Oh Dear

A cat in the (and I truly mean this) expert care of my sister has died whilst the owners were away. How very ungrateful of it. I don't have all the details, just a fraught text saying she's about to have to tell them. She is a professional cat sitter. What a nightmare.

Update: The cat was run over. The owners are abroad and can't be contacted but their daughter was telephoned and received the unfortunate news. She is travelling up from London tomorrow to identify the body. Just to make sure. Don't want to get the wrong cat after all. Pause for thought. That's nearly 200 miles.

I do wonder whether an email correspondence would have been more convenient. Or would emailing a picture be too much...I suppose even taking a picture would be a tad distressing. It does seem an awfully long way to travel just for a cat though, and a dead one at that.

I speak as a cat lover, who has buried two cats. And I suppose 'there's the rub'. You can't exactly not bury a dead cat, especially if you are a professional cat sitter. That wouldn't be very professional. And if, as the daughter of the cat's owners, your parents are away and it needs formal identification I suppose it would fall to you to identify it. As the cat sitter you can't, in the absence of the owners, house it at a vet's mortuary, running up huge and hugely unnecessary bills. And you can't just shove it out in the back garden, or hide it somewhere safe... even if temperatures are sub-zero and it would 'keep' quite nicely until their return. No, that wouldn't work because then you'd have to explain the rigor mortis. To die, to sleep...perchance to dream. Hopefully of mice, poor thing.