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Mar. 1st, 2002 06:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowynMy two cats are doing their best to stay out of my way while I type--that is, the best they can do without actually, you know, leaving my lap or anything radical like that.
Rowan to cats: you are not an ergonomically correct typing environment when you lie like that.
Cats to Rowan: *purr*.
Branl left, vaguely insulted, when I tried to shift her so she didn't block my arm. Ash is staring at my fingers as they type with that, "When are you going to stop that and start petting me?" look.
*stops that to pet Ash.*
In case you're curious about the names: Branl is a name that my friend Strangess has used online in the past. I named my cat that because she's thin and has some reddish fur and just reminds me of Strangess. Ash is a takeoff on my own handle (both being types of trees.) Neither of my cats are really like us, mind you. I certainly hope I'm not like Ash. She's fat, stupid, cuddly, and puts up with just about anything as long as there's attention involved.
I love her tons.
*stops typing to pet Ash some more. Ash purrs loudly.*
I recently switched my cats from dry food to canned. Branl has always been a thin cat, but a month or so ago I noticed that she was hardly eating at all. She doesn't have many teeth left and I thought perhaps the ones remaining were bugging her. I tried feeding her "cat food mush"--dry cat food saturated with water until it turned to goop--and the poor thing was so hungry she gobbled it down.
So I bought her canned cat food.
Ash is fat and hardly needs to encouragement to eat,but trying to keep them on separate diets is not only annoying for all of us, but seems cruel to Ash. (You get crappy dry food while Branl gets yummy canned! nyah!) So they both get canned now.
Weirdly, I've found that I really enjoy feeding them now. Before I just kept the food dish stocked with dry food (this isn't optimal, but it's what my parents always did with our cats) Now I feed them twice a day, one can (for both) in the morning, and one at night. They're not too picky about what flavors they like, but they really like variety. As opposed to me, who eats the same things every day of the week. Branl has put on at least a pound and a half and looks almost normal now, though she's still pretty lightweght, and I can still feel the ridges on her spine and her ribs when I pet her. She also hardly ever throws up any more which she used to do fairly often on dry cat food. I jokingly called them my "eating disorder kitties": Branl was "bnge and purge" kitty and Ash was "binge and binge" kitty.
I'm happy about the results. Though I admit I feel kinda guilty about not trying this, oh, a year or two ago. Poor cats. I'm a bad mommy. Sigh.
Rowan to cats: you are not an ergonomically correct typing environment when you lie like that.
Cats to Rowan: *purr*.
Branl left, vaguely insulted, when I tried to shift her so she didn't block my arm. Ash is staring at my fingers as they type with that, "When are you going to stop that and start petting me?" look.
*stops that to pet Ash.*
In case you're curious about the names: Branl is a name that my friend Strangess has used online in the past. I named my cat that because she's thin and has some reddish fur and just reminds me of Strangess. Ash is a takeoff on my own handle (both being types of trees.) Neither of my cats are really like us, mind you. I certainly hope I'm not like Ash. She's fat, stupid, cuddly, and puts up with just about anything as long as there's attention involved.
I love her tons.
*stops typing to pet Ash some more. Ash purrs loudly.*
I recently switched my cats from dry food to canned. Branl has always been a thin cat, but a month or so ago I noticed that she was hardly eating at all. She doesn't have many teeth left and I thought perhaps the ones remaining were bugging her. I tried feeding her "cat food mush"--dry cat food saturated with water until it turned to goop--and the poor thing was so hungry she gobbled it down.
So I bought her canned cat food.
Ash is fat and hardly needs to encouragement to eat,but trying to keep them on separate diets is not only annoying for all of us, but seems cruel to Ash. (You get crappy dry food while Branl gets yummy canned! nyah!) So they both get canned now.
Weirdly, I've found that I really enjoy feeding them now. Before I just kept the food dish stocked with dry food (this isn't optimal, but it's what my parents always did with our cats) Now I feed them twice a day, one can (for both) in the morning, and one at night. They're not too picky about what flavors they like, but they really like variety. As opposed to me, who eats the same things every day of the week. Branl has put on at least a pound and a half and looks almost normal now, though she's still pretty lightweght, and I can still feel the ridges on her spine and her ribs when I pet her. She also hardly ever throws up any more which she used to do fairly often on dry cat food. I jokingly called them my "eating disorder kitties": Branl was "bnge and purge" kitty and Ash was "binge and binge" kitty.
I'm happy about the results. Though I admit I feel kinda guilty about not trying this, oh, a year or two ago. Poor cats. I'm a bad mommy. Sigh.
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cats, guilt and owners
Date: 2002-03-01 05:41 pm (UTC)I do appreciate how easy it is to feel obligated and guilty for not living up to "your end of the bargain". You have fairly effective cats and they deserve decent rewards for their achievements in feline ky00tness :) So I think I see why you're unhappy you didn't think of the wet food earlier.
Though you might want to do some research, while wet food is overall healthier, I think, it has it's own peculiar problems that need to be guarded against...
Btw, I finally saw the end of your comment on my entry about the rally and answered it. I get the idea you might have rolled your eyes at the wound up ball of fury that is "the angriest coffeehouse intellectual in the world" that is myself.
Though a lot of my angst is because I know I can't have what I want, and I have no certainty that trying for half measures will help. But the itch to do _something_ is maddening....
Anyway, your warm but quiet heart, overflowing with joy at the chance to reward your cats for being good (and indeed reward most people (cats are small people with claws and no thumbs :) ) is a wonder and pleasure to behold....
My own heart is marginally less scorched and blackened feeling these days. Maybe spring is finally coming for me (wan smile)