One thing that I'm very worried about is leaving pets at home while traveling. Separation Anxiety (SepAnx) kicks in. I think most animal lovers can relate to this. It hurts me to see those puppy dog eyes, to hear those loud tweets, to watch those graceful strokes, and to feel and hear those lovely purrs before heading out for a day or a week.

"Do they get sad or lonely without us?"

I wondered if pets get really sad when we leave them behind. Based on my observation and research, they get sad. Some pets even get depressed. They stay near things with familiar smell of their owners. Or they look out of a window and wait for their owners' arrival. I am just blessed that our pets have not experienced extreme loneliness. But of course, little signs of loneliness and extreme excitement show whenever we reunite with them. Some fishes surprisingly die when my parents, especially my Dad, travels abroad. But I am so thankful that this has not happened to our bigger animals.

Kois

Totoro and Ratatou

Finches

Sachi

Yuki

Glad to be Back (the morning after he returned from an uninformed day trip)

:P

Big-eyed Jiji getting anxious

Sleeping on my foot the night before we left for Japan

I already thought about putting a pet in a travel crate. But I have never tried it. A few months ago, I was looking for a travel crate for my cat Jiji because I wanted her cage to serve a double purpose: Land and Air Travel. Luckily, I didn't have to buy any because my Dad bought a pink (so girly) travel crate for her last month. We usually use it when we make a visit to the veterinarian clinic. However, pets traveling by air can cost a lot. They even need microchips in order to travel from one country to another. One Datamars microchip costs around $39.50 (P1861.93). It requires a lifetime registration based on this Pet Travel Store. There is no need for this yet but it helps a lot if pets get lost.

I also wondered how our pets would react when my family and I would come back from a trip. We actually witnessed the difference between our pets' welcome greetings when we came home from Japan. Our dogs greeted us excitedly with their tails wagging and their paws touching our legs. Our cat, on the other hand, did not welcome us back with open arms. She avoided us and walked straight to her drinking bowl instead. When I lifted her up and carried her in my arms, she didn't budged but she looked at us with wide eyes and acted as if we were total strangers. When I released her on the floor, she sniffed our luggages and played with the straps and tags. She only started licking our hands and feet when she finished roaming around our things. She even gave Mom a scratch on the face due to her anxiety. She obviously missed us and felt lonely but couldn't show her feelings outwardly. The way a cat warms up to its owner is totally different from a dog's way. Cats are totally introverts while dogs are outrageously extroverts!

The language of animals is very difficult to read. It is similar to reading a person. But this is good because I am learning to be selfless through supporting and taking care of others and keeping a relationship healthy and intact. I feel like I have a child to take care of and converse with, and a companion to say goodbye and go back to every single day.

So I guess I am writing this blog to assure myself that SepAnx is AOK. Missing our pets and allowing them to miss us once in awhile have advantages too. Anxiety will surely occur for sure. But the owners and their pets absolutely need the separation or "some space." It is part of the owner-pet relationship, okay? Okay.

I once said I hate cats before. But I surely did not know what I was saying. I did not hate them. I was afraid of them. I am terrified of their sharp claws and killing stares. More than that, their pee and poop smell really bad.

The truth is our family are animal-lovers since birth. But we never had cats in our home. We owned parrots, love birds, parakeets, kois, angel fishes, gold fishes, janitor fishes, seawater fishes, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pig, Shih Tzus, Dachshund, Labrador, Akitas, Askal, but no cats. Stray cats surely roamed around our backyard and were owned by our neighbors. But they never became our pets and they never stepped inside the house except when they barged in without permission.

My view of cats almost changed in 2012. I once carried a cat owned by a family friend in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her name was Cuddles. However, I scared her when I accidentally fell from the hammock and she scampered away from my arms and scratched my thighs. Even though I was already wearing leggings, the scratches burned red and hurt. Luckily, there were just scratches and did not leave deep permanent marks. And so I still continued to dislike cats after that.

My dislike ended three years after when my Ninong Hemie and Tita Nancy gave me and my family a kitten. They were passionate breeders of Scottish Folds. Though my mother initially wanted a gray kitten, I chose a black kitten instead.

Somerset was her first name.

I named her Jiji after Kiki's black cat in the Studio Ghibli film entitled Majo no takkyûbin (Kiki's Delivery Service). Aside from being black, the anime Jiji was the first cat I was fond of. Although Jiji in the film is a male while my Jiji is a female, I still chose the name to represent my love for the film and its characters. Besides I consider Kiki as a childhood depiction of myself: Easily laughs, friendly, stubborn, and proud (My past is burried. Ha ha ha). Kiki is also attached to Jiji and considers her as her best friend. Now, I have my own version of a cat best friend. :3

"Dining table is mine."