An important rule to follow…never change your brand of cat food without consulting the family cat.
Earlier in the week, while I was at the pet store buying a week’s worth of ridiculously expensive dog food, I decided I would treat the cats to an equally good cat food. Admittedly, the clerk at the store made me feel guilty for feeding my cats a “grocery store” brand of food while I spared no expense to feed my dogs. The grocery store food was less expensive, and more readily available. The cats never complained, but why should they get anything less than the best?
So I bought a bag of high quality cat food and excitedly took it home to feed the cats.
An empty bowl is a bad thing at our house. Even if the cats aren’t hungry, they expect food to be waiting for them for when the mood strikes. I had barely set foot in the house when I was under attack. They herded me toward the laundry room, nudging me with their furry little bodies as I tried to walk.
I made it to their bowls and tore open the bag as they waited impatiently for the first bite.
The bowls were full, but the cats weren’t eating. They circled my feet expectantly, but that was all I had for them. I could tell they weren’t happy, but I figured a little time and hunger would change their minds.
I checked on the bowls daily to find them unchanged.
After two days it seemed as if barely a few bites had been eaten. And any time I went near the laundry room I was accosted. In fact, Henry Chow, ninja kitty had knocked everything off the shelves looking for any remnants of his old food. He discovered a few crumbs at the bottom of an old bag of grocery store food in the trash and he pulled it out as a reminder to me.
On day three, I witnessed the strangest thing I had ever seen.
I fed the dogs as I did every other morning, but on this particular morning, as Cybil approached her bowl, Henry Chow moved in and began eating. My old Labrador growled at the cat, telling him he was out of line, but the cat held his ground as if to say, “Go away old dog…I eating your food today.” And amazingly, the dog backed off as Henry Chow ate her food.
He would rather eat dog food than a single bite of that expensive cat food.
I went straight to the grocery store and picked up a bag of their regular food.
They are happy again. I saw them sleeping on their favorite kitchen chairs, not a care in the world…bellies full again. And the dogs are happy too…they don’t have to worry about cats stealing their food anymore. No self respecting cat would eat dog food when they have perfectly good grocery store food to eat!
And that bag of expensive cat food sitting in the pantry?
Who knows what I’ll do with that…
Until the next time…I’ll be working on a few new recipes!