I Feel Guilty Leaving My Cat

Gus, the Ragdoll

I feel guilty leaving my cat. When I left him yesterday, to go see my daughter of all people, he gave me the stink eye. And when I returned home, he was very standoffish. Living in LA, my husband and I have been nauseatingly home every waking moment of his life for an entire year. Prior to that I had a 24/7 job that kept me out of the house till at least after 7pm each day and my husband had a home office, but traveled regularly. Gus, the Ragdoll, got used to a constant companionship — 24/7.

When I tried to leave him today, I found myself sneaking to the front door. I almost didn’t put on the alarm because I didn’t want him to hear the alarm voice speaking — alerting him to the fact someone was leaving the house. When I did work up the courage to rush out the door, Gus yelled at me, “where are you going?!!” I stopped dead in my tracks. Ok, so he didn’t really talk to me, but he might as well have.

When I did get home from my reckless fun (buying cat litter and paper towels) I found myself compelled to play with him like a complete idiot for 20 minutes. Even he got tired of me.

My burning question is . . . when will the normalcy from this pandemic ever return? In other words, will I ever be able to leave the house without a major guilt trip over leaving my cat ever again? I don’t think so.