Help! My Roommate Keeps Ditching Her Cat With Me and I’m Sick of It.
BY ELI RALLO
Dear Prudence,
I share an apartment with three other girls. Since my family is out of state, I am usually the only one here on weekends. The others have family or boyfriends nearby. My roommate, “Clara,” has a cat. While she paid the pet deposit, Clara has a nasty habit of dumping the care of her cat on us (mostly me).
She will disappear overnight, on weekends, and completely ignore any phone calls. Unless I want to listen to the poor cat yowl for food or piss on the carpet because the litter hasn’t been cleaned, it falls on me. Clara and I have already gotten into it several times because of her behavior. The other girls don’t want to “take sides” and don’t think it is such a big deal for me to help out once in a while.
It isn’t my cat. I don’t even like cats. But I dislike stupid, selfish pet owners even more. I was raised that if you took on the responsibility of a living thing, that means you were responsible, period. How do I deal with this? I can’t get off the lease for another six months. I am honestly at the point of just finding out how to contact Clara’s parents and tattle to them. They are extremely conservative, and Clara isn’t supposed to have a boyfriend or go out at all hours of the night.
—Not My Cat
https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/01/eli-rallo-dear-prudence-advice-week.html
