Wednesday 11 August 2010

What;'s the worst that can happen?

Imagine the worst thing that can happen when you are asked to look after a friend’s pets while they go away on holiday, and then double it.
My best mate J has had the most terrible time recently. You see we went away for two weeks and left him in charge of the house, the dogs, the chickens and the cats.
Now J has done this loads of times, and in the past has had some near misses. Like the time when I phoned him up to say Hi and check up on the builders who were busy converting the attic and putting on a new roof. At the end of the conversation I casually asked how he was doing with the cats.
“Oh they’re fine,” he said cheerfully before asking after my holiday and when we were coming home etc.
Little did I realise that as I was speaking to him on the phone, he and the builders were desperately trying to locate my Siamese cats from between the floor joists where they had managed to get stuck. Everyone could hear them but just could not locate them. The hunt involved taking up the newly laid carpet and ripping up floorboards in several rooms. Needless to say when we got home there was no evidence that anything untoward had ever happened at all and it wasn’t until a few years later that J confessed over a particularly boozy supper.
Over the years poor J has dealt with the would be kamikaze cats, the toothbrush eating whippet, the subterranean Jack Russell and builders en-masse: 15 of them to be exact and never once did he forget their individual tea and coffee orders. By the way he also had to run his own workshop to make a living.
However, this time I think he took the biscuit.
For as well as agreeing to keep an eye on the EBJ (the wickedest whippet it the world) and be of assistance when she was to be mated, (I know, I ask a lot, but there is only a small window of opportunity on this and as luck would have it the whole thing sort of landed up on J’s plate, he said he didn’t mind as long as he didn’t have to get hands on or anything!) he also had to look after my elderly Siamese cats, Agatha and Alice aka Fat Cat.
Having acted as Dog Pimp and got through that ordeal J was on the last few hours of his watch and nothing untoward had happened. It should have been a coast all the way home so to speak.
He knew we would be back after lunch and then he could finally go home and relax.
So that morning he bounces down the stairs, lets the dogs out, puts the food out for the cats, does he chickens comes in for a cup of tea, lifts the small cat, Agatha, onto the table so she can eat in peace away from teh dogs, notices the Fat Cat has not moved, goes over to lift her onto the table for breakfast and then realizes that something is very, very, wrong.
The Fat Cat is always the first to demand food, the Fat Cat is called Fat Cat because that is what she is and to be a Fat Cat means you are particularly food orientated. Missing breakfast is NOT an option, not when you have a reputation at stake.
As soon as J touched Fat Cat there was not a shadow of a doubt what had happened. She had died peacefully in her sleep curled up on a chair.
For J the event must have been the worst nightmare ever.
I mean only a few hours…
Now what would you do?
Option 1) ‘Fess up and as well as having Dog Pimp on your CV add Cat Killer
Option 2) Pretend you hadn’t noticed and leave said cat to be “discovered”
Well J is my friend and I would not have blamed him for going for Option 2 but he didn’t and although I was very sad about FAt Cat, and I will post about her later, I couldn’t help but see the funny side. Poor J. I think that really is the worst thing that can happen on your watch!

9 comments:

resewn sally said...

Oh that's awful! I'm so sorry for your loss. And I hope your poor friend recovers from his shock! I'd be in a right state if that happened while I was pet sitting!

Sal. X

Tattieweasle said...

Resewn Sally - I still feel terribly guilty for landing him in such a position. On the day though we all sat down and had a really good drink while raising a toast to Fat Cat. Crossing fingers J will still help out though I think the rewards for doing so will have to be mighty big!

Anonymous said...

Oh poor sweet fat cat. Sorry to hear that. It must have been a shock for your friend, and I wonder if he will be forthcoming as to look after the house and pets next time!!!

CJ xx

Tattieweasle said...

CJ - We have been very very nice to him ever since Saturday, the drinks have been on us!

Ladybird World Mother said...

Oh Fat Cat... and your poor friend. Crikey. How glad am I that it wasnt me that was on that watch!! I once while cat sitting helpfully opened the window so that they would get some fresh air. The buggers both got out and their owners, getting back about midnight, were up till 4 trying to find them. Ooops. Not good.
Cheers to Fat Cat. Oh, and welcome home!! xxxx

Diney said...

poor fat cat - I'm so sorry, and for your friend. Nightmare. Good that you could sit down and have a drink to discuss.

Anonymous said...

Poor Fat Cat. And poor J! I once had to house sit a beef farm, and lived in total fear of killing the entire herd. Luciky, we all survived...

Tattieweasle said...

Ladybird World Mother - I think we've been using poor Fat Cat's demise to have an extremely long wake for her or maybe it's because the boys are staying with Granny and Grandad and we have no responsibility...
Diney - I think J has got over the Nightmare bit and he's forgiven us, well he seems sanguine enough to say yes to looking after teh pack again while I fetch teh boys back from Bath!
Mud - Survival at the end of each day is a definite plus and no one should ask for more!

Gail said...

Our friend's dog died while we were looking after it and it was just horrendous. And the worst thing was that everyone we told about it, pretty much to a man, said, "oh, that's awful," and then pissed themselves laughing. It still makes me feel edgy thinking about it now and it happened three or four years ago.

Go on you know you want to...

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