Picture this:
“Honey, this is it! The collapse I’ve been talking about all these years! The power’s been off a day and a half! There’s no running water! There’s no cell phone service! We’ve got to bug out now!”
My wife is frantically chasing our male tuxedo cat, with the brilliant original name of “Tuxie.” She grabs her prized pet and tries to drop him into a crate, an animal carrier. Tuxie hisses, swipes at wifey’s arm, jumps down and scurries away into a bedroom. “Owww, he scratched me!” she wails.
I grab a couple more bottled waters and stuff them into both of our bugout bags to take to the car. “There’s no time for the cat!” I insist. “We’ve got to go!”
“Not without Tuxie, we aren’t!” Wifey shouts, glaring at me as if I suggested cutting off her right arm.
“If we can’t catch him, we can’t take him!” I reply tersely, trying to control my emotions.
“Then we’re not leaving!” Wifey storms off ,down the hall.
That scenario is one I have feared for years. In real life, my wife and I have two cats: One is a gray tabby we shall call “Hunter,” who is very friendly, easy to pick up and drop into a portable kennel or animal carrier. The other, however, is a rescued tuxedo cat who used to be feral. My wife saw him at a pet store and fell in love with our Tuxie. But he’s a weird cat who is easily spooked by any little noise, or even runs off if you get up from the sofa to get a drink.Continue reading“Bugging Out With a Cat, by Feline Tamer”