Tag: cat food

A Cat Tale

“Mew,” he said in his soft, sweet, voice. “Mew.” He rubbed his furry body against my calf and looked up with dark, imploring eyes. “Mew.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll open another can for you. Please eat it this time.”

I opened the can and spooned contents into a bowl. As I did, the cat celebrated with low purring and sharper, louder mews. I put the bowl down on the floor. “Here you go,” I said.

The cat stepped up to the bowl, but stopped several inches short of it. Leaning forward, he sniffed, and then he looked up at me with hurt sadness.

Turning away from me and the bowl of food, he made three strokes with one front paw, miming covering the food like he was burying his scat. As he did, he gave me a side-glance that whispered, “You are so disappointing.”

Then, bushy tail high and waving like a flag in a light breeze, he trotted away.

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Dreams of Change

Last night’s dreams were all about change. Of what I remember, one was a vignette where I made coin change for people, including my wife and other family members. Another sequence featured me searching for and trying to change my clothes, which originally were white and light gray, and then trying to change my shoes. That moved into me trying to change the cat kibble, and being totally confused about what I was doing and why I was doing it. An additional series had me helping others change things. In one, I helped my father and friends trying to change a tire.

They’re laughable in the morning light. I realized that each scene and story shared elements.

  1. I was confused about what I was doing and why I was doing it.
  2. In the end, nothing that I set about changing required changed.

It was amazing. I’d make change for peoples’ dollars, and then they’d discover that they had the right change and didn’t need anything. They’d thank me and move on, leaving me standing there with change. The tire that we were trying to change was okay, just a little low on air, giving us a laugh. My clothes were the best choice, so I ended up not changing them, and the people with the other clothes suggestion left, and the cat kibble bowls were full, and the cats were eating them, so, confused, I realized, nothing was required of me.

Hmm, I wonder what message I’m trying to convey to myself with this night of cryptic dreams?

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Temptation

Have you ever put cat food in bowls for your cats, and then bent down to put something away, and ended up with your face close to their bowls of food, and think about tasting it?

Yeah, me, neither.

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The Kibble Beast

Poor Tucker. He loves kibble.

Kibble despises him.

Kibble is not a creature, but the hard cat food. Sadly, Tucker, a large black and white cat with an injured eye (who may have some Maine Coon in him) suffers from an auto-immune condition, gingivitis stomatitis. He came to us in this condition, someone’s pet lost on the streets, looking for food, shelter and affection. We stopped up because we’re suckers like that. He was not in good shape and it took almost a year for us to discover the terrible conditions of his gums and teeth. Bleeding, infections, bad breath, ulcers, inflammation, pain and sensitivity, he had it all.

We started him on medications and steroids to contain the problem. Our vet recommended we pull all his teeth. No, no, no, no, no, we replied, no. Instead, we sought methods for containing and reducing the problem. Through reading and testing, we found he can’t eat kibble, period. So all kibble was taken from him. He eats wet food only but not just any. I’ve found that those wet foods with carrageenan causes swelling, ulcers and inflammation in him so they’ve been taken out of his diet. This finding of mine is contrary to the pet food industry’s findings, that carrageenan doesn’t contribute to these issues, but since restricting him from them, he’s doing much better, so I’ll accept my findings over their findings. Then, after reading of others’ success with L-lysine, I initiated a daily practice of dosing him with L-lysine. Buying it in capsule form, I dilute it a little water and squirt 100 CCs into his mouth before his morning and evening meals.

These practices have worked well with him, and he’s not needed any shots in four months. A year ago, he was going every 30 t0 45 days.

Sadly, though, Tucker is a huge kibble fan. We also feed it to our other cats (we have one, but ‘take care of’ two others). So Tucker remains on a perpetual quest to get to the kibble and gobble it up. He’s also a fighter. Although amazingly sweet and docile with humans, when it comes to other cats, he wants to fight, not chase or hiss or yowl, but launch himself fangs and claws out and battle! So we segregate the four cats. The matter is more complicated as Boo Radley, the big black tailless stray, taken in to protect him from the frigid winter but now probably also our pet, fights with Meep, the ginger cat that isn’t allowed in his house. (We bring him in to feed and offer shelter from foul and cold weather.) Only Quinn, our black paw buddy, gets along with the others. It’s trying, to express the most minimal impact, to deal with the fights when Meep, Tucker or Boo encounter one another and unsheath their claws.

It all works in a way, but we need to find a way to end the fights. At least we’ve mitigated many of Tucker’s problems. Maybe someday we’ll find kibble that doesn’t cause him issues. Then he’ll be one purring kitty.

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