I made a mistake

"I've called her Sheba. Yes it is unusual to have a female ginger cat.

We got her from the Wellington SPCA, she'd only arrived a few days before (so that was a good deal for them, I guess!) and the reason she was there was her previous owners said they didn't have enough time for her. Which is pretty sad on their part.

So far she's been very good, only ever done her business in her dirt box, and eaten pretty much anything I've put down, and not scratched at the furniture too much. The first night she was a bit mad, running everywhere (it didn't help that I wasn't feeling well). But she is very friendly, and hopefully in a couple of weeks she'll settle down into being in a new house."

Sorry Sheba. I made a mistake in thinking I was in a position to look after you. You're very cute, and friendly, and you deserve better than me. I know you're still settling in, and I shouldn't mind it that you've been using the bathtub as a toilet, that you don't want to eat sometimes, that you leave hair all over the place. That's what cats do, so I'm told. To be honest I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe that's the problem.

I hope you'll be happy with your new house. Come Saturday and you'll have a real family to look after you, not just a loner who's hardly ever home.

You'll be ok - look how quickly you settled into my place.

The question is, will I? Talk about feeling like a complete and utter failure. But this is the best thing for you, and it's definitely a lesson learned for me. There are some things in life that you can't test-drive, and this is one of them. How do you know how much your life will change by taking on a new pet, like any new relationship? Simple - you don't. Unless you've been there before.