Off Her Feed

Violet and I have a few important things in common:

1. We are unfailingly excited about meal times
2. We are interested in anything anyone is cooking, even when we're not hungry
3. We loooooove the hand that feeds us

So when she stopped waking me at sunrise to remind me about breakfast, and failed to greet me at the door with high hopes of an immediate gratification supper, something was terribly wrong. After a day with her showing no interest in food, resisting any movement, and growling when approached, we called in the vet. By the time the vet could visit, Violet was also dehydrated (very dangerous for a cat) and surprisingly light (7 lbs!).
The fever accounted for the stiffness and crankiness; and a big lump of subcutaneous hydration plus regular squirts of bitter antibiotic solution helped with these. But we waited on tenterhooks for the critical sign of good health to return.
Finally, see did more than sniff and ignore. As the tentative nibbles and small drinks of water turned into small meals and finally full ones, we rejoiced to watch her energy and personality return. So now I can add one more trait we share:

4. We do not skip meals or snacks accidentally (Who 'forgets to eat'? I just don't get that).
If we go off our feed - get help!

Shh! Don't Tell Them It's Dog Food

We came upon the Merrick line of dog food by serendipity, while dog-sitting for a pup that came with her own chow supply. "Grammy's Pot Pie" seemed unusually swank, made from chunks of chicken meat, potatoes, snow peas, and apples. Little did we know how extensive the line was, until one day when the cat food cupboard went bare (I just wasn't paying attention). Rather than feed the cats just dry food, I opened the big can of wet dog food up and spooned a couple tablespoons into each cat bowl. Then I smashed the dog-sized chunks up, for a feline aesthetic. And both the alarm kitty (it's sunrise! wake up and feed me!) and the nonchalant one were delighted.

Pleasantly, this canned food doesn't smell like the mush most companies make for cats. It smells like cooked stew, ready to be re-heated (for a human). Everyone including me preferred it; so off I went to the Feed and Pet Supply store and looked for a cat food version. They did have it, alright - but only in the little bitty cans. So I held the cans side-by-side and compared ingredients, including fat, ash and key nutrients. Pretty darn close (a bit more fat in some of the dog choices; but there are enough to stick with the lower-fat options and still have variety). So I stocked up, and haven't looked back once.

Now my favorites (I mean their favorites) include Wild Buffalo Grill, Mediterranean Banquet, Senior Medley (they are 12, after all), and Thanksgiving Day Dinner. I keep plenty in the pantry, because frankly, we don't keep that much canned food for ourselves in the house. If we have a disaster, we'll go through the fresh stuff and the freezer pretty quickly. And then we may just arm-wrestle over who gets Grammy's Pot Pie.