Oh boy - I just returned from a long weekend at the lake cabin of some good friends. They insisted we bring our two cats along - one of our cats needs medication twice a day and eye ointment three times a day. They have no pets but they take care of other people's dogs sometimes and they know our cats well. One of them was a stray they found under their deck. We usually take our cats with us to our weekend lake place but I've never taken them to someone else's house. This really made me nervous. I had cat sitter lined up until I found out the day before we left that the cat needed the eye treatment 3x a day.

So we took them along - what an ordeal. We drove up in our car and the guy rode with us - wife went up early. Right before we arrived one cat barfs up a giant hairball on DH. Shortly after we arrive same cat jumps on the bathroom vanity and starts eating something out of a vase. Later that evening she barfs up the leaves and another hairball - on their carpet. Twice we came in from outside and found the other cat sleeping on a placemat on the dining room table. That cat who rarely has hairballs also managed to barf one up while we're there - on the carpet.

Then that night after everyone is in bed the cats start yowling - like they can't figure out where we are. After we get them in the bedroom with us one of them launches herself from the bed toward the window sill - which isn't big enough for her - and she crashes to the floor and knocks something over. Then about four in the morning they start yowling again. Fortunately this only happened the first night.

We would do kind of buffet dinner from kitchen island and then eat outside. I'd go through after everyone else and put everything under cover that might entice a cat to jump on the counter. I have no kids and I felt like I'd taken a couple of toddlers to someone else's house that wasn't childproof. Fortunately they were excellent with the litter box - thank goodness.

Whew, it was a lovely weekend and the friends were very gracious about the cat behavior but I wonder what they said after we left.......