Canadutch
Yesterday (my birthday!) we decided to come home. We’d been in France for over a week and were both feeling like we were getting a little tired of sight seeing. It was time to pack up and head home so that we could be home in time to have a nice long weekend to chill out before returning to work.
We left at 9:30am and drove straight through to Rotterdam (from the Millau area in France), arriving home almost exactly 12 hours later at 9:30pm. We’d taken our time and made a few stops along the way, all in all it was a pretty uneventful ride.
The whole way I couldn’t wait to get home. I wanted to sleep in my own bed, prepare my own food, sit on my own sofa and get back to my high speed internet.
Then reality struck.
I walked in and the house was hot and stuffy, full of hair and like a landmine of puked up hairballs which had hardened onto our tiles. There was no food in the fridge and our internet wasn’t working. When I went to bed I had to jam earplugs deep into my ears to block out the sounds of our loudmouth cat screaming on the other side of the bedroom door.
I sit here now, after opening the windows to let some air in watching dust and hair float past and filling the air around me. The black capri pants I pulled on when I stumbled out of bed are covered in hair from sitting on the sofa.
I’ve had it. I’ve exhausted all options when it comes to friends, workmates and acquaintances so now I have posted an ad on a website here in the Netherlands to look for a new home for my cats.
I will miss them and it will hurt, but I honestly can’t deal with life with these cats anymore.
I want to be able to walk out of my bedroom in my bare feet without fear of the squish of a puked up hairball between my toes. I want to get in bed and feel totally clean sheets, not the gritty feeling of sheets that a cat has just crawled into immediately after crawling out of his litter box. I want to come home from work and sit down on my sofa for a minute before starting dinner without having to take my work clothes off first and hiding them away from where the hair can get to them. I want new sofas that don’t have shredded corners and cat hair permanently woven into the fabric. I want to have company over without the paranoia that the cats will rub against their clothes, climb into their bags or jump into their laps, covering themselves and their belongings with hair.
I think having all of those things will make me feel better when the guilt sets in about giving up on them and not being able to cope with life with cats.
Basically, life without them will be less painful and frustrating than life with them.
More holiday photos to come.
Your cats sound just like my little demon aptly named Trouble. Except, in addition to all the frustrating nastiness you described, mine also enjoys relieving himself in places other than the litter box. No, no health reasons, the vet says it’s purely a behavioural thing on his part. He does his business on my bed, on the kitchen counter top, atop the dining room table, in freshly laundered clothes, in your shoes, etc. I’ve tried everything to coax him to change his ways and everything I could to control his absolutely insane shedding (I can’t even eat something without first de-hairing it) – all to no avail. I’m at my wits end. My life and home have become ruled by this cat and keeping up after him. Considering another home for a pet is such a painful thing to go through when you’re an animal lover and have had many happy decades of sharing your life with critters. I totally understand where you’re at.
You’re cats are beautiful. It would be a shame if you had to give them up… Maybe you could invest in an air purifier to help control the excess amounts of hair and dander in your home? My dogs shed like crazy, but since investing in an air filter (I have a Montana 108W Luchtreiniger 150, and it cost me @ 100 EUR), I only have to do a “big clean” once or twice a week… Shoot me an email if you want more information about the filter.
aaww Im sorry about the cats! I totally understand how you feel though. We had a cat that would kick our butts whenever he saw us. He would lay in the corner and attack our legs while we walked by. I hope you can find them a loving careing home.
I’m sorry to hear about your cats, but I completely understand. I have one little monster and thankfully she doesn’t shed a ton, but, nothing irritates me more than my black skirt covered in fur.
On a more positive note, happy birthday! I hope you’re enjoying something deliciously sweet and totally bad for you. I’m coming to the Netherlands next week, so if there’s something North American you want, please let me know.
Ambers last blog post… Hold my beer, would ya?
Happy Birthday! :D
Hope you find a home for those cats. It’s tough living with cats, imagine if you were like me and allergic to them. I love our cat though, as much as I hate to say it. :P She’s 17 years old, and she’s an old crotchety cat, but we love her.
yoshis last blog post… Go Speed Go!
Best of luck with finding a home for them. My in laws are the same way.. they love the two cats they have my my mother in law has allergies but won’t give them up. grrr cuz it’s like when your over there all you hear are the cats trying to get into things and the hair all over your clothes. I feel like they should just find a new home for them. They are redoing parts of the house and the doors are all scratched due to the cats.Sometimes for your own sanity, finding them a new home will make your life easier.
I think the hardest part for me will be making the decision and going through with it. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for years but always end up not doing because I DO love them and worry about what will happen to them when they leave here.
The problem is, they are 10 years old but that’s not old in cat years. They could live to be almost 20 and I can’t take 10 years more of this.
We have contacted a dierenopvang here in Rotterdam but it’s 83 euros EACH to put them there because they haven’t had their shots this year.
They said that it is a big open area like a big livingroom or something, with lots of things for them to climb on and stuff. Also that the cats are ALWAYS homed, it’s not like back in Canada where after a certain amount of time they are put to sleep. That’s a bit comforting.
I wish you all the best when it comes to your cats. I had two cats up until 2 years ago. Nyles and Wicket were adorable little hellions, I loved them to death but my allergies and cleaning up after then took over the love. I had to get my friend to get rid of them (to a new home of course) for me while I was in NL visiting two Septembers ago. I still miss them, but I’m not stepping in hairballs, trying to sleep while the fat one decides my head is a great pillow, or little furry one meowing at the bottom of the bed because he’s bored.
I hope you find a good home for them. Glad to see you had a great time on your trip. I’ve now added Milleu to my travel list. Next summer I want to go to Denmark so I can see that “tunnel/bridge”.
Melissas last blog post… Man in the Moon