Tuesday, January 17, 2023

A Tale of Two Kitties

Cats be crazy sometimes.

Case in point: The Siamese Kitten.

This here.

She's sleeping in this photo, which she does a lot these days, because she is an elderly kitty - 16 on her last birthday. She has good days and bad days, like most of us. Some days are sleepy days, some days are zoomie days. Again, like most of us.

Definitely not shown here: Me,
getting ready to run.

The Siamese Kitten also has less of an appetite than she used to. She's never been a ravenous girl. She doesn't like most human food, doesn't care all that much about cat treats. But for a little while, just before the holidays, she kind of lost interest in eating much at all. 

Of course I was worried. I tried tempting her with wet food and Lickables and her favorite tuna water, but the Siamese Kitten was mostly apathetic. The next step was the vet, but before I took that step, I thought I'd try changing her regular dry kibble. Maybe she was just off her food. Cats do that sometimes, the little creeps.

Just...ugh.

(And if you're wondering why I didn't immediately take her to the vet, it's because I'm a coward. If the vet found something seriously wrong, like cancer or kidney disease, I would be forced to make the terrifying decision of whether to spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars on medical care for an elderly cat that might only prolong her life by a few months. I want to stress that she didn't seem to be suffering or in pain, and she was still drinking water and using her litter box, so I thought I'd try an easy, inexpensive remedy first.)

Anyway, I bought a random brand of food - nothing fancy, just different from her usual kind. I gave her some...and lo and behold, she began eating it. Her appetite still fluctuated from day to day, but overall she seemed much more inclined to eat the new food.

Now, this whole time I was continuing to feed the junior tuxedo cat, the Chongers, the old food, which he had no problem with. With which he had no problem. He was happy, the Siamese was happy, I was cautiously optimistic.

Then, this past Sunday, as I was feeding both cats, I noticed the Siamese Kitten rubbing up against the container that held the Chongers' food. Like, enthusiastically. I shrugged and went back to bed (hey, it was early and I had a warm friend there).

Even cuter than this guy.

A few minutes later I heard a crash and went back to the kitchen to investigate. The Siamese Kitten had knocked over the (rather large) container of the old kibble and liberated it all over the floor and was happily nibbling away.

Being a sensitive and perceptive observer of feline behavior, I decided this was A Clue.

So this morning, before I left for work I poured her two bowls of food, the old kibble and the replacement kibble. 

Long story short (too late?), guess who's back to loving the chow she rejected a month ago?

As I said, cats be crazy.

Anyone need a 1/3-full bag of Fancy Feast, have a carton of canned kitty pate, and a large bag of crunchy treats?

Never mind, the Chongers says he'll take them all.

3 comments:

  1. Dogs do the same thing, from time to time. But we looooooove them anyway. I can't believe your Siamese is 16... dang.

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  2. Being kittens is one thing cats never outgrow. That's why it's so fitting I just saw something that said, "How to negotiate with your cat: 1. Give your cat whatever they want. 2. End negotiation."

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  3. A previous cat who was a stray when he showed up, was very picky about wet food & was happy with the dry. Made tuna salad one day and he got into the can and loved it. Tuna was less expensive than cat food so that's what he usually ate. Happy happy boy. 😺

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