[pct-l] Leaving pets

[Marr, Eli B]

I left my two dogs behind last year when I cycled Europe and will never do it again. Both my pups are doing the PCT with me this year (they are service dogs and therefore are allowed in national parks)! We have been training and after a 20 mile hike with their backpacks on, they still want to play for hours. Taking your pet with you can be a controversial topic but with the right preparation and care it can be a great experience! I've read journals of people who have taken their cats on the AT. Taking 6 cats may be another story though! haha
________________________________________
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] on behalf of Jennifer Zimmerman [jenniferlzim at gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 12:02 PM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Leaving pets

Count me in, too!  Leaving our two cats behind is by far the hardest part
of going on our hike.  Family? We'll miss them, but they can stay connected
through our blog and chat via phone in town.  House?  No problem, since my
brother will be living here and making sure it survives the summer.  Jobs?
All sorted out.

But the cats...well, we're a tight-knit little group of four and I
*know *they'll
miss us for a while.  Normally when we go away they stay with my parents
but we had to board them for a few days last summer.  I know the humane
society's staff did a wonderful job, but when we came back to get them they
were *so excited* to see us!  Leto, who is normally pretty reserved and
dignified, was a huge affectionate ham.  And we miss them too...when we
were hiking in Rainier last summer we were only gone for two weeks and were
terribly homesick for them by the second week in.

A few things have made this separation easier to think about for us.  For
one, they have each other - they lived together before being surrendered at
the humane society and we adopted them as a pair.  For another, we trust my
brother implicitly to take care of them.  We know that they will be in a
caring and friendly environment and much better off than they would have
been had we not adopted them.  Finally (and this sounds callous), they are
animals after all.  Like Dan said above, they will miss us but they likely
don't have the memory to pine for us for 6 months.  At least they are young
and healthy and we don't have to worry much about health issues while we're
gone.

Thanks to Dr. K for the vet advice!  My brother has our vet info but I had
not considered the caregiver permission issues.  Paul is due for a dental
cleaning before we go and when I bring him in I'll be sure to talk with the
staff about it.

JZ

On Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 8:01 AM, Sonya Dickinson
<sonya.dickinson at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Becky,
>
> I am leaving 6 cats behind with my partner to care for them.  I, too, am
> experiencing guilt and anxiety as one of the cats is old and in kidney
> failure and I know she does not have long with this world.  The rest are
> all very attached to me as I am their primary care giver - I feed and care
> for them.  The responsibility now falls to my partner who loves them, but
> is somewhat absent-minded and not quite as diligent as I am about their
> care.
>
>
_______________________________________________
Pct-L mailing list
Pct-L at backcountry.net
To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l

List Archives:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.