Pet Sitters

"How did you know you could leave him?" I asked.

"I had Adele." He responded.

A long pause followed this response.

...

How do you know that the person you hire is going to be able to give your pets the excellent care that they get from you?  How do you know that their medications will be given as necessary and needs with be met?  

When we lived in Seattle we had Adele, and Ted was right, there was never any worry when she watched our kids. She would call, email and text.  Adele spent 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening with our cats.  At the time, we had a diabetic cat.  Claude, like my Bleue, had been in my husband's life during all of the pivotal moments.  He was a year old when he was adopted from a Michigan humane society and quickly became my husband's best friend.  Fresh from separation, Claude filled a void of companionship.  But Claude's diabetes required two shots of insulin per day.  Granted, it was expensive to have a pet-sitter twice per day, but she was well worth the expense and so was the security of his health.

Claude talked.  Not meowed.  Not mewed.  He talked.  It was like a cross between a chirp and the sound "meah."  When his bed was unmade, he would walk into the living room, yell at us until we followed him into the bedroom, then we would make the bed and he would settle in without further issue. On laundry day, he was up in arms.  Anything but his green blanket was unacceptable.  On hot nights when the comforter was pulled down to reveal brown sheets, it's as though we could watch his head shaking as he sighed out of irritation.  As was the same with his food, litter and attention needs.  He was very particular. And all changes to the apartment had to be scrutinized.

Now, our eldest in in Stage 2 kidney disease, requiring medication and I worry who will take care of her now that we have moved from Seattle to this new and strange land they call the suburbs?  Like Claude, Bleue was with me through my divorce and varying life events. When you don't have children, your pets become your kids and you worry about them just as if they were real human kids.