I love the animals I care for as a pet-sitter, those officially belonging to clients and those nature gifted to them. When I see empty bowls outside the dwelling of an indoor pet, I know I’ll likely find a bag of cat food in the pantry with a sticky note marked “for the strays”. We share the world we live in with thousands of creatures and they have a significantly different experience than we do as humans. We consistently and relatively constantly change their environments to suit ourselves. Mostly, this is necessary and we all adapt, but as the dominant species, we have the privilege of being less aware of what is lost. I am grateful to those clients who leave notes or send texts randomly while they’re out of town, telling me they forgot to mention the kitties at the door. Simply put, our lives wouldn’t be the same without these gracious feline hosts and all the wildlife that surrounds us.
Beka Tucker 