Recent Loss of a Friend Over 2 Cats
- smammy127
- Apr 28
- 4 min read
The Story:
I recently agreed to cat sit 2 of my friend's cats. This friend, who shall remain nameless, is also a former coworker whom I had hung out with outside of work on multiple occasions. We had gone to multiple parties, went shopping together a few times, hung out at each other's apartments, and got lunch every time. Needless to say, we were pretty close. She is also 3 years older than I am.
So when she texts me and tells me she needs to rehome her cats temporarily (The current place she is living does not allow cats), THAT DAY, I immediately say yes (also because I love her cats). She explains that their ex-roommate (who is the original owner of the cats and also a huge piece of shit that stole a large sum of money from her and her boyfriend) was going to take them to a shelter the same day if she could not find a place to keep them. I preface that I would not be able to keep the cats for over 2 weeks, as my apartment building does not allow more than 2 cats in the apartment, and I already have one. It was also in my leasing agreement that I pay $35 a month for each cat. Therefore, to avoid getting in trouble with my landlords, I told her I needed them out in two weeks.
She brings them over with all of their supplies and 2 pints of ice cream as a thank you. The first day goes well. Then, on the second day, one of the cats (Jewel) begins to chronically throw up every single time she eats. She throws up on my couch multiple times, so I had to cover it up with 3 towels, as well as on my clothes. I'm getting pissed. I'm also getting worried about the cat, as she has not been able to keep food down for 5 days at this point. My ex-friend was only able to take her to the vet on Saturday morning. All she did was get the cat a one-time nausea treatment from the vet and concluded she would surrender the cats to a shelter the following weekend. Jewel stops throwing up for about 2 days and then is back at it. All while this is happening, my cat is locked in my bedroom, and the other cat (BamBam) was tearing up my couch.
The rest of the week goes by, and it is now Saturday. She has not texted me for 2 days, and it is nearing the end of the agreed-upon timeframe, so I am panicking, but I figure I'll just take them to the shelter myself if need be.
Now it is Sunday at 10 a.m. when I received a call from her saying that she will come to pick them up that day. Cool beans.
HOWEVER. I get a text from her friend, whom I have only met like 2 times, saying that she won't be able to take my ex-friend to my apartment to get them until Wednesday. This is absolutely unacceptable, considering the cats have been destroying my belongings, forcing my cat to stay in one room for 2 entire weeks, and she had 2 entire weeks to figure out how she was getting to my apartment to pick them up. I tell her how unfair it was of her to try to leave me hanging like that. I also made sure to tell her that I am not mad and it will not affect our friendship in the future if she just picked them up today, as we agreed. She then texts me back that she said she was going to pick them up today, so "obviously" she was going to. I don't know what part of making her friend text me that she couldn't bring her to my place until Wednesday made it obvious that she was coming today. She then says, "Yes, I tried to see if there were other options (referring to getting them at a later date) because you were a friend, but I see that this is a purely transactional favor." I then tell her how unfair it was of her to speak to me that way and imply I was only doing this as a transaction. I was doing this for her and her animals' well-being.
She then picks up the cats, barely speaks to me, and does not say thank you once during that interaction.
I was trying to keep things cordial before we vend at an event together that we both paid $80 (we were planning on sharing a full space) to set up at. She never showed up. Pretty cool that I got a whole booth to myself for half the price, and I didn't even have to interact with her.
Overall, it was for the best that I stopped being friends with her, and I hope the cats are ok.
My thoughts:
It was insanely manipulative to have your friend text me that she couldn't take her until Wednesday instead of telling me herself. I don't know why she thought that would change anything.
Yes, I did agree to watch the cats, but I did not agree to one of them clawing at my couch constantly, and the other one not being able to keep food down.
Girl, you want to get transactional??? OK. Pay for a new couch, cleaning supplies, and the total of $12 of laundry it took to get all of the puke out of my stuff.
None of this would have gone down this way if she had just communicated better and if she were a responsible adult. My bad for expecting that of her lol.
That final text just clearly showed that she did not respect me or my time over her convenience. This had been a problem before, too. There were multiple occasions where she had made plans with me and just ditched me at the last minute. This was just the last straw.
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