The kids have flown the coop. Now it’s time to be grown-ups again. Spending every weekend skimming the pool, mowing the lawn and washing the screens is not conducive to this new lifestyle. A light bulb goes off. “Let’s buy a loft. We can walk to restaurants, the theater. No house maintenance every weekend.” And then you remember –you have pets. Back to reality.

This is what happened to us. A job transfer initiated our complete lifestyle change. We had been thinking about it seriously for quite some time. And the past year of everything in our house and yard falling apart (pool filter, pool heater, pool cleaner, furnace, air conditioning unit, microwave, etc. etc.) coupled with a move to a large city, helped cement our decision.

We found a fabulous downtown loft – new, new, and new. We were close to amazing restaurants, a jogging and bike trail, movie theaters, live theaters, and upscale grocery stores. But no yard. Ok, there was a 3ft. square fenced area in the back, which we convinced ourselves, could be used for emergencies. But our dogs had been used to a half-acre fenced lot. And the cat had been used to cruising the whole neighborhood. How were the dogs going to settle in to a new routine of walks? And the cat to being an inside cat? And how were we going to discipline ourselves to walk them several times a day. We convinced ourselves it would work, but in the back of our minds, we were very uneasy about it.

Well, much to our great surprise, our dogs are completely happy with their walks. We have many options in terms of direction, which keeps the daily routine interesting. And we have also discovered several interesting parks in the neighborhood – a couple with dog parks – to which we can easily drive. Meanwhile, our cat has expressed no desire to go out at all. In fact, a couple of times of leaving the door open accidentally and he has made no attempt to bolt.

And the positives are numerous. We are much more involved with our animals than we were previously. By living so closely together we actually get to see their personalities more up close and personally. And walking our dogs has added a whole new level of fitness (and resulting weight loss) to our lives. Plus turning our cat to an inside cat has added years to his life.

We aren’t discussing the claw marks on the wood floors!

So, if you are considering an urban lifestyle, don’t let the pet issue get in the way.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive