6 Signs Your Cat Missed You While You Were On Vacation

Cats aren’t always easy to read

Christine Schoenwald
4 min readJul 26, 2021
Photo by Valérie Ungerer on Unsplash

“Most of the cats are under the beds,” said Kurt, our occasional roommate, and consistent pet-sitter. Andy and I are vacationing in South Lake Tahoe, and Kurt had called with an update on our cats.

“Jimi is the only brave one who’s walking around.”

Sometimes the cats go under the bed when it’s hot, so that could be the reason for Allie going deep undercover. Carlos is afraid of Kurt, so he’s hiding, and Josie is probably pissed off that I’m not there at the ready to supply kisses and cuddles.

We’ve had Carlos for almost a year, and we’ve never been away from him. I pray he won’t forget me and revert to some of his street-kitty ways.

Whatever the cats are feeling now, we’ll know when we return in a few days. The signs of their missing us can be subtle, but we’re skilled at deciphering them. Once when we were going on a trip to Hawaii, one of our late cats peed all over Andy’s suitcase and made it clear he wasn’t happy that we were leaving him.

If you asked a cat if they missed their humans, they’d most likely lie and say that they missed the routine of their caregivers. The truth is our cats do a kind of loss when we’re not there.

--

--

Christine Schoenwald

Writer for The Los Angeles Times, Salon, Next Avenue, Business Insider, and Your Tango Christineschoenwaldwriter.com