Would love to talk to folks who've fallen in love with their roommate's pet!

[RBaron1568]

Hi all -

I'm a writer, and I'm currently working on a piece about people who have formed close bonds with their roommate's pet. The pet could be a cat or any other household pet, but I'm specifically focused on roommates who are NOT romantically involved or related. Please let me know if you or anyone you know fits this description! My deadline is this coming Monday.

And if this is for any reason not an appropriate thing to post here, please let me know and I'll take it down!

-Rachel Baron

 

[Alldara]

Hi! I have had two experiences like this.

One was my roommate for a few months and it was her dad's cat (her dad had passed away). My roommate traveled a lot and the care of her cat fell on me when she was away. The cat was shy and not social with people but began cuddling me under the blanket like a teddy-bear at night. I had to give my roommate notice to leave when she started acting inappropriately. It was sad for me and the cat and I miss her still to this day (though she is likely passed on). I didn't see the cat at all after my roommate moved. (roommate was very pretty and had her bf climb the balcony to get her bike instead of knocking on the door?????)

The second was my brother-in-law's cat from my former common-law partnership. My former brother-in-law lived with us and he got a kitten. His kitten took to me and my two cats. We used to joke that the kitten was our love child; he was very attached to us both. My partner and his brother used to say I was the cat's mum, even after my partner and I broke up (I still saw the family for my nieces). I haven't seen him in many years but I got some photos the other week. Minou is about 14 years old now. He's still going strong! It's lovely to see how happy and well loved he is. I did take him to the vet on a couple of occasions, my BIL trusted me to be on the vet documents too. I also talked him out of getting his claws removed.

 

[RBaron1568]

Hi! I have had two experiences like this.

One was my roommate for a few months and it was her dad's cat (her dad had passed away). My roommate traveled a lot and the care of her cat fell on me when she was away. The cat was shy and not social with people but began cuddling me under the blanket like a teddy-bear at night. I had to give my roommate notice to leave when she started acting inappropriately. It was sad for me and the cat and I miss her still to this day (though she is likely passed on). I didn't see the cat at all after my roommate moved. (roommate was very pretty and had her bf climb the balcony to get her bike instead of knocking on the door?????)

The second was my brother-in-law's cat from my former common-law partnership. My former brother-in-law lived with us and he got a kitten. His kitten took to me and my two cats. We used to joke that the kitten was our love child; he was very attached to us both. My partner and his brother used to say I was the cat's mum, even after my partner and I broke up (I still saw the family for my nieces). I haven't seen him in many years but I got some photos the other week. Minou is about 14 years old now. He's still going strong! It's lovely to see how happy and well loved he is. I did take him to the vet on a couple of occasions, my BIL trusted me to be on the vet documents too. I also talked him out of getting his claws removed.

This is awesome, thank you Alldara! I'm definitely planning to use this in the piece.

 

[Alldara]

Good luck with your writing!

 

[debbila]

I fell in love with my roommate's dachshund Spanky. When she moved out of state for her job, she asked me to take care of him until she found a house. I readily agreed. Her mother's death and selling her house led to me having him with me for over a year. I got a kitten, my Chiquita that I have now, and he liked her. He tolerated her energetic playfulness even though he was up in years. They both wanted to sleep with me. The kitten won because he was afraid of her claws. It's been over 9 years since my roommate took him to live with her and I still miss him. He gave me my love of dachshunds.

 

[Mia6]

My old roommate had a cross-eyed Siamese named Tia but she wouldn't give me the time of day. Then Jane went
to Key West for spring break. Tia and I bonded even when Jane returned. She had her 2 babies in my closest.
I think of her with loving memories