Don't Like - When Your Pets Realize You're Going On Vacation
I wouldn’t say my cat is an intelligent fellow based on the vast majority of the time we spend together. But he immediately knows when Adriane and I are going away in an instant. He sees the travel bags come out and gets a sinking feeling in his stomach. It’s as hard on us as it is on him. I know this because we vocalize his inner monologue, “No, please don’t go!!! Stay with me.” We do this in that one high pitched pet voice before consoling him in our more natural voices with the fact that we’ll be back soon and will miss him very much while we’re gone. It isn’t fully clear that he understands what we’re saying. But to the extent he does, the available evidence suggests that he doesn’t like it as Milo quickly becomes avoidant. He walks up the stairs as an act of minor retaliation. We don’t vocalize his inner monologue here, as it’d be too sad. Luckily, he’s usually the bigger man and before we officially depart, he comes back down for one last belly rub. Then we say goodbye.