While the cat's away...

My wife is at a veterinary conference out of town and she has left me with the care of all the mammals who live in our house. This includes one human boy, a dog, and four cats. One would think, given that my job is to care for mammals who live with other people that it would be a snap. One would think that the same guy who obsesses over making sure all the water bowls are topped off, and that every single dog has the correct amount of food, and all the medicines are properly distributed, and that they're not out too long in the cold, February snow, would just bring those skills right into the house. It doesn't seem to work like that.

The human boy is easy, as he's 17 and can hunt and gather his own food (from the kitchen) and can get himself up and drive himself to school, and such. And the dog--I should mention the dog.. He's a 90 pound floppy eared Doberman named Titus. I don't mind sharing his name because number one he won't read this and number two, I've not used it for any of my passwords. Titus lives a life of routine. First thing in the morning we let him out of his crate (more on the whole crate thing another time), and he scrambles to the back door, spinning in no less than four complete circles, regardless of how many chairs he rams into. We let him out, he rushes to do his job, then slams into the back door mere seconds later so we can let him in for his breakfast, which is the reason he lives. In the evening, when he feels it's time to eat, when he just knows that any second he'll drop over from starvation, he pesters us mercilessly until we feed him dinner, which is the other reason he lives. So it's pretty hard to forget to feed him, and since I regularly share in his feeding, it's ingrained. I'm not so good with the water, however, and my wife usually keeps it full so when she's gone the only indication I have is Titus' metal ID tag clanking on the water bowl. So the boy and the dog are easy.

The cats are a different story. I never care for the cats. It's not that I don't love the cats, it's just that their food and water do not fall under my jurisdiction. And anyone who knows me knows that if it's not something that's a habit, it's probably not going to get done.

So she left me with one admonition: don't forget to feed and water the cats. One of the cats is old and I'm told that he cannot go without water. Cannot. So I was reminded of the various places she has placed the cats' water bowls, which are spread around the house like Serengeti watering holes, and instructed me to keep them full. Sounds easy. (Wait, I better go check them now).

Okay, all full. Anyway, it's easy to get caught up in other stuff and before I know it a water bowl is a little too low. But it turns out the cats owe a very big thank you to the dog, whose metal tags clanking on the bowl reminded me to water not just him but the cats. I have gathered the cats together and given them crayons and paper and told them to make Titus a nice card. So far they've made little progress.

So if my wife is checking the blog from Columbus, she can rest assured all of the animals are still alive and happy. Especially the boy, who has a snow day today.

And as for the kennel, those dogs have it good. Their water bowls are full, the heat is turned up a notch, they have finished their breakfast, and are resting happily on their blankets. I think I'll go out and toss them a cookie.