours while you “drive” home to visit your family in the midst of an intellectual, mental breakdown because finals are not over yet and you still have to write one more paper, but you just can't stand it any longer and wish to get home to the comfort and support of your family. And bring your cat.
In your car.
Have you ever seen a kitten pant like a dog? No, more like a hyena? Have you ever heard that low moaning growl cats produce when they are in heat, are in a fight with another kitty, or are riding in a car with their owner for six hours? It's um, not relaxing.
As I pulled out of Athens, GA on a sunny Thursday afternoon, Phoebe was on her way to lulu-ville in her own mind as she paced my car in hysterics. The beginning panting/heavy breathing in my back window concerned me at first because of the extra long tongue that appeared which I had never before seen, but my concern eventually lessened when the heavy breathing subsided and my once precious kitten's face froze into a hyena's deadly pant. I don't know if I can even describe this visual to you so that you can experience a sliver of what I saw in my rearview mirror, watching my only life mate so far deteriorating in front of my weary eyes because her mother had forced her to confinement in a small box on wheels which tossed her around--side to side, up and down like jelly--and flashed large objects past her eyes at a million miles an hour anywhere she tried to look to get away from it all.
Did I try to give her drugs before the trip, you ask? Of course. I mean, hell, I read articles about traveling with a cat a week in advance, for goodness sake! I did everything I could to shove some Benadryl down her little throat before we left but her frothy foaming at the mouth and drooling threw me for too much of a loop, so I had to stop.
I even called my vet to ask advice. (Well, really to check in; I tend to call them one to two times a week to ask questions--I'm sure they don't mind...) As Julia (the assistant whom I speak to more than my parents) answered the phone to my, "Hi Julia, it's Hilary." with her monotone, "Oh, hi Hilary. What do you need this time?" And then used her most friendly and caring voice to politely answer my sincere and worried question, "Will Phoebe be mentally retarded for the rest of her life after this car ride? Because she's been howling for one hour now and the panting seems to worsen if she looks at large trucks out of the back window." with, "No, Hilary. Phoebe won't be mentally...um....retarded. Many people travel with their cats for multiple hours and their cats are fine. She will eventually tire herself out from stress and sleep. Anything else I can do for you today, Hilary?" Julia loves me. She’s got to. She knows me better than anyone else in Athens! I can just imagine the conversations that go on after she and the other assistants get off the phone with me each week---priceless. (And YES, I have time during my studies to call the vet with questions....who wouldn’t?)
Anyway, after the first three hours, my cat decided that being close to her mommy would make her feel better. She crawled up on the back of my seat to the head rest, slowly did a 180, backed her little bottom down on my left shoulder, rested her head on the seat belt, calmed her low moan to a faint and frantic meow, and slept for the remaining three hours. She's only six pounds, so my shoulder didn't begin to go numb until an hour after she planted her butt there, and she only startled herself awake when we slowed for a light or made a turn. Then she'd jump up, forget where she was and why she had fallen asleep, freak out mentally, howl for ten to twenty seconds to let me have it, and then re-position herself on my shoulder for her next nap. Not a bad way to spend the last three hours of a lovely drive, wouldn’tcha say?
Seriously, you should try it.
The drive back to Athens from my restful vacation in Florida wasn't as bad with the panting and howling. Only the first hour or so. The five hours she spent on my left shoulder were a little uncomfortable, but what wouldn't a mother do for her only child?
Summer school, oh summer school is now in session till August. Y'all have fun in the summer sun...I'll be enjoying the 110 degree air here in beautiful and sunny Athens, GA. With my cat.
Not in my car.
I’ll let you know when she’s trained on her new harness for outside adventures…I’m sure you’ll be hanging onto your seats waiting to hear how that goes. Cheers! HEH
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