remember your wellies

i am not an animal person. i don’t really like animals, hate hair/fur, and have never desired to have one of my own. i have never owned a pet except for the gerbil that my mom had in her classroom that i took care of on school breaks and in the summer. i did train that gerbil to come when i clapped (maybe a sign of something else wrong?) but that is it. a gerbil and i’ve never had the slightest desire for anything more. not even for dog or cat sitting for a week. no thank you.

this summer a cute little black cat would come and sit on our porch and watch us eat breakfast every morning. he was clean and kind and chris took a liking to him. i still had the “i’m not an animal person” and at first wouldn’t pick him up or pet him, just let him sit on our porch with us. eventually he made it from sitting on cement of our porch to chris’ lap, but that was all.

well, this little cat started to grow on me. i’d leave for a run and he’d chase me up the alleyway for a bit (yes, he’s a running cat). i’d come home from work and he’d be waiting for me. i’d do yard work and he’d meander around me. i even got paint all over his face once when i left the paint can open.

in july, we became fond enough of the cat that we decided we should name him. since it was towards the end of the tour de france (which chris and his family are fanatical about), bikers names were common language around our house. bradley wiggins (who won the tour this pastyear) has a nickname of wiggo. we thought this was fitting for a cat name, and so wiggo it was.

now that cat had a a name, was around more often, and was generally awesome, we decided to let him inside for periods of time, or rather at first he let himself in for periods of time. one time chris found him in our laundry room covered in lint, the next day i didn’t know where he went and sure enough, he had climbed DOWN the cold air return vent that was up as we were redoing our floors. this cat was trouble, but lovable.

but, as fall drew on, wiggo stayed. he slept on the blanket on the couch, came by more frequently and was great. we didn’t feed him or need a litter box. he was simply around when we wanted to pet him, and not when we didn’t. he seemed happy with the arrangement as well – he’d come in when we opened the door and stand by the door to be let out when he wanted to go explore.

we had a {half} cat. okay, an 80% cat.

the problem here is that we still don’t know if he has an “owner”. sometimes he’s gone for periods of time and we don’t know where, but then he appears. now that the weather is colder, he comes leaping up the steps with the sound of the lock turning. sometimes he sleeps for hours in our house.

so, we don’t know what to do. there are days when we say “YES, we need this cat!” and other days when we like the two of us just fine. this cat has brought a compassionate side to me, i genuinely care for this cat and his well being. when wiggo is gone for periods of time, i get worried. when i can’t find him as i arrive home from work, i feel lonely until chris gets home two hours later.

but, as the days get colder we need to decide – do we want a 100% wiggo or a no wiggo? it’s not fair to anyone at this arrangement. the bigger question is does wiggo want to be entirely an indoor cat or not? eek!

what do we do?