Pet trauma

Here is a picture of Jack a few minutes before we took him to dear friend Elizabeth Brandt's house.  I was close to tears at this point thinking that we were terribly selfish to "abandon" him for 5 weeks while we go galavanting off.

He yowled the whole way 30+ miles, even longer today because there was road construction and we missed an exit.  At least he didn't puke like he did when we took him to Elizabeth's in 2008 for 6 months.  Fortunately, he seemed to kind of remember the place and looked quite comfortable exploring every corner while we sat and chatted.

She wisely suggested that we bring a bunch of things that we wear or he lays on (we as overachievers brought both) so her cat could get used to the smell and Jack would have familiar things. He did curl up on my bathrobe while we were still there and Elizabeth called an hour or so after we left to say he had eaten and curled up in the same place for a nap.

The real test will come probably tonight when her cat (named Malawi so that is good) wants to come in from his days exploring and hunting and finds Jack there.  He has attacked previous guests, and Elizabeth is prepared to keep him outdoors only if it happens again since Jack has no claws and to truly more a lover than a fighter as you can see.