Ashley the Jack Russell Terrier and Sebastian the cat

Ashley and Sebastian

We watched Scott and Jenny’s home and pets last weekend, while they went to Bear Lake. I’ve never house set before. In preparation, I began thinking of what might happen while I was responsible. We could have a tornado, earthquake, micro burst that only targeted their house, or perhaps a crude oil line break beneath their house. You think unlikely, but given my general level of anxiety, these were things I couldn’t discount.

While those emergencies might be doubtful, there was one little ball of fire that focused my attention on the hear and now-Ashley, the Jack Russell Terrier.

I had a good time with Ashley. But I did have my other less dramatic anxieties which are enumerated below.

1. I watched her very carefully because I was trying to keep the home neat and tidy and I didn’t want Ashley to have an accident on my watch.
2. I worried that Ashley might run away and I would not be able to get her back. She is as old as I am but she can really run fast and she knows I’m not the alpha person when it comes to dogs. So no matter how much I plead, coax and beg, whistle and jump up and down, she doesn’t pay any attention to me, unless I have her leash and ask her if she wants to go for a walk. She gets that and is always ready. But I felt guilt-ridden to trick her by promising a walk and then putting the leash on her just to sneak her into the house. That’s just bad. And she would know.
3. So, here we were, two old ladies going on several walks a day for one of the old ladies to do her thing as we went. We won't ask which one. I was always hoping it wasn’t going to be me.
4. Then did I have enough food for us to eat? (We eat what we eat and are comfortable with that.) And I didn’t want to have to go to the store when Ashley needed a walk.
5. Would I forget my own schedule while watching the house, dog and rabbit? I might be on a walk with Ashley, so that there would be no mess in the house and she would be comfortable, when I was supposed to be with one of my friends helping her with her family history. Oh the stress of it all!

But I did enjoy the walks through Red Butte Creek and the neighborhood with Ashley. She would let me know when she needed to go outside. She would become so excited when she knew we were going for a walk. I’d say; “Ashley, do you want to go for a walk?” She would come over to me and leap into the air at least two feet high. She would run ahead and come back to get me, then run ahead and come back again until we got her leash on. Then off we went on our walk. I had a good time visiting with other dogs and people along the way. Ashley strained at the leash at first, but by the second day she was no longer choking herself. Thankfully! She responded to little tugs on her leash to come along, and I responded when she really wanted to check out an area for a long time. I had a good time with Ashley.

There wasn’t much to do for the rabbit. She is in a raccoon proof cage. Her food and water were easy. She wasn’t in the house so she couldn’t mess it up. She didn’t need to go for a walk to poop. She did it in her cage. No stress really.

This time with Ashley reminded me of the time we watched Sebastian the cat for Canda and Thom. That was for nearly two weeks. Sebastian was my mother’s cat. When Mother died, Canda and Thom were kind enough to take Sebastian. Canda brought the food, vitamins and hair ball medicine and gave us wonderful instructions. We were to feed Sebastian once a day, give the vitamins and hairball medicines once a day by placing a bit on our finger and Sebastian would lick it off. Canda counseled us on the importance of this regimen for Sebastian’s health as he was an old cat.

Licking off the meds was something Sebastian never did. I was very worried that Sebastian would get sick on our watch. I went to the Petco and purchased some cat food with morsels of hairball medicine included. Sebastian carefully picked all of the anti-hairball bits out of the food and spit them out on the floor. So we began to have small clumps of hairball throw up around the house. I was beginning to feel really stressed.

We thought that Sebastian was used to having the run of the house and to sleep on Canda and Thom’s bed. Merlin didn’t like Sebastian sleeping with us but he agreed in order to help Sebastian during this likely stressful time for him while he was away from his own home. However, Sebastian would get on and off our bed during the night about five times. When he came back, he would smack us in the face so we would wake up and pet him a little to honor his return.

In response, Merlin shut our bedroom door at night. Sebastian countered the door being closed by howling all night, banging on the bedroom door and throwing up all over the house.

Sebastian’s food was another issue. I had replaced his regular food with food that included hairball medicine; Sebastian decided he wouldn’t eat any of that food. Totally wonderful! Sebastian won’t take his hairball medicine, vitamins or eat. So, I’ll give Sebastian back skinny, throwing up hairballs and who knows what else from the lack of his vitamins.

Now I’m finding myself at Petco to see if I can find a food that Sebastian might eat. Eureka! I found some very nice pricy food that was made with real fish. Surely Sebastian will recognize our benevolent and altruistic intent when he sees to what extent we will go to please him. No, he did not want that food either. I tried several different foods. I found myself at Petco one day, looking at specialty foods, personalized food and water dishes with matching placemats. It finally came to me. . . This is not my cat. I only had to wait for his family to come and get him.

Then I go back to feeding him the original food and he eats. But he still will not take the vitamins and hairball stuff. I am trying to control my anxiety about not fulfilling my assignment. Toward the end of our cat sitting time I noticed Sebastian was gaining weight. I thought he was probably filling up with the few hairballs he didn’t throw up all over the house. Then I notice that Merlin was giving him food one evening. I was feeding Sebastian in the morning. Our instructions were to feed him once a day. Sebastian was getting fat!
We determined we were not responsible animal sitters. We were so relieved when Canda and Thom got back and didn’t say one thing about how Sebastian looked. And they didn’t seem to even care that he didn’t take his vitamins and hairball medicines. I am thankfully relieved of my stewardship.