A huge milestone for our traveling future was passed
We’ve been daydreaming of a not too distant future where we’d be able to take longer trips. 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 10 weeks. But we’ve had one primary consideration we’ve been worried about.
Twinkle.
We have two kitties, Twinkle and Skittle. Skittle we assume will be a fine adventure kitty and traveling companion. Sure, she runs and hides under the blanket for security but she quickly adapts.
Twinkle is a bit different in many ways. In late 2015, soon after we got Qubie actually, Twinkle had an episode of some kind that led to her not eating. The only way we were able to save her was having a feeding tube inserted. Our first trip to Ocean Lakes over Thanksgiving was during this time, with late night feedings. The chances were slim but it worked and she recovered and is still kicking 5 years later.
Since then, though, we know that she is very susceptible to the underlying condition that occurred as a result of her not eating. We’ve been told that it snowballs quickly if she stops eating so we are very cautious. The issue is that we’ve tried bringing her on trips since then and she hides and simply won’t come out for anything… including food. We’ve had to bring her home early to ensure she didn’t spiral.
This weekend at our favorite lake camping spot we tried again. She hid again all the first evening… but did come out a bit on occasion to sniff around. No eating though. The next day she mostly slept in the hiding place next to the bed. Late in the day I brought food and water near her shelter. She stood up, sniffed, walked out… and ate a bit.
I can’t express the relief we felt. She’s ventured around, she’s purred, she’s used her litterbox. She’s doing it!
We’ll be doing more little trips out to the lake to desensitize her more before we tackle a moving Qubie. So far we’re transporting them in their carriers in the car and let them out in Qubie once we have her set up. Someday they’ll ride with us as Qubie passengers!
I’ve not mentioned Skittle because she’s just not having trouble. She gets nervous when we open the entry door but she’ll get better over time.
Extended traveling seems back on the menu! Now we just have to figure out the turtle. 😐
Shallow Roots 