LW,

Do not give away your cat. Kitty is your cat. Don't let any of the details about how she came to you muddy that fact. You have been the sole caregiver for a year now. You paid Kitty's bills and you bonded with her. She's your cat, she's important to you. And here is the thing: cats aren't special or important until they're yours. There is nothing about Kitty that sets her apart from any other cat your ex-roommate could bring into her home except how you feel about her.

There are loads of adoptable cats in this world. Ex-roommate should go and get another one. She tried with Kitty, and it wasn't the right time for her to have a cat. Now that cat is happy in a stable home. You, LW have spent months establishing a bond and a significant amount of money to ensure the cat's well-being.

If this were truly a foster situation, roommate would have offered compensation for the vet bills, even if she had to do it in installments. She would have asked for updates. She would have bought kibble.

Why disrupt LW's situation when she (ex-roommate) can start fresh with a cat doesn't yet have and very much needs a stable home? The shelters are full of them. Craigslist is full of them. This time of year, roommate can head down to Wal-Mart on Saturday mornings and there's bound to be a family with a box of kittens out front sooner or later. The only reasons I can think of are petty (Kitty was *hers* first!), ugly (roommate made me feel bad about how I cared for Kitty, so now I'll make her feel bad), and selfish (I want a cat, and since this one is the first to come to mind, I will have *this* cat).

I took in two cats as a foster during college. I told the girl giving them to me that she had one year to come and get them back. After that, they were my cats and she was absolutely not going to be getting them back. Stand firm. If ex-roommate really wants a cat, she'll get one without making you give up yours.

Sorry Aunt Acid, as a cat foster and cat adopter, you missed the mark here.
-NotThatCatLady

Our Fanny! She is so Good! Dear, sweet, insufferable Fanny.

My husband recites it to my dogs when they get scared. It doesn't help.

"pull off... living in a tiny house,"

Well, we know what they say about living in tiny houses.

I assume some portion of Toasties, those with true, pure, sea-taking hearts, were whisked away to a Mallorian Paradise the instant they clicked on the link. The rest of us have been Left Behind, to endure the raging apocalypse that is the of the End Of Toast.

Best to avoid that tear-hole leakage whenever possible. It leaves itchy, persistent welts on human skin and stains natural fiber fabrics an eerie iridescent blue-green.

same.

Assholes with extremely uneven personal hygiene habits, usually.

This is literally the only pro in my pro/con list for living across an ocean you. No surprise mystery produce in Alarming Quantities.

Saaaaame.