Have Thumbs, Will Travel

As if we hadn't had enough apartment woes as of late, 3F had to have an exterminator visit the apartment this weekend. I'll spare you the icky details, but we had our apartment bombed on Saturday and all living creatures needed to vacate the premises for the afternoon. This included Aubie Cat who has never left my apartment since the day I got him. Kurt and his brother kindly offered up their apartment for us to hide out for a few hours. I borrowed a cardboard carrier from Jenn who used to tote her cat around in it until she recently upgraded. Kurt and I planned on strapping the box to the back of Kurt's bike and slowly ride his from my apartment to Kurt's.

Aubie had much different plans. He began gnawing through the cardboard immediately and tried to squeeze out the gradually widening opening. This was all before we even got outside. The bottom of the box ended up giving way too and after some unsuccessful taping, I decided it would be best to just buy a carrier. I ran to the pet store and bought the cheapest crate they had, hoping Aubie's teeth would be no match for plastic.

Aubie wasn't thrilled about being contained for a second time, but we were able to get him in the new crate with a little shoving and coercing. Kurt is an expert bungee-er and strapped the crate securely to his pannier rack. I was a little worried about riding with him in there (I thought we would just walk...I even said) but Kurt assured me it was on there solidly.

I rode close behind the entire way to Kurt's to make sure we didn't lose anybody. Aubie cried the majority of the way. I put his favorite scratching mat in the crate but don't think it really helped comfort him too much. However, the ride was much easier than I had originally foreseen (apart from the initial packaging issues). Sunday joy rides could become a regular family outing.

Finally we reached the boys' apartment. Aubie took some time to explore the new place and check out the new window views. Doesn't he look so traumatized laying on Erik's bed? Luckily the ride tuckered him out, so he was very laid back at their place. 

Kurt and Erik don't really strike me as cat people, so I was concerned how this visit would go. Apparently, it went well because the next day Kurt asked if he could come get Aubie and bring him over to play! Without me!