I know I said I was going to be brave yesterday but it’s hard! This monster called RV was vicious and temperamental. Once minute it was OK the next minute it sided with Susie and Mike and started growling at me VERY loudly. When it was mad, the whole world shook. But I found a corner to hide when it was shaking. It didn’t seem so angry when I was in the corner. I decided that’s where I should be until Susie or Mike cleared the coast.

Susie took me outside again today. This time the place wasn’t full of flowers. Instead, there were lots of trees. See, what did I tell you yesterday? This was NORMAL. We were supposed to experience a new place everyday.

I found Nemo sleeping on the passenger’s seat again this morning. He seemed to find the driver/passenger area a good place to hang out at night. I’ve seen him jump onto the dashboard quite a few times. I even saw him fall when he tried to jump on once. That’s our chubby, clumpy Nemo. I gave him some raw chicken with gravy from the Iams chicken pouch. He was still eating about less than half of what he normally ate.

When everybody woke up, Nemo started to act unsettled again. He crawled underneath the passenger seat and refused to come out. We took turn trying to entice him but nothing worked. For some reason he was very upset. He hissed at Mike when he tried to pull him out. We were on a tight schedule and almost late for our next destination (Kootnay National Park) so we decided to start driving, hoping that he’d stay under the chair and not hop over to the driver’s feet. When the engine started he ran out and went hiding under the chair next to the door. He stayed there until we reached the next rest stop. At the rest stop, we put him up to the area above the driver so he could hide in the corner. I closed the curtains to that area so he could feel a little more secure.

Aside from the episode this morning, Nemo continued to improve. His breathing was still a little faster than normal but at least he settled down a little.

We decided to take him out for a walk in the camp site for the first time before dinner. I carried him out of the RV in my arms. He was so scared that he hid his face in my arms. A park ranger happened to come by to do a survey on the camp site. She was surprised to see a cat in the camp ground. She said that Nemo was only the second cat she’s seen. She asked how old Nemo was and if he was a senior or something (she couldn’t see Nemo’s face because he tucked his face in my arms). We told her that we just adopted Nemo from SPCA not too long ago so we didn’t know exactly how old he was. She said: “Wow, you just adopted him and look where he is! Traveling in National Parks!” Nemo didn’t show his face until the park ranger left.

Nemo sat next to me on the bench for a long time before he started to explore. I walked him in the woods for about 5 minutes then I went to prepare dinner. Not long after I went back to the RV Mike brought Nemo in as well. Apparently some noise startled him and he bolted for cover under the RV. He almost broke loose from the harness and leash.

Breakfast: 40g Natural Instinct raw chicken with gravy from IAMS chicken pouch.
Morning play: None
Dinner: 35g Natural Instinct raw chicken with gravy from IAMS chicken pouch.
Evening play : None
Evening supplement: Feline Immune System Support
Bed-time play: None

OK, here’s what I thought: Since I couldn’t change the world, I better adjust myself so I would survive in this weird circumstance. At least Susie and Mike were still around. They were still the same. I figured the situation couldn’t be too bad if they were still calm.

In the afternoon they put that rope thing around me and put me in the backpack. I kind of knew what was going on because they did that a few times when we were home. I saw through the backpack that we were at a lake. There were so many bugs! Good that I was behind the netting thing. Poor Mike. I could see this mosquito biting his neck but there’s nothing I could do.

They let me out of the backpack at one point. It actually wasn’t too bad! I looked around and saw lots of flowers. Normally you see clouds high up in the sky, right? This place was funny. I could see clouds at MY level from a distance! I guess this was what they called a high “mountain” and I was in it! I looked at Mike and Susie. They seemed to be fascinated by the place, too. All of a sudden it hit me—maybe it’s not an accident that we ended up in a strange place. Maybe the whole thing, the moving/screaming RV, the foreign objects, the strange smells, was all planned. Maybe this IS the whole point—to experience new places that only exist in stories!

Now I had a new angle all I needed to do was be brave and tried to put my faith in Susie and Mike. Why not try to make the best out of the situation? It might not be so bad after all.

I woke up finding Nemo sleeping on the passenger seat at the front. I tried to feed him but he wouldn’t eat much again. I decided to feed him Fancy Feast even though it’s not the best food for him. The most important thing was to get him to start eating. He ate about ¾ of the 85g can. Nemo started to look for Mike at the area above the driver. He wanted to jump but couldn’t find a good place to do so. I gave him a hand. He walked up to Mike for some head-bunting, then walked to the corner and laid there. He looked comfortable there so we decided to leave him be when we drove off.

We arrived at Revelstoke National Park, our first national park in the Canadian Rockies, in the afternoon. Seeing that Nemo seemed to do a little better, we decided to take him out in the backpack and perhaps walked him in the meadows. He seemed to enjoy the view from inside the backpack. We took him out of the backpack when we reached the meadows.

He didn’t eat much for dinner again. Obviously he was still much stressed. I was starting to wonder whether it was a mistake to take him with us on the trip, and I should bring him home with me when I fly home from Calgary.

Breakfast: 60g Fancy Feast Beef
Morning play: None
Dinner: 25g Fancy Feast Beef. 10g IAMS chicken in broth
Evening play : None
Evening supplement: Feline Immune System Support
Bed-time play: None

I started to realize that my good days were over. I didn’t wake up in my own basket. Instead, it’s dark and full of weird smell. The only familiar sound was those weird snorting noise humans made when they were sleeping. But where were Mike and Susie? I know crying was not for man cat but I was so scared! I couldn’t eat or sleep. I missed my Purra Burra suite, my ugly home-made cat tree, and the stupid chair in front of the dining room window. I wanted to go home!

I woke up at Nemo’s cry. I opened the curtain so Nemo could see where Mike and I were sleeping (above the driver area). He tried to jump up but he couldn’t get a good grip on the bedding sheet so he fell onto the bench. I went down to comfort him. I also fed him but he ate only about ¼ of what he normally ate. He jumped at every sound coming from the outside and inside the RV. I noticed that he did use his litter box, which was a good sign. He hid under the chair after everybody got up and refused to get out. We headed for our next stop—Salmon Arm, BC. It was another 5 hours of driving ahead of us. Nemo refused to get out of his hiding place. When we stopped at the rest stop Mike talked and petted Nemo for a long time before he finally came out. But he went back hiding as soon as everybody came back to the RV. His breathing wasn’t much better than yesterday. We decided to leave him alone. He needed lots of rest.

After we arrived at the campsite we tried to feed Nemo. He seemed to have lost his appetite. He only had a few bites.

I moved from above the driver area to sleep on the “bench-turned-bed”. I thought this way at least Nemo could see me so maybe he’d feel a little better. He jumped onto my bed, walked around and put his paws on the window so he could see out the window. It was completely dark. He ventured into the front of the RV, the driver’s area and the passenger’s seat. He even got onto the dashboard to look around.