All Things Kitty

As I was leaving the house this morning, I felt really, horribly guilty.

While I was locking the front door, my kitty came over to the window next to it and just looked at me. People talk about puppy-dog eyes, but I swear they've got nothing on kitty-guilt-trips. Especially when he stood up and started pawing at the window a little bit, just begging me to take him with me.

I still feel guilty - he just looked so heartrendingly pathetic and miserable. My poor lonely kitty!

I shouldn't feel so guilty, really. He's fine by himself, and he's not even really being left home alone right now - my dad works from home. Actually, I've been rather pleasantly surprised - Hermes used to be terrified of my dad, but now he's kinda adopted him as the second-best-human. I think it has something to do with my dad being the first person up in the morning - he's the one who feeds the kitty in the mornings, usually.

Dad's also helping me build a new cat-stand (or whatever it might be called) for Hermes. He'll actually have a scratching post that's tall enough now, and a little indoor "tree" to climb. It's pretty cool, but let me tell ya, it's a major pain to try to carpet! I've no idea how they make them look so nice - trying to carpet curves and circles and posts is no easy task! Still, it's a lot cheaper to build one than buy one. I think we've spent less than $20 on materials for this project, and what we're building is similar to one of the $100 ones you see in pet stores (okay, so it doesn't look quite as pretty, but still).

Of course, once we finally finish it, there's going to be the issue of where on earth it goes in my parents' house. Mom, of course, has vetoed putting it in the dining room or living room, and there isn't much space in the family room. His current scratching post is in my bedroom, but I'm not sure the new one will fit.

Have I mentioned that there are some issues with living with your parents when they're both allergic to your pet? We're not hosting Christmas anymore - one of my uncles volunteered his house, instead, since several of my uncles are severely allergic to cats, and there's no way I'd really be able to get the cat dander cleaned up enough. My mom already complains about that enough - there's no way to keep the cat out of everything, but at least he's not scratching up her furniture!

Honestly, though, as much of a pain as it is sometimes, I love my cat. He's a sweetie, and he obviously loves me, too. Even though I just found out last month that I'm allergic to him, too, there's no way I could give him up.