When I left for Taiwan, one of the biggest dilemmas I faced was what to do with my cat.

I had the option of rehousing him or bringing him with me. Each decision had it’s positives and negatives but in the end I couldn’t bear to leave the cat I’d raised as a kitten in the hands of somebody else.

Animals are a big responsibility to me and if I’ve decided to adopt one and care for it, then I’ve always considered it my responsibility to look after it for the duration of its life.

Passing it on, if avoidable, just felt like a cop out and abandonment.

Obviously moving to a new country and having no idea about accommodation yet or even where I’d be staying or what to fully expect, bringing my cat with me to Taiwan off the bat didn’t seem the like smartest idea.

Instead I decided to go and establish myself and relied on my mum to look after my cat for six months, at which point I’d then look at bringing him over.

At least that was the plan…

Two days after I left ‘Cloud’ went missing and after a month of frantically searching for him, my mum came clean a month later.

The door to her place had been left open and he’d wandered off… presumably looking for me.

It was hard news to take at the time and I really wanted some time out to cope with what I was feeling. Losing Cloud had never been my intention when I moved and on top of everything I was experiencing for the first time in Taiwan, the news he was gone was almost too much.

Still, as you do, I told myself that after a month he was either dead or had found a new home somewhere, sucked it up and got on in with life.

It wasn’t easy but under the circumstances I didn’t have much choice. There was no shoulder to cry on here and Taiwan at large didn’t seem like the kind of place that’d be interested in my petty problems.

After resigning myself to the fact that Cloud was long gone, nothing more than flittering memories in my conciousness; ten months later a phonecall changed everything.

Turns out Cloud was alive. He’d been living two doors down from my mother’s and when she finally took him to the vet, they’d scanned him and realised the details didn’t match up.

A quick phonecall to my mother and Cloud was back on our radar.

At this point I was given the option of leaving him with this woman or taking him back. Admittedly she had looked after him quite well over the past ten months by the sounds of it, but still even after nearly a year that feeling of him being my ultimate responsibility returned.

What if something happened to her? What if something happened to him. Selfish maybe, but I still wanted him by my side.

There was also the unexplained mystery as to how this woman had failed to see the dozens of signs my mother had plastered up all over the neighbourhood announcing that Clod was missing too.

Anyway, long story short Cloud is almost here and in the meantime I decided to get him a companion. Back home he’d become used to being around at least one other cat and being a high energy cat, I figure settling him down with a friend was the right thing to do.

Instinctively I wanted to get another kitten and in my mind that’s what I went out looking for. Surprising myself however, this is what I came back with;

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Pogo, my new Pug puppy.

(aptly named because he doesn’t run, he jumps around like a crazy person!)

I ended up figuring that I’d done cats for the better part of a decade so why not give a dog a go. The relatively relaxed teacher lifestyle allows me to be with him a lot (taking him to school and kennelling him in my bathroom isn’t an issue), and his energy should more than match Cloud’s when he gets here.

So far so good, however raising a Pug puppy hasn’t been without its own challenges. Especially coming from someone who’s used to showing a kitten where the litterbox is and getting on with life.

That… and if one more person stops me on the street to play with him (I don’t care how hot you are), I might just scream.

Stay tuned.


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