Yesterday we visited C's brother to leave Mao with him. I lost Ursus in May and now Mao is gone too. This is not how I thought my life would turn out. I though that they'd be with me for much longer than this. It was not to be.
There were many reasons for giving Mao away. First and foremost is that he did not get along with the only female cat in the house. He wanted to be the dominant cat and she would not yield. We kept them separated, but every opportunity he got, he went after her to fight. That had to stop.
Also, he changed from a content, happy lap cat into a tense cat who didn't want to be on my lap at all. He instead chose the highest place he could to keep an eye on things.
We thought that Mao and the kitten would get along well and play together. That didn't happen in the three months he was here. I could see that he was unhappy and bored.
It was one of the hardest decisions of my life to give him up, but I want him to be happy. C's brother lives close to Stockholm, but in a house with a yard in a quiet neighbourhood. There is plenty to explore and investigate. Trees to climb, horses to sniff and dogs to make friends with.
They have two very well trained dogs that greeted Mao with friendly curiosity and enthusiasm. Mao, of course only saw these two huge things that came too close and smacked one. To which the owner's responded: "Good, he needs to learn to leave cats alone". That made my mind a lot easier, they are sensible, level-headed people who will take care of him and won't be upset when he behaves like a cat.
We stayed there for a few hours and during that time Mao had inspected the house. He looked careful, but didn't cower from the dogs and let the humans pet him. He backed off from the kid, but that's not odd, considering he has not met any before.
I hope that he will be happy there. I've known for years that given a chance, he'd be happier as an outside/inside cat, but I could not let him out in the city. Now he has that chance.
I believe that I made the right choice, but why does it hurt so much, then?