Hey everyone, I own a Siamese cat named shug (short for sugar), she was originally my sisters cat with her other cat, but I moved in with her and she (shug) basically adopted me, and shes my cat now lol.
I left for school and while I could of brought her with me I decided against it. I mostly cited that I didn't want to split her from my sisters cat, but I feel like it was selfishly fueled mostly, not having to deal with cat fur and all that, and something I've been feeling really bad about the past couple weeks especially. I come home some weekends to work, but only able to see her for a night or two at the most before disappearing off to school again. I've been feeling really bad because lets say she lives to 20, and ive been at school for three semesters now, ive basically abandoned her for 5% of her life, for selfish reasons, and im finding it really hard to grapple that.
My family recently moved both cats into a new environment because my sister is moving into a new house in a month, and my brother and his wife are taking over the house my sister and I used to live in. My family has a cabin where the cats are going to stay for about a month or more, and that's where they have been for the past 4-5 days.
So my school ends april 30th, as thats my final, and ill be moving back home and likely staying in the cabin for a week to work before I leave for a 2 week trip to China. I suppose my question is, have I been cruel? Showing up on and off for a year and change now, year and a half, and disappearing for a week or weeks, only to show up again for a couple days or 1 night usually, and disappear. I feel like I am being really mean, getting her hopes up, and disappearing repeatedly. Now when I get back from school she will likely see me for 7 days straight, but then im off to China for 2 weeks, and this is while she is getting used to a new environment, and I know me being present will make her feel much better, but im leaving after a week of being back. I just feel incredibly guilty, and like ive been a really bad owner, and I was wondering if outside opinion would agree with how I am feeling? I don't want to play like the young immature student either, im 30 years old and returning to school, not some dumb 19 year old or anything.
I've put some serious consideration into canceling my trip with my friend over this so I can spend more time with her over the summer, my parents and sister think it's a bit much and I am putting real thought into it